CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) As Virginia’s pursuit of international basketball prospect Thijs De Ridder became more and more complicated by eligibility issues, associate head coach Griff Aldrich, De Ridder’s lead recruiter, started to question the wisdom of putting so much time and effort into the recruitment of one player.

Head coach Ryan Odom was adamant the Cavaliers stay the course.

“There were so many times Ryan was like, ‘Let’s just keep chipping away,’” Aldrich told Cville Right Now. “And I was like, ‘Man, do we need to pull the plug? Are we not reading the providential signs.’”

In the end, De Ridder committed to UVA and the NCAA granted him two years of eligibility. Odom praised Aldrich’s efforts in getting the Belgian power forward to Charlottesville. Aldrich credited Odom’s patience in the process.

It’s a prime example of how the two men, best friends for over three decades, believe they will complement each other as they lead Virginia’s program. And it’s why Aldrich gave up a head coaching post at Longwood to join Odom at UVA.

“I’m aggressive, and uber intense, where Ryan is probably more patient,” Aldrich, a former lawyer and businessman in Texas, said. “Ryan is a guy who, the glass is always half full with Ryan. And I’m the glass is always half empty. He’s always like, well it will work out. And I’m always like, well, what if it doesn’t. I’m jealous of that. He’s probably a true optimist.”

Aldrich and Odom were classmates and teammates at Hampden-Sydney in 1992, though Odom said Aldrich claims there was an earlier meeting at a basketball camp where Aldrich defeated Odom in a game of one-on-one.

“I can’t confirm or deny that one,” a laughing Odom told Cville Right Now.

What Odom can share is that he and Aldrich struck up a lifelong friendship. They were in each other’s weddings, Aldrich became close with Odom’s parents, and it was Odom who gave Aldrich his path back into college basketball, hiring him at UMBC in 2016.

Aldrich had found success as a lawyer in Texas, where he also founded an oil and gas company and was the chief financial officer for a private equity firm, a departure from the career in basketball coaching he had targeted when his Hampden-Sydney days ended.

In fact, Aldrich was going to be a graduate assistant coach for Ryan’s father, Dave, at Wake Forest, but the elder Odom dissuaded him from the profession, encouraging Aldrich to pursue law school.

The passion for basketball never left him, and – while in Texas – had started coaching with an AAU program. Odom could tell the coaching bug had bitten his old friend hard.

“Something was different,” Odom said. “Griff was literally watching all our games at Lenoir Rhyne, calling me after the game. I’m coaching D-II at the time. Nobody’s watching these games. I knew something was up at that point.”

After UMBC’s 2018 NCAA tournament upset of UVA, Longwood took a gamble and hired Aldrich as its head coach. He transformed the program, leading the Lancers to their first-ever NCAA tournament appearances in 2022 and 2024.

Aldrich went 127-100 in seven seasons in Farmville, ending his run there with four straight winning campaigns, including three seasons with 20 wins or more.

Then, in the offseason, Odom – who left UMBC for Utah State and then VCU – took the Virginia job. Aldrich hadn’t considered joining Odom at his previous stops, and had turned down head coaching opportunities over the past three years to remain at Longwood, but this was different. This was UVA, where Aldrich went to law school and where Odom grew up while his father was a Cavaliers assistant.

“It never felt like the right move, honestly, for the family,” Aldrich said of his previous job offers. “When Ryan called and told me about this opportunity and what he was looking for, this one just felt right for our family. It was kind of the right time, the right place and the right people.”

Aldrich’s connection to UVA and Charlottesville is very real. Last month, Odom witnessed Aldrich get a visitor to his office – a roommate from law school who reminisced about munching on Oreo cookies during late-night study sessions.

“This place means something to him,” Odom said.

Still, Odom said it was “no slam dunk” that Aldrich would agree to leave Longwood and the Farmville community that his family had made home for most of a decade.

It was a decision Aldrich said he wrestled with, discussed with his wife and prayed over. In the end, the chance to join Odom at UVA was too great an opportunity to pass up.

“This is more than just going to join a colleague,” Aldrich said. “It’s going to join a best friend.”

For Odom, adding Aldrich gives him an experienced head coach on the bench with him, a trusted confidant and someone with business acumen – increasingly important in the current college landscape.

Offering Aldrich a spot on his staff was a “no-brainer.”

For Aldrich, however, the job change meant giving up the big whistle, sliding one spot down on the bench and having to finesse himself into a staff that had been together, and been successful, for multiple years.

It’s a big adjustment for the 51-year-old, the latest in a professional life filled with those.

“I asked Ryan, ‘What do you need me for? What am I gonna do?’” Aldrich said. “I think Ryan really felt like this was a job that needed two head coaches. That’s what he said. He was going to need that support as he builds the program. Having been a head coach and having been in the private sector so long, I think he thinks I just bring a different perspective.”

Odom said it goes back to their differing personalities – Aldrich’s fiery urgency and Odom’s own measured steadiness.

“He knows when I need to be pushed on things and when to back off,” Odom said. “That’s why I brought him. I didn’t bring him here just because he’s my friend.”