Why Ryan Odom’s Hire at UVA Would Leave Terry Holland With ‘a Smile on His Face’

March 27, 2025
Ann Holland, left, with Ryan Odom, right

A reunion of old neighbors: Ann Holland, the wife of the late, legendary UVA men’s basketball coach Terry Holland, shares a moment with Ryan Odom, the new Cavalier men’s basketball coach. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

Ann Holland was wary. Not because she thought Ryan Odom was undeserving of becoming the next University of Virginia men’s basketball coach, or because she preferred another candidate.

No, Terry Holland’s widow was reluctant to see someone she’s known since he was a boy take over the program her husband once put on the national map because, well, she wasn’t ready to stress-watch the Cavaliers again.

“I had gotten used to not being so excited about basketball and having stomachaches and headaches,” Holland said Monday following Odom’s introductory news conference at John Paul Jones Arena. “And now, I got to go back to that.

“But now that he’s here, he’s perfect. Virginia made a really, really good choice.”

Holland had an aisle seat Monday, five rows back from the podium where Odom was the main attraction for an impromptu Wahoo basketball reunion.

From the floor of University Hall Coach Terry Holland during a UVA basketball game with several people including Dave Odom

Ryan Odom’s father, Dave, sits over Terry Holland’s left shoulder during a UVA men’s basketball game in the 1980s. Dave was an assistant coach under Holland for seven seasons. (UVA Athletics photo)

All around Holland were players – Ralph Sampson, Ricky Stokes, Wally Walker and Jeff Jones among them – who helped define her husband’s legacy at UVA. Two and a half decades after Terry retired as the Cavaliers’ all-time winningest coach, there’s a direct link back to that celebrated era.

Odom, 50, said Charlottesville was the place where he “fell in love with basketball,” a product of his time around his father, Dave, who served as Terry Holland’s assistant coach from 1982 to 1989.

Odom flashed back Monday to his boyhood memories of sitting on the 7-foot-4 Sampson’s knee and watching Jones dribble between his legs.

“I watched the team practice,” he said, “and they would get after it every day. You learned the value of hard work and togetherness and intensity.”

Odom was in third grade when his dad moved the family from North Carolina to Charlottesville’s Lewis Mountain neighborhood. Their house on Morris Road was two doors down from the Hollands’ residence.

Excellence Here Goes Everywhere, To Be Great and Good In All We Do
Excellence Here Goes Everywhere, To Be Great and Good In All We Do

Little Ryan, Ann recalled, “was so adorable, and he was wide open. But he played it well. He was great.”

Odom calls Ann and Terry’s daughters, Ann-Michael and Kate, his sisters. They, along with Ryan’s brother Lane, all grew up together in the shadows of University Hall.

“Dave, Terry and the other coaches would be sitting around talking, and they would just be sitting there with their eyes wide open, watching,” Holland said. “Lane always would be drawing plays, but Ryan was always focused on whoever was talking.”

Images of a young Odom don’t just sit in Holland’s mind; she has tangible evidence of him interacting with the 1980s Cavaliers mixed in with her large archive of photographs from that era.

Odom on Monday labeled Ann an “amazing photographer” and remembered visiting the darkroom in the Holland basement, where Ann developed and stored many of her pictures. One particular image of a 12-year-old Odom decked out in UVA gear while dribbling a basketball at U-Hall was included in a brochure for Cavalier basketball camp.

Ryan Odom shaking hands with UVA legend Ralph Sampson

Ryan Odom shakes hands with Ralph Sampson following his introduction as Cavalier men’s basketball coach. Odom, a former ball boy for the team, has vivid memories from his childhood of watching Sampson star for the Wahoos. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

That photo resurfaced recently on social media as Wahoo fans awaited news of Odom’s hire. Unbeknownst to them, Odom, Virginia Commonwealth University’s coach the last two seasons, brought the picture to his interview with UVA Director of Athletics Carla Williams and President Jim Ryan and presented it when asked for his level of passion for the job.

“I just put (the photo) right in front of them,” Odom said. “Why Virginia? That’s ‘why Virginia.’ That’s the starting point.”

Before the official announcement, Odom called Holland last week to let her know, 41 years after they first met, they’d be living in the same town again.

“He told me he’ll have a great place to play in,” Holland said, noting Odom’s acknowledgement of Terry Holland’s role in the creation of JPJ from his time as UVA’s director of athletics. “‘Thanks, coach Holland.’ It was very sweet of him to do that.”

Terry Holland died Feb. 26, 2023, after being diagnosed with dementia. Two years later, and underneath a banner that bears his name, it was hard to ignore his impact as the son of one of his assistant coaches – and a dear friend – became the Wahoos’ next leader.

“He would be very proud,” Ann said before visualizing her late husband in the room. “He would just sit with his arms crossed and have a smile on his face. He would not say anything. He would just have a smile on his face.”

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Erich Bacher

Assistant Athletic Director for Public Relations

Article Information

March 30, 2025

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