As the calendar flipped to April, fans of Virginia athletics got hit with some big coaching news this week.
On the football side of the house, UVA announced Wednesday that coach Tony Elliott agreed to a contract extension. The new deal runs through 2030, effectively adding two years to the end of his contract. Terms have not been disclosed.
Elliott, in his fourth year at the helm, led the Hoos to a program record 11 wins in 2025. They won the Gator Bowl and finished the year ranked at No. 16 in The Associated Press final poll, the highest final ranking for the program since 1995. The team was ranked for the final 12 polls, the longest stretch since 2004.
Elliott was named the ACC Coach of the Year.
“I want to thank Carla [Williams] and the administration for their support of this football program,” Elliott said in a news release. “I also want to recognize that we are not in the position that we are without the loyalty of this staff and the buy-in from our scholar-athletes past and present. The commitment to football at the University of Virginia is real and palpable throughout our building. I’m proud of the foundation that we have laid and excited for what we can do together in the years to come.”
Fans shared their thoughts on the extension in this message board thread.
Virginia also made a change at the top of the women’s basketball program by parting ways with Amaka Agugua-Hamilton. In a Saturday news release described as terse by veteran reporter David Teel of The Virginian-Pilot, UVA announced the news in three short sentences with no mention of this year’s run to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 and with no quotes from the administration.
With the transfer portal already open for college basketball, the Hoos moved quickly to hire a replacement. Virginia announced on Tuesday that hit had brought in Aaron Roussell from Richmond as the new head coach. An introductory press conference has been scheduled for Monday.
The Spiders claimed back-to-back outright Atlantic-10 Regular Season Championships in 2024 and 2025. and won the 2024 A-10 Tournament. Under Roussell’s leadership, Richmond posted a 148-72 overall record with three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2020-2021, he led the program to its first winning season in six years and he finished his tenure with four straight 20-win seasons.
Prior to his time at Richmond, Roussell led Bucknell to a 151-72 record with Patriot League Regular Season Championships in 2016, 2017, and 2019 with Patriot League Tournament Championships in 2017 and 2019. Overall, he owns a 460-194 career record.
“We are excited to name Aaron Roussell as our new head women’s basketball coach,” Virginia Director of Athletics Carla Williams said in a news release. “Aaron is a proven winner who embodies the University’s values of integrity, leadership, academic excellence and student-athlete development. We look forward to welcoming Aaron, his wife Molly, and their three children to Grounds for a new era of Virginia Women’s Basketball.”
UVA fans discussed the new hire in message threads here, here, and here.
Jump on the message boards and share your thoughts on the coaching news and then check out the weekly fan picks below.
Fan(s) Of The Week
Wahoowa!
Student Fan(s) Of The Week
Go Hoos!
Feature Photo Of The Week
Johann Grünloh is among the UVA players that have announced their return to the program for next season.
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