In many ways, Marques Hagans was an obvious must-hire for new Virginia football head coach Tony Elliott. ~ Photo by Kris Wright/TheSabre.com

Marques Hagans, Garett Tujague and Clint Sintim are returning to the University of Virginia football program to work under new Cavalier head football coach Tony Elliott. What do we make of these retentions, and what’s next for Coach Elliott? Let’s take a look.

MARQUES HAGANS

Even if it meant no coaches were retained from the previous staff, count me in the category of letting Coach Elliott bringing in “his guys.” However, retaining Marques Hagans was a no-brainer in my view.

From Olamide Zaccheaus to Hasise Dubois to Joe Reed to Dontayvion Wicks, among others, Hagans has a verifiable track record of developing wide receivers. Not just incremental. Players are making and have made big strides under the former UVA standout quarterback/wide receiver’s tutelage.

In addition to being a proven coach, Hagans is a respected leader, a UVA graduate, and has NFL experience. As a recruiter, he relates well to high school prospects, and I think his ability as a recruiter will improve as his track record with receivers (and ability to get them to the NFL) continues to impress.

Projected Role(s): I expect he’ll stay with wide receivers because of the success he has had, although his background as a college quarterback is something to keep in mind. I’d be surprised if Hagans does not have more duties than just a position coach, as his stock is rising outside of Charlottesville. There were rumors last year that Shane Beamer wanted him on his staff at South Carolina, for example.

GARETT TUJAGUE

Upon arriving in Charlottesville six years ago, Bronco Mendenhall and Tujague had their work cut out in terms of building up depth but also improving the overall quality of play on the line. The unit took a significant step forward in 2019, and in the past two seasons Virginia’s offensive line has been one of the best in the ACC.

Tujague helped recruit and develop the line to where it was this past season. More recently, he recruited top prospects such as Andrew Gentry, Logan Taylor and Noah Josey. Gentry, who was planning to enroll at UVA this coming summer following a two-year LDS mission, is now headed to Michigan following Mendenhall’s departure, but Taylor and Josey highlight a very promising group of first-year players.

Tujague’s performance in building the offensive line, ability to form strong relationships with recruits, and high-energy character made him a strong candidate. His return did not translate to key Cavaliers returning from the transfer portal as center Olu Oluwatimi is Michigan-bound and tackle Bobby Haskins is USC-bound, but the UVA offensive line figures to be in good hands.

Projected Role(s): All Tujague has coached position-wise in his career is the offensive line, so I’d be shocked if he is designated elsewhere. Could the former College of the Canyons head coach receive additional duties though?

CLINT SINTIM

There were few bright spots on a defense that struggled mightily in 2021, so I don’t think anyone would have been surprised to see Elliott go with a clean slate defensive coaching-wise. Sintim staying makes sense because of his UVA and in-state ties, as well as the job he did in recruiting in the class of 2021, when UVA inked three very promising defensive line prospects headlined by 4-star Bryce Carter. He also helped UVA land a commitment from highly productive Anthony Holmes Jr. in the class of 2022, though the Houston (TX) native reopened his recruitment soon after after Mendenhall resigned. (He remains uncommitted.)

It is honestly hard to gauge how good of a coach Sintim has been since he arrived in 2020. Ahead of 2020, Virginia saw one of their best defensive linemen, Aaron Faumui, opt out because of COVID. Heralded defensive lineman Jowon Briggs left the program in the middle of the season, and starter Richard Burney missed half the year due to illness/injury. Faumui returned in 2020, but grad-transfer Adeeb Atariwa missed most of 2021 with an injury, and once again the unit was thin on experience.

Sintim has coached linebackers in the past, so he could move there depending on who else is hired by Elliott. Youth, recruiting, and Virginia (state and school) ties make him an attractive coach to keep.

Potential role(s) projection: I expect Sintim will probably be stay on defense, either as defensive line coach or linebackers, where he also has experience. It all depends on who else Elliott brings in, though. As an assistant at West Alabama (D2) his first year in coaching, Sintim did assist on special teams. Could special teams coordinator be an option? Perhaps a stretch, but we'll see.

Who’s Next?

On offense, if Hagans is the receivers coach and Tujague the offensive line coach, Elliott still has to fill the offensive coordinator, quarterbacks, running backs and tight ends coaching spots. We know those spots will not be filled by anyone else from the Mendenhall staff, as Robert Anae (OC, inside receivers and tight ends) and Jason Beck (QBs) are off to Syracuse while Mark Atuaia (RBs) is reportedly headed to Washington State.

With Sintim likely the only holdover from the defensive staff, and the likelihood that he'll handle the defensive line or linebackers, Virginia has defensive coordinator, defensive line or linebackers, defensive backs and special teams coordinator left to fill. (UVA co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Kelly Poppinga penned his farewell to UVA and last season’s cornerbacks coach/special teams coordinator Ricky Brumfield is reportedly heading to Florida International.)

ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg provided insight on who Elliott may be targeting for offensive coordinator: Atlanta Falcons running backs coach Des Kitchings.

Kitchings is finishing up his first season on the NFL level after coaching from 2004-2020 in the college ranks, including stops at his alma mater, Furman, as well as Vanderbilt, Air Force, NC State and South Carolina. He spent the most time at NC State, where he coached running backs for eight seasons but also served in other capacities including recruiting coordinator from 2014-2018, assistant head coach for offense in 2018, and co-offensive coordinator in 2019. He left to coach running backs at South Carolina in 2020.

Kitchings, 43, only has two seasons of offensive coordinator experience - one at Vanderbilt and one at NC State - but with Elliott’s offensive coordinator background, an experienced OC is not necessary. Kitchings’ recruiting pedigree is intriguing. According to 247 Sports, he was the lead recruiter for 56 prospects in his time in Raleigh. He landed nine 4-star prospects for the Wolfpack. Twenty-nine of his recruits hailed from North Carolina, while 10 more were from Georgia, a state that has been very important to UVA recruiting.

From 2014-2018, NC State’s recruiting classes finished with 247 Sports rankings of 34, 31, 50, 53 and 26 nationally.

At defensive coordinator, I expect Elliott to target someone with a lot of experience, either as the sole defensive coordinator or a co-defensive coordinator. Danny Rocco, recently relieved of his duties as Delaware’s head coach, is a name that’s out there, but I’m not sure if there is any interest on Elliott’s part (gut feeling is no). A coach with Rocco’s level of experience, though, is who I expect to at least have a co-defensive coordinator role for the Hoos. As an assistant, Rocco spent the majority of his career as a defensive coach, except for a one-year stint as special teams coordinator for the Jets. He then became Liberty's head coach in 2006. Rocco served as head coach at Liberty from 2006-2011, Richmond from 2012-2016, and Delaware from 2017-2021.

So, an experienced defensive coordinator, or an experienced co-defensive coordinator flanked by a young up-and-comer as the other co-defensive coordinator is how I expect this search to go.