Virginia shocked many Saturday, firing head women's basketball coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, who just took the program to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 26 years, becoming the first First Four team to make it that far, and had the upset of the tournament, knocking off No. 2 Iowa in double-overtime.
The university offered no statement beyond classifying the transaction as "a parting of the ways."
Agugua-Hamilton just completed her fourth season. The Cavaliers were 22-12 and had their first winning ACC record since 2017-18, and its 11 conference wins were the most since Virginia won 13 in 1999-00. The cavaliers had seen in increase in conference wins during Agugua-Hamilton's tenure, going from 4 to 7, 8 and 11.
The controversial move was enough to get Dawn Staley involved. The legendary South Carolina head coach who played at UVA, said she has contacted the atheltic director to try and understand what was behind the move, saying "I don't know what went wrong. She had them on the right track."
My take: Must be some internal conflict because the program improved every season under Aguagu-Hamilton. Head-scratcher.
THE ASYLUM
Virginia fires successful coach
Virginia shocked many Saturday, firing head women's basketball coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, who just took the program to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 26 years, becoming the first First Four team to make it that far, and had the upset of the tournament, knocking off No. 2 Iowa in double-overtime.
The university offered no statement beyond classifying the transaction as "a parting of the ways."
Agugua-Hamilton just completed her fourth season. The Cavaliers were 22-12 and had their first winning ACC record since 2017-18, and its 11 conference wins were the most since Virginia won 13 in 1999-00. The cavaliers had seen in increase in conference wins during Agugua-Hamilton's tenure, going from 4 to 7, 8 and 11.
The controversial move was enough to get Dawn Staley involved. The legendary South Carolina head coach who played at UVA, said she has contacted the atheltic director to try and understand what was behind the move, saying "I don't know what went wrong. She had them on the right track."
My take: Must be some internal conflict because the program improved every season under Aguagu-Hamilton. Head-scratcher.
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