By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In Adrian Autry’s 12 seasons on Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim’s staff at Syracuse, his responsibilities included scouting the Virginia Cavaliers. The more Autry studied what Tony Bennett built at UVA, the more impressed he grew.
“I can go through all of those teams and the progression of what he did,” said Autry, whose first exposure to Bennett’s teams came as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech. “To me, this program has so much history and tradition and consistency, and it doesn't take a backseat to anything. And that was intriguing.”
Autry succeeded Boeheim as Syracuse’s head coach in March 2023, and he went 1-2 against UVA in that position.
Virginia defeated Syracuse at John Paul Jones Arena in 2023-24 and lost to the Orange at the JMA Wireless Dome in 2024-25. Coached by Autry’s longtime friend Ryan Odom, the Wahoos defeated the Orange 72-59 last season at JPJ.
Odom and Autry, who worked together on Seth Greenberg’s staff at Virginia Tech from 2008 to 2010, are colleagues again. Griff Aldrich left UVA to become head coach at Pepperdine in March, and Odom hired Autry as his replacement.
“It’s awesome to work with Red again,” Odom said. “He obviously has high-level head-coaching experience, high-level assistant-coaching experience, high-level playing experience, and so the expertise that he's going to be able to give these guys will be tremendous.”
Autry has long been called Red by friends and family, a nod, he said, to his complexion and hair color. “It just stuck with me,” he said. “My dad is Big Red.”
Much has changed since he and Odom were assistants in Blacksburg, but Odom is “still the same guy,” Autry said, “very, very thoughtful, very mindful, super intelligent. He’s a guy that makes you feel comfortable when you're around him. He’s bringing people up.”
As Syracuse’s head coach, Autry attended ACC meetings, during which he couldn’t help but notice UVA Athletics’ success in multiple sports. He also saw what Odom was able to accomplish last season, when the Hoos went 30-6. (Virginia finished fifth in the Learfield Directors’ Cup competition for 2025-26.)
“It just makes you ask: Why this place?” Autry said. “You’re at those ACC meetings, and they're acknowledging all these teams that had all the success, and I just kept hearing Virginia, Virginia, Virginia, Virginia, Virginia. So I'm so blessed and lucky to be here, and I want to soak this all in. It's something.”
A native of New York City, Autry grew up in Harlem and was a McDonald’s All-American at St. Nicholas of Tolentine in the Bronx before starring for Boeheim at Syracuse. Then came a professional career, a journey that took Autry to Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia and Turkey, among other countries.
When he finished playing, Autry figured he was through with basketball. “I wanted to do business, so I dabbled a little bit in real estate and title insurance,” he said.
On a visit to Syracuse, however, he saw Boeheim, who called Autry into his office. When he learned that Autry was working in real estate, Boeheim pointed him in another direction.
“He goes, ‘You should be coaching,’” Autry recalled, laughing. “He was like, ‘You're going to coach. Here’s a number. Take this number down. Call this guy, blah, blah, blah.’ And I was just like, ‘OK.’ After that, I started slowly kind of gravitating back to basketball in the capacity of coaching.”
He’s never looked back. “I think every coach has reasons for why they do it,” Autry said. “For me, I love basketball. Basketball has allowed me to do things that I could have never imagined or dreamed.”
Hoops helped him land a scholarship, get a college education, travel the world, “make some money and start a family,” Autry said, and it’s also taught him valuable lessons about teamwork and discipline.