Fresh start

BIG QUESTION

GAME changer

Every new season offers a clean slate—and the opportunity to dream big. With the arrival of new head coach Tony Elliott, the UVA football faithful dreamt especially big this year. And while the team didn’t live up to preseason expectations, there is, as they say in athletics, always next year. In a recent Zoom call, Elliott told us why he decided to come to the University of Virginia.—Jack Keaveny

434: With your experience as both an assistant coach and offensive coordinator at Clemson, it’s no surprise that you garnered interest from other schools. Why did you feel that Virginia was the best fit for you? TONY ELLIOTT: I felt Virginia was the best fit because it matched the profile that I set forth, about three or four years before, of the school that I would want to transition to. It started with high academics, and that was important because at the end of the day, education is the most important thing.

Football is prevalent in a guy’s life at this point, but long-term, education is the key, and to have an institution like Virginia and the brand recognition from an academic standpoint, and just the overall quality of the educational experience that you receive here was important for me.

An opportunity to build something the way that I wanted to build it and not necessarily have to be influenced by a bunch of external forces. The opportunity to play in a competitive conference that sets you up to have a chance to compete on a national level. Those were the big things, and the thing that sealed the deal was just the relationship that I was able to establish, as quickly as I was, with [UVA Athletic Director] Carla [Williams]. When you go through the interview process, it’s very difficult to kind of foster a relationship, but there was an instant connection between Carla and myself.

A longer version of this story originally ran in C-VILLE Weekly.

JOHN ROBINSON