Roussell Era Begins at UVA

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Aaron Roussell smiled often and poked fun at himself several times Monday afternoon during his introductory press conference at John Paul Jones Arena. But the University of Virginia’s new head women’s basketball coach turned serious when he discussed his vision for the program.

He wouldn’t have left the University of Richmond, Roussell said, if he didn’t believe UVA could win big and compete for championships.

“I’m here because I think this is going to be really, really great,” Roussell said.

Roussell and his staff are still constructing Virginia’s roster for 2026-27, and that’s his top priority right now. “But this is a program where we want sustained excellence,” he said. “We want to hang some banners.”

His audience in the women’s practice gym at JPJ included several other UVA head coaches, among them Ryan Odom (men’s basketball), Joanna Hardin (softball) and Lars Tiffany (men’s lacrosse). Roussell said he’s also heard from Tony Elliott (football).

In the spring of 2025, Odom came to UVA afer two seasons at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he took note of Roussell’s success at UR. Odom’s advice for his new colleague?

“He doesn’t need my advice,” Odom said, smiling. “He knows what he's doing. He's been a longtime head coach and he's done this before, and I think the biggest thing is just trusting yourself and holding true to the standards that you've always had in your program and listening to your staff and just continuing to work every day like you always have.”

UVA director of athletics Carla Williams announced the dismissal of head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton on April 4. Three days later, Roussell was hired.

“I've worked with Coach for less than a week now, and it is apparent why he is a winner on and off the court,” Williams said Monday.

Aaron Roussell is ready to build something special at @UVAWomensHoops ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/LZDESiKeQO

— ACC Network (@accnetwork) April 13, 2026

Roussell has been a head college coach for more than two decades. His first head job was at the University of Chicago, where in eight seasons his teams went 161-50 and made four trips to the NCAA Division III tournament.

In 2012, he left Chicago for his first Division I job. In Roussell’s seven seasons at Bucknell University, his teams posted a 151-72 record, with two NCAA tournament appearances.

In 2019, he moved from Bucknell to Richmond, where he took over a program that hadn’t advanced to the NCAA tournament in 14 years. Under Roussell, UR went 148-72 and made the NCAAs in each of his final three seasons.

In the Spiders’ only game against Virginia during Roussell’s tenure, they won 74-65 at JPJ in November 2021.

“Coach Roussell built Richmond into a program that none of us Power 4 schools would schedule,” Williams said Monday, to laughter from her audience.

Williams said she’s been impressed with Roussell’s “appreciation for the academic mission of the University, which is still a key differentiator for all of our sports programs,” as well as his “ability to build, sustain, and further develop meaningful, substantive relationships ... These traits and his unique ability to coach the game echoed over and over again through everyone that's been a part of his career journey.”

During his remarks at the press conference, Roussell thanked numerous people, including his family. His wife, Molly, sat in the front row with their three children: son Riley, 15, and daughters Kelsey, 11, and Kendall, 8.

Roussell also mentioned several members of his new staff, including Ariel Stephenson, Alex Louin and AJ Wahl, all of whom were him at UR this season; Darren Guensch, who’s coming to UVA from Virginia Tech; and former Florida head coach Kelly Rae Finley. Guensch previously coached with Roussell at Bucknell and Richmond.

Roussell is the seventh head coach in program history. Two of his predecessors—Debbie Ryan and Joanne Boyle—attended the press conference Monday. Like Roussell, Boyle is a former Richmond head coach.

“He’s just awesome,” Boyle said.

Ryan, who guided the Cavaliers to three Final Fours, met with Roussell on Friday in his JPJ office, an experience he described as enjoyable and entertaining. “She’s been great,” he said.

Roussell also has spoken to several of the greatest players in UVA history, including Dawn Staley, Tammi Reiss, Wendy Palmer and Monica Wright.

He’s aware of the program’s rich tradition, Roussell said, and the Wahoos are “going to do great things in the future. We're going to have a lot of celebrations in the future. It's going to be great. But we're going to make sure that this is an inclusive place that does involve and include everybody that's been here before our time.”

Not every Division I head coach has roots in Division III, but Roussell loved his time at Chicago.

“It was about the student-athlete, and you could be a student-athlete,” he said. “And there was balance there. I thought that aligned with me. I wasn't a star basketball player. I didn't think I was going to do this. I thought I was going to go to law school. I thought I was going to be a journalist. That was my path. Coaching was a hobby. I never thought I could make this a career. And so I thought Division III aligned with me.”

The athletic director who hired him at Bucknell, John Hardt, assured him they would “do things the right way [in Division I too],” Roussell said.

Hardt also hired him at Richmond, where "the message was the same," Roussell said. "Talking with Carla during this process, the message was the same. This is a special place where it's going to be a student-athlete experience, and we're going to go win some games, but we’re going to do this the right way as well.”

He hasn’t had time to learn his way around Grounds, but a 30-minute tour Sunday left Roussell dazzled. “It’s incredible,” he said. When his staff met Sunday night, Roussell said, they agreed that once recruiting targets “see this place, they're going to realize just what we all have here.”

Asked to describe the way his teams play, Roussell said, “I think it's a very fluid style. I think it's easy on the eyes in the sense that the ball's moving, players are moving. It's not a lot of iso, iso, iso.”

There’s a “synergy of players playing together,” he added, “and it takes a while. When you first start this thing, it doesn't always look awesome right away. It takes some time. But this style of play, you play the best at the end of the season. And so I think it's fun to watch the movement.”

UVA's personnel will dictate his approach, Roussell said. “If we went back to Richmond this year, we were going to have to change, based on our personnel. We're going to have to do that if we're going to construct a roster. But I think just that fluid, fun motion style, you'll see the framework here.”

From a UVA team that lost last month in the NCAA tournament’s Sweet Sixteen, players with eligibility remaining include Kymora Johnson, Sa’Myah Smith, Gabby White, Tabitha Amanze, Adeang Ring, Breona Hurd and Olivia McGhee. Roussell met with each of them last week, and he said player retention is another priority.

As he puts together his roster for next season, Roussell said, he’s emphasizing the opportunities players will have to grow and develop in the program. He knows that professional basketball is the goal for many players, and he believes Virginia coaching staff can help them reach that objective.

“I want to coach pros,” Roussell said. “I want to prepare pros. That’s part of why we did what we did [at Richmond] and how we changed our offense over the years. I wanted that to translate. I wanted what we were doing, what we were teaching, to translate at that next level.

“So that's a big part of it. And I also think it's a fun style to play. I think that's something that we teach. It's a fun style. It's reading. It's not about memorization. It's playing basketball. And sometimes, it's just: play. It's just: play. So I think it's fun for them. It's fun to teach. That's also part of our objective. Sometimes, as a teacher, you’ve just got to learn new things so you're not getting stale and stagnant.”

After Roussell concluded his remarks, Williams stood near the dais and took questions from media members. When asked about her decision to part ways with Agugua-Hamilton, who led the program for four seasons, Williams said she couldn’t comment on personnel matters.

Williams said, however, that “with each passing year I learn more about UVA, I learn more about the community, I learn more about the expectations, I learn more about what works, I learn more about what doesn't work. And so right now with Aaron we're just overjoyed, because he checked every box that we need to check.”

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