Griff Aldrich
Griff Aldrich is in his first season as associate head coach with the Virginia men’s basketball program. He’s been reunited with Ryan Odom after serving as head coach at Longwood University the past seven seasons. Aldrich, who has a law degree from UVA, served as Odom’s Director of Recruiting and Program Development at UMBC from 2016-18.
Aldrich posted a 127-100 mark in seven seasons at Longwood, guiding the program to its first two Division I NCAA Tournament appearances, two Big South Championships, a Big South regular-season title and three consecutive 20-win campaigns for the first time in team history. The 67 wins from 2022-24 are the most in a three-year span in school history.
Aldrich guided Longwood to Big South championships and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2022 and 2024. In 2021-22, Aldrich earned league coach of the year honors after guiding the Lancers to their first Big South championship and first NCAA Tournament bid at the Division I level. Longwood went 15-1 in league play and stormed through the conference tournament to earn the Big South’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid. Longwood’s 26-7 overall record and 15-1 Big South record were both high water marks in the team’s Division I history, and the 26 wins were the most since the team went 28-3 in the 1979-80 season and advanced to the Division III Final Four. Aldrich was a finalist for both the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award, given to the top Division I coach in the nation, and the Hugh Durham Award, given to the top mid-major coach in the country.
In 2023-24, Aldrich and the Lancers powered their way to a third-straight 20-win campaign, going 21-14 and claiming its second Big South title and second NCAA Tournament appearance. Longwood won three games in three days to claim its second Big South title and advance to the NCAA Tournament behind Big South Tournament MVP Walyn Napper and All-Tournament honorees Michael Christmas and Szymon Zapala. The team boasted a 15-game winning streak that was the second-longest in team history. Aldrich was named a finalist for the 2023-24 Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award for a second straight year. Aldrich was also a finalist for the Prosser Award after Longwood posted a 20-12 mark in 2022-23.
Aldrich’s career at Longwood has garnered national attention throughout his time in Farmville. In his first season, he was a finalist for the 2019 Joe B. Hall Coach of the Year Award. He was also profiled in best-selling author John Feinstein’s 2020 book “The Back Roads to March.” Longwood’s turnaround under Aldrich was the byproduct of standout recruiting classes and a program grounded in the “Longwood Five:” Excellence, Grit, Humility, Gratitude and Service. Longwood’s success under Aldrich extended off the court as well with record-breaking performances in the classroom. The program set a record with a 3.29 GPA in the spring of 2021 and routinely posted cumulative GPAs north of 3.00 in his seven seasons.
At UMBC from 2016-18, Aldrich helped Odom engineer one of the great turnarounds in college basketball. He served as chief of staff for Odom – his college teammate and son of legendary college coach Dave Odom – and was involved in all aspects of UMBC’s turnaround from NCAA cellar-dweller to America East Champion and NCAA Tournament giant-killer. Aldrich oversaw the recruiting and program development efforts and was involved in all aspects of the program from recruiting and scouting to quality control and campus and community engagement.
Aldrich left a successful 16-year career in law and business to join Odom at UMBC. He became a partner at Vinson & Elkins, a leading international law firm, working in Houston and London. Later, he established and built a private oil and gas company in Texas and held the position of Managing Director & Chief Financial Officer in a national energy-focused private investment firm.
While at Vinson & Elkins, he served as head coach at several elite-level AAU basketball programs for high school players. He went on to find the HIS Hoops program in Houston’s Third Ward, one of the most impoverished areas of the city, where his work with students focused on faith, academics and basketball. Several of his players there and at other AAU programs advanced to the college and professional ranks, including L.A. Clippers forward DeAndre Jordan, international professionals Jay Couisnard, P.J. Couisnard and Brandon Peters, and NFL linebacker Orie Lemon.
Aldrich graduated from Hampden-Sydney in 1996. He helped lead the Tigers to a 79-31 record during his career, which included two NCAA Tournament appearances, and was team captain his senior year.
After earning his Juris Doctorate from the UVA School of Law, he rejoined his former college coach Tony Shaver on the Hampden-Sydney bench for the 1999-2000 season. Aldrich helped the Tigers to their best season in school history with a perfect 24-0 record in the regular season, a No. 1 Division III national ranking, the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Championship and a trip to the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Aldrich and his wife, Julie, have three children: Scott, Ford and Laura Lee.