With the chaos of the January transfer portal sprint over, the Virginia football program will now shift into preparation mode. Before winter workouts and spring football crank up, though, the Hoos needed to make some coaching decisions and Tony Elliott announced some staff updates this week.
The first move was reported last month, but became official with this announcement. After UVA entered the 2025 season as one of just six Power 4 schools to return all 10 assistant coaches, former offensive line coach Terry Heffernan departed to be the offensive coordinator at Stanford. Elliott filled that vacancy with Joey Orck, promoting him from senior offensive analyst. Orck first joined the program in 2022 after nine seasons at Presbyterian. He worked alongside Heffernan to elevate the Cavaliers’ O-Line in his analyst roles.
Elliott also announced another promotion with ShaDon Brown moving from senior defensive analyst to cornerbacks coach. Brown first joined the Hoos in April 2025 after spending four years as a co-defensive coordinator at West Virginia with stops at Louisville, Colorado, and Army as well. This move does not fill a vacancy, but comes with some other coaching staff shifts.
Brown will pick up off-campus recruiting duties previously assigned to defensive coordinator John Rudzinski in addition to being the corners coach. Curome Cox will move from corners to safeties while continuing to be the defensive pass game coordinator; Cox and Rudzinski shared the defensive backs coaching role previously.
“With ShaDon and Joey stepping into larger roles, it’s a testament to how our program is committed to the development of not only our student-athletes, but our staff as well,” Elliott said in a news release. “ShaDon and Joey have earned their opportunities. I’m proud of the dedication they have put towards this program and excited for our players to continue to improve under their direction.”
Both Orck and Brown will begin their new roles with assistance. Virginia added Jonathan Celestin as assistant defensive backs coach and Landon Martin as assistant offensive line coach. Celestin worked as a UVA graduate assistant in 2023 and 2024 before taking a linebackers coach job at UAB last season. Martin had multiple roles at Battle Ground Academy in Tennessee most recently, but was the offensive line coach at his alma mater Newberry College from 2021-2023 prior to that.
Others coaches on Elliott’s staff also have some title changes ahead of the 2026 season: Patrick Ashford (assistant tight ends coach), Kam Butler (assistant defensive line coach), Coy DeWeese (assistant linebackers coach), Davis Lewandowski (assistant wide receivers coach), Isaiah Macklin (assistant running backs coach), Drew Meyer (assistant special teams coach), and Mike Moore (assistant defensive line coach). They had remained analysts by title last season, but the NCAA Division I Council removed restrictions on so-called ‘countable coaches’ in recent seasons to allow those staff members to be involved in technical and tactical instruction in practices and games. In other words, they were all assistant coaches.
Virginia also made a title change with Maverick Morris, who is now the Assistant Director of Football Operations & Strategic Projects.
UVA now lists 20 assistant coaches alongside Elliott. The Cavaliers also have five strength and conditioning coaches led by Adam Smotherman, a Football Performance Applied Science Coordinator in Jase Peeler, and a Director of Football Performance Nutrition in Ross Ferrell.
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