The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Jeff Jones Joined Jerry Ratcliffe & Jerry Miller Live On "The Jerry & Jerry Show!"

Episode Date: November 5, 2024

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: Interview With Former UVA Coach Jeff Jones Jeff Jones On State Of College Hoops Now How Are Transfer Portal & NIL Impacting Hoops? What Did Jones Make Of Tony Bennett News? What Does Jones Think About Ron Sanchez? UVA at Pittsburgh (-7.5), 8 PM Saturday, ACCN What Must UVA Improve Upon Out Of Bye Week? Should Tony Elliott Make a Change At QB? 5 ACC Football Teams Are Ranked In Top 25 Jeff Jones, Former UVA Basketball Coach, joined Jerry Ratcliffe & Jerry Miller live on “The Jerry & Jerry Show!” “The Jerry & Jerry Show” airs live Tuesday from 10:15 am – 11 am on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to “The Jerry & Jerry Show” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible and iLoveCVille.com.

Ten seconds. Good Tuesday morning, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on the Jerry and Jerry Show. It's that beautiful time of year where football and basketball intersect. A lot we're going to talk about on today's program, including Tony Elliott's football program heading to Pittsburgh, where they are a seven and a half point favorite. Let's cut to the chase. This football team is on the skids right now,

and it's looking to turn the corner and maybe secure some bowl eligibility. Some of the naysayers predict the football team will finish on a seven game losing streak. They head to a stadium, and they head to an environment where the last time UV finish on a seven-game losing streak. They head to a stadium and they head to an environment where the last time UVA won a game, Al Groh was on the sidelines and Dave Weinstein was on the sidelines for the Pitt Panthers. We'll talk Virginia football.

We'll talk quarterback play and what the Wahoos have to do coming out of the bye week. Before we do that, however, we have a guest on the line, courtesy of the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, Jerry Hootie-Rackliff, the star of our program, a name that you know, a household name, ladies and gentlemen, Jeff Jones on the line. Judah Wickhauer behind the camera will patch Coach Jones into the program and pass the baton to a man that also needs no introduction, a Virginia Sports Hall of Famer and Jerry Hooton to a man that also needs no introduction a virginia sports hall of famer and jerry hoody rackliff well uh it's my pleasure to have uh an old friend jeff jones on our

program today and uh um i i said when he retired that he was my favorite coach to work with in my career and that spans a whole lot of coaches at a whole lot of places. And Jeff was always just such an easy guy to work with for the media and so transparent and candid and cooperative and understood where the media was coming from. And I want to thank him for that, for all of us media types that ever dealt with him at all the universities he coached at. And you were talking about having the Midas touch.

When Jeff retired from ODU not long ago with 560 wins under his belt, he was the 19th winning as coach, active coach in the country. That's out of way over 300 schools. And 32 years, just an incredible career. Jeff, thank you so much for taking some time to join us this morning. Well, I appreciate it. It was, you know, I was glad to get your, when you reached out yesterday, I'm glad it worked out. It took me a little bit to figure out

how to get Skype up here. You're still ahead of me. It's been a while since I had used it, but I think it's working fine. I really enjoyed being with you guys this morning let's let's uh let's go back to a little bit before we start talking about today's issues and how they've screwed up college sports but um i want to go back to when you were at in owensboro kentucky and i still think that was one of the major recruiting coups of all time when Terry Holland got you and Jeff Lamp and Lee Raker

all out of the bluegrass state to come east and play for Virginia. How in the world did he do that? You know, I think the easiest way to say it is for for me anyway is he had gotten lamp and raker and and richard schmidt was was already there richard was an assistant coach at uva but had been lamp and rakers high school coach uh and and then there was terry gates along with those those other two guys they they were all high school teammates. I didn't know those guys, but I was familiar with them, and I think ultimately that's kind of what swayed things and got me to Charlottesville rather than Chapel Hill.

You guys rewrote Virginia history for sure, put Virginia basketball back on the map and made it pertinent uh and certainly didn't hurt when when the big guy came to town and what was so people often ask me what it was like to cover those teams and and i tell them it's kind of like covering the beatles because everybody wanted a piece of of you guys you were so successful in a national brand at that point. What was it like to be a player on those teams, Jeff? You were one of the leaders and one of the best point guards in UVA history. What was it like

being part of that? My first year at uva before ralph came was was for me really frustrated we we lost more games that year and we you know i think we won 20 games maybe that that season 18 or 20 something like that went to the nit we lost more games that year than i lost collectively in high school for, you know, for, for multiple years. So that was, that was different. That was, that was hard. But then when, when, when Ralph came immediately, immediately the expectations just, you know, jumped out of the roof and you know, that, that first year we, we had some success, but those expectations, that was a challenge.

And, you know, fortunately for us, we kind of put it together. We didn't make the NCAA tournament back then. I think it was 48 teams. We won the NIT, and that was the springboard, I think, for the following year. That next year in 81 was when Raker and Lamp Gates were seniors. I was third year. Ralph was second year. That was a great team. And that's kind of what you were talking about, the Beatles.

That's when we were in the top two, maybe the top three in the country the entire year. And, you know, people just in the Charlottesville area, you know, all the Virginia fans just really rallied around the team. That was the, I think that was when UVA first realized that nationally that we could do something really, really special. It was a lot of fun. It was really cool. Number one, good guys, great friends that I still stay in touch with today. We were winning games.

We were playing on national TV. We'd come home after a big win at North Carolina or wherever, and we'd fly in to the little private runway right next to the Charlottesville airport, and there'd be 1,000 fans there waiting for us. That was pretty heavy stuff for a naive kid from Owensboro, Kentucky. So that was a lot of fun. But as I look back now you know, the, the wins, the rankings, all that was great. But those, those relationships you know, that's,

that's what really, really matters the most. And certainly what I value the most. I'll tell you what your, your team's coach always prepared. My dad went to UVA. I went to UVA. My brother went to UVA. Would love nothing more if our two sons went to UVA. No pressure on the boys. They're six years old and they're two years old. They got a little ways to go. But watching as a diehard sports fan, your team's always prepared. Your team's always tough. Your team's always played both sides of the floor. I'll throw you an open-ended question.

You can go in so many ways with this one. What do you make of college basketball today, coach? We had a point guard, a 6'7 transfer from Florida State that came to the University of Virginia and faced a little bit of adversity when it came to play in time, and he transferred from the program before playing a single minute for the Virginia men's basketball team. Anywhere you want to go on this topic, Coach?

Well, you know, when Worley decided to transfer, you know, I, I don't, I don't think you can single that out because if you want to say things have changed, you know, for a coach to, uh, resign, uh, two weeks before the season that that's even, even bigger change to, to, to me. So, um, you know, there's, there's all kinds of things. And I don't, just like, I mean, I don't, I understand. I don't fault Tony. I mean, the timing was awful. It was terrible, especially for those kids. You know, it's bad for the program, but for those kids, when you have a chance to play for a coach, a Hall of Fame coach, you know, and you go there.

And yes, Virginia's an amazing, fantastic school. It's an ACC program. But, you know, one of the, if not the biggest thing that those kids went there for was to play for Tony Bennett. So that's a big blow to them. So I don't blame anybody for maybe having second thoughts when when after he he retired um but uh the the game well let's before we get to the game the coaching profession has evolved so much you know back in 1983 it was my first year coaching i'd been with with Golden State and I ultimately was let go after

being injured and then coming off injured reserve and all that. I came back in December to join the staff. I was very, very fortunate that Coach Holland had saved me a spot and, you know, had been in coaching for 42 years after that. From that point to now, it's like night and day. You know, the composition of coaching staffs, the money, the recruiting calendar, I mean, everything is different. Within the last, you know, certainly the last five years, but I would say the last three years, the landscape has changed as much in the last three years as it did in all those previous 30-whatever years, 39 years, I guess. It's never been an easy profession. It was a great profession, but it was never an easy profession.

Now, it's unbelievably hard on those guys. The toll mentally, emotionally, physically. Basketball was already the longest sport, in-season sport. It spans two semesters. None of the other sports do what basketball does. But now the season ends, and even before the season ends for the teams that go far in the NCAA tournament, the transfer portal opens up.

And then you start with that. And then at the same time, somehow or another, you're trying to recruit for the juniors and the following class. It used to be there was a little bit of time that you would have maybe just a couple days, but in April there was a dead period. In May you might have a few days, and then in June you'd have a week off. Those don't exist anymore. The only time that coaches have off is a one-week period in August. Now, if the skeptics want to say, well, coaches are paid a hell of a lot more. Well, they are. They are. But that doesn't dismiss or discount the toll that it takes on them

physically, mentally, emotionally, and the toll that it takes on the family. So that has changed. The game itself has changed. It's changed stylistically with the three-point shot, with the shot clock, with analytics. There's much more emphasis on the three-point shot, both offensively and defensively. You know, you can't overlook analytics. You know, everybody associates with analytics, well, you got to shoot the three. Well, that's true. You've got to, but you also have to defend the three. You got to make decisions based on personnel. You know, are you going to give up and play one-on-one in the post and let somebody shoot 60% one-on-one down there in the post? You've got to come up with ways to counteract the style of play these days. So in answer to your question, everything has changed. It is much more,

and I can't believe that people have argued this, and I've seen it online, and it's, people are being, they're just being dishonest with themselves and anybody else. It's transactional now. That doesn't mean you can't have a relationship, you know, but the relationships are different because they're formed. It's almost like speed dating, right? You don't have the time to go through, you know, a year or two years of recruiting, phone calls, home visits, school visits, official visits. And so you don't know the kids as well. They don't know you as well. You know, trust is something Coach Holland used to tell us. It's not something that you put, you take on and off like a coat. You know, it's something that day after day after day after day with both parties, you know, working together is built over time.

We don't have that time anymore. So trust oftentimes is lacking in these relationships. You know, David Teal wrote an article, Jerry, back in the summer. He came. I invited him. He came and joined about 50 of us with Virginia basketball ties and background at my house. And it wasn't a one-time thing. It's something that happens pretty much every year with the exception of during COVID.

And players that I coached, players that I played with way, you know, programs have had in the past. So it has changed. It's evolved. And it is what it is. You know, I'm not going to argue and say, well, it should be like it used to be. No, it's not. You know, that was great. And this, you know, this is the new reality. I think you see a lot of coaches, not only in basketball, but in football and other sports, that the older coaches are getting out. or Kay or Jay Wright or Tony Bennett. Just because those guys get out and maybe they didn't like it

doesn't mean it's wrong. It's just different. And I respect the coaches' decisions to do what's best for them, but the players are going to do what's best for them. Do I like it? No. But whether I like it or not isn't really relevant. And so this new younger breed of coaches, the coaches that are better equipped to adjust and kind of, you know, go with the new environment, more power to them. And, you know, they've got to deal with, you know, they've got general managers now. They're going to have what essentially are capologists to deal with the salary cap because that kind of thing is probably what's coming.

Collective bargaining, you know, how can you have collective bargaining without the players unionizing? Maybe it can happen. You know, my knowledge of antitrust and all that kind of stuff isn't the best, but there's so many different things other than how to defend a pick and roll or how we're going to attack the Syracuse zone. Can I ask him a follow-up question? Sure. Yeah, follow-up question for you. We talked about this on previous shows, Coach Jones. This is coming up on the show right now. Do you think the short notice with the retirement from Coach Bennett was strategic at all so Coach Sanchez had a shot at the interim post? If the retirement happened at the end of this past season, we know a national search

would have happened, and perhaps Coach Sanchez would not have had a shot at least for a year to earn the full-time gig. Your thoughts on that topic? You know, I have no idea. I mean, could you argue that case? It sure seems like that would have been. But, you know, the only two people that I know that could answer that question truthfully, and they probably wouldn't answer had absolutely no previous knowledge of what was going to happen. But I don't like to speculate. They'd have to, they meaning Ron and Tony, would have to be the people that would do it. I think it's absolutely safe to say, had it happened last spring, that Ron or Jason or anybody else wouldn't have had any shot. You know, so you can make a case for that, but who knows? You know, they're probably going to take that secret to their grave, I would guess.

You know, it's a little bit of a different circumstance in that, you know, he was named the coach just not long before the season starts. You were in somewhat of a similar role in the fact that even though Terry announced he was going to leave at the end of the year, Virginia had a national search, and Terry ended up suggesting that you take over the program. What kind of pressure did you feel? I know it's a little different than Ron since he's been a head coach before,

but what was that like for you? All of a sudden you're in there with the heavyweights, Krzyzewski, Dean Smith, Gary Williams, et cetera. And, you know, a lot of people were saying, I think at that point you were the youngest head coach in the United States. Well, actually, I wasn't the youngest head coach in the United States. Gosh, the coach at Niagara, Jack Armstrong maybe was his name. He made sure to remind me that he was younger than me. But I was 29 years old.

I was the youngest head coach in the history of the ACC. 29, wow. Yeah, wow, right? I was probably too dumb, too naive to think too much about it. I was excited. It was my school. It was my program, my home, and I got to lead it., I was going to say yes. He could have said, I'll pay you $20 a month, and I would have taken it. But to get from Coach Holland, we went running. He gave me a heads up of what was going to happen, and we went running, and he told me in the parking lot outside of University Hall, and he said, you know, I can't take this anymore. I can't sit in my office, and this might be a quote that's never been shared publicly, and look at that building while

they neglect men's basketball anymore. And I'm just going to retire. I'm going to sit. That building was the McHugh Center, by the way, for those of you who don't know. And, you know, he had just had enough. And so, you know, I mean, of course I accepted it. A couple days later I accepted it. A couple days later, he announced it. Then as the season went on, if I recall, we had a pretty good run there. And, you know, I think Pete Gillen, Rick Barnes, and Mike Montgomery were the three guys that they were really targeting. Pete Gillens, A.D., I think refused to allow Jim Copeland to speak to Pete.

Rick Barnes came down, and he was third, I guess. Rick Barnes came down and turned it down. Mike Montgomery visited during the Final Four, and that year the Final Four was in Denver, and I was visited during the Final Four. That year, the Final Four was in Denver. I was out at the Final Four. That's where the NABC Coaches Convention goes on, is at the Final Four. I got a call from Jim Copeland saying, you need to come back here. They would have liked for them to keep me, but they weren't going to make anybody do it but so i came back and met with mike montgomery and i kind of just

assumed he was going to be the coach because he gave me a recruiting assignment to uh to he wanted names and he wanted like yesterday he wanted names of any any 610 or taller players that had a 3.0 GPA in the country. So I'm going to work during that Final Four weekend. And then Montgomery gets mad because they don't offer him the job before he leaves. So he goes back and ends up signing an extension, gets a big raise in an extension at Stanford. So then that left Rick Barnes. Rick Barnes came in, accepted the job. Coach Holland told us that day that Barnes accepted the job

and was not going to retain any of us on the staff. I remember saying, well, shoot, I don't know what's going on. I'm going to go to an AAU practice in Richmond. I went to watch the AAU practice. And so back then, you guys, there were no cell phones. So I was kind of out of pocket. I get to the AAU practice, Tony Squires, AAU program. And Dick Tarrant, who was the coach at Richmond at the time, said, you know, I'm sure you heard it all, you know, all about the stuff at UVA. And I was like, yeah, Barnes took it and he's not keeping anybody. And he's like, oh, no, no, you haven't hurt. And I said, no, I've been in the car. I've been driving. He said he called back when he got to uh providence and and turned the job down so i was like oh hell what

what's going on actually it might not have been hell that went through so i immediately leave the uh i immediately leave the the aau practice and go back to my house. At that time, I had an apartment in Charlottesville, but we lived in Goochland in between Charlottesville and Richmond. And the old-fashioned voice recorders, voicemail things, I had 30-some. And then it was completely full. And it was, you know, it was reporters. It was all these people. So one of them was from Jim Copeland, and Jim called me up, and we had a meeting the next day.

And then had a formal interview later that week. And then that was right about the time the men's basketball banquet, the postseason banquet. And I apologize if I'm reminiscing or rambling on. This is great. Some good stuff. So I

walk into University Hall into that main entrance right there, that lobby, before going down to the court where they hold the banquet. And Copeland's the first guy that comes over, and he's kind of smiling. And you have to know Jim, but sometimes he'd get the fake grin and kind of talk out of the side of his mouth. But we were walking and he's like, and he says, you still want the job? I looked at him and I was like, yeah, yeah, hell yeah. And he said, okay, well, it's yours, but you can't tell anybody.

You can't say anything tonight. So I don't think I paid attention to anything that was said or done at that banquet that that that night um uh so uh you know that's kind of how how it happened and as i said i was i was i was honored i was thrilled i was i was so um you know excited to to be able to to to lead you know the the basketball program that i'd been a part of at that point for 12 years at the school that I loved and all that kind of thing. It was really, really special. It didn't end exactly as I would have liked for it to, but it was a great experience.

As a reporter back then, I was all over that story and I actually was making a nuisance of myself. I was roaming around University Hall every day just trying to snoop and find out things. I ran right into Jim Copeland and Mike Montgomery walking out of the back door, which was kind of awkward. And Copeland introduced me to Montgomery, and I asked questions, but obviously he wasn't going to answer them. And then the Rick Barnes thing, they actually flew the old Whirl, I think, airplane, my employer's, back to Providence. And Barnes said he had to check it out with the Friars and their AD.

And Copeland waited at the airport, and Barnes never came back. So he was left sitting there. The person he had to check it out with was Dave Gavitt. Dave Gavitt, yes. And Dave Gavitt said, that's not happening. Right. Basically, he put his foot down, and that was that. But that was an interesting time period for sure.

Want to hear something crazy? This was 34 years ago. That puts it in perspective. 34 years ago, That puts it in perspective. 34 years ago, you were walking around grounds, the Q Center. This man's 29 years old, getting a break of a lifetime professionally. I mean, just think about it. 34 years ago, Hootie. Yeah, it doesn't seem 34 years ago hootie yeah it's it doesn't seem 34 years ago but uh but it certainly was an

incredible time period and i know things like you said jeff didn't end the way you wanted to but i remember i was the first guy to look it up because you were you got off to such a great start after three or four years i looked it it up, and your start at Virginia was better than Krzyzewski's start at Duke over that same period of time. Dean Smith's start at Carolina, and Gary Williams' start at Maryland. So you opened it up with a bang, no question about it. Yeah, I think I saw somewhere that Roy Williams got off to a faster start than I did. I just saw a headline somewhere that said that. But that's what happens when you've got good players and good people around you. One of my great memories was covering that 95 team that was a hairbreadth from getting to the Final Four,

losing to Lolan Richardson's 40 minutes of hell Arkansas team. And I know you guys just kind of ran out of gas. You beat Roy Williams that year. You beat Roy Williams on his turf in Kansas City. I'll never forget Tom Perrin coming into the press room after the game, which coaches normally don't do, and whispered in my ear, he said, did Roy cry in the press conference? So anyway, that was an incredible run that season.

And I know you said you have a special relationship with that 95 team. You guys have had some reunions as well. Yeah, you know, the reun are span a bunch of different years but um uh but but that group is is right in the the center of it with cory and junior and jason and uh you know norm and curtis and you know all all those guys but uh you uh, you know, it's, it's also fun because this, you know, we, Terry, Terry Gates will come back, uh,

Dan Merrifield, Tim Mullen, Jimmy Miller, Ricky Stokes, you know, to, to get a little bit of a, and,

and, uh, uh, more mature flavor, if you will. Right. There's nothing wrong with that. That,

uh, that 95 team was, was pretty darn good. I know that, uh, I think that recruiting class of those guys was the number two recruiting class in the nation behind the Fab Four of Michigan, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, yeah, that's accurate. How did you put that class together? A whole lot of hard work and probably some luck.

Back then, you only had two assistant coaches that were involved in the off-campus recruiting. That was Dennis Wolfe and Brian Ellerbe. Both of those guys did an amazing job. Brian was the guy that kind of bird-dogged Corey Alexander. Corey made us work i mean he he laughs about it now he's like yeah i knew i was coming at you know such and such a time but i i was going to make you guys work all the way till the very very very end and we had to hold off arizona and you know cory's school was probably ge Tech, but Georgia Tech signed Travis Best.

So, you know, that worked in our favor. But, you know, Junior Burrow was a guy down at Oak Hill. And Dennis Wolfe, you know, really befriended Steve Smith, the longtime, you know, great longtime great coach down at Oak Hill, and recruited Junior and got to know Junior's dad, Thomas Sr., who's a great character. And I had known Jason Williford's father and mother, but I had been recruiting Jason Will williford since he he had been a freshman uh uh in in high school and uh you know jay one one at one point jay you know

was thinking about visiting boston college and i had to call up his dad and i was like larry that ain't that that can't happen we you, you know, so we had that one wrapped up and, you know, big, big Chris Alexander, again, one of the best defenders in ACC history. Now, you know, he didn't because of how we played defense, you know, he didn't get any of the great accolades, but you know, that, that, that defensive award, I don't know how it is in the ACC anymore, but all these Duke guys got the defensive player of the year and, and a couple of, well, they just, they had stats. They had, they got promoted and everything. The, you know, the media promoted them, but Chris Alexander, I'm just, I'm just saying Chris Alexander was an amazing defender But Chris Alexander, I'm just saying, Chris Alexander was an amazing defender.

Chris Alexander, we beat, obviously, a very good Wake Forest team, Tim Duncan's senior year. And our strategy was, because, you know, Duncan in college was never a big scorer. I don't think, you know, going into his senior year, I don't know that he had ever had more than 21, 22 points. But where he was so good was when you doubled him, he would kick the ball out. And they had guys like Ricky Peral and Randolph Childress and, gosh, Mark, he's an actor now. They had all these really good shooters. And he made those guys better. So we said, okay, we're going play chris one on one and you know like unlike ralph sampson in in college you know duncan did not just take over

and dominate the game and go for 30 or 40 when you played him one-on-one um you know and he had maybe good games but uh we were able to guard him with one guy. Those other guys weren't nearly as good. And after we did it, everybody else in the ACC started trying to guard him that way. That was a hell of a team, that Wake Forest team. I think Tony Rutland was on that team. Tony Rutland, yeah. Another great team. Hampton Roads product, Tony Rutland. Yeah, the other guy in that recruiting class, and I i gotta say this because he'd be mad at me if he found out was yuri barnes yeah you're yeah you know you're you're had a terrific career for us also um let's throw this to you here you you um you're just a good guy man i love hearing the stories i love watching you coach uh i followed your career post-University of Virginia as well.

And you got a lot of questions coming in from the viewers and listeners. We'll get to the viewers and listeners' questions in a matter of moments. I just want to get your crystal ball prediction of what you think is going to happen to college basketball. You've kind of touched on it a little bit with, you know, we're going to have to cap some of the NIL money that's going out there because it's clearly creating an unfair advantage. And one of the reasons we all love college football and college basketball, I mean, I'm a diehard college basketball fan, just like you guys, diehard college football fan, is because anything can happen. But if the Blue

Bloods and these big time programs have way more money to offer than other schools that either don't have the money or refuse to get in the game, we're going to lack parity, and we're going to lack competitiveness, and it's going to become a top-heavy sport. I'm just curious of what you, the pro, Coach Jones, thinks is going to happen from the NIL money, from the transfer portal and any other crystal ball predictions you see happening well you know i i'm gonna start off answering your question with with the question and that's when has there been parity in college basketball good point that's fair there has has always been halves and halvesves a little bit, and then the have-nots.

The difference now is the gaps are greater. And, you know, the NIL exacerbates it because that money is going to the players, right? But when you look, and I hope you guys don't mind if I get on my soapbox, but when you look at college basketball programs and some of these high majors, they think the answer is throw money at this thing. And they're paying 20 guys to be on staff, right? And they're flying the charters and, you know, the training tables and the beautiful facilities and all that kind of stuff. Which, you know, okay, that's great.

But everybody's doing it. When you've got that much of an advantage over the mid-majors and the low-majors, why do the schools that are mediocre in the Power Five conferences get the nod over teams that actually really, really accomplished so much more given their situation to go to the NCAA tournament. The NCAA tournament has become filled with mediocre programs from Power Five conferences. That's the biggest thing. And I know that the argument is, well, if we put them in this conference or if we move to – that may be the case, mean but we don't we don't know you know i i'd much rather have uh you know a mid-major team like indiana state and and you know the virginia people are going to get mad at me i would have much rather seen indiana state in the ncaa tournament last year than uva and And UVA laid an egg. They were awful. And, you know, Indiana State did something,

given their resources, that was remarkable last year. And that's just one example. But, you know, I don't know. I don't like where college basketball is going. One thing in college athletics I think almost has to happen. I don't know what it will look like. But you almost have to. Football has already taken their national championship,

and they've moved that to the side, right? That's not under the NCAA umbrella. Why not just take football, right? Because their numbers and everything is so different. In football, you know, Charlottesville, you guys have a lot of kudzu. You know what kudzu is? Tell us, Coach Jones. It's that plant.

You know, it grows everywhere, right? It's beautiful. It's like ivy. It's beautiful, but it just overwhelms everything. You know, it smothers everything the trees and everything that's college football so just take that and move it to the side

let it be it's own entity and then you know maybe with basketball and then the Olympic sports maybe then we can get back to more geographically based conferences so you're not traveling all over the place and try to figure out, you know, some distribution of the NCAA tournament dollars and all that kind of thing. You know, the house settlement, there's still a lot of stuff they've got to work out there. I know the NCAA is hopeful that that's going to happen,

but there's a lot of hurdles there. I don't know what's going to happen, but there does need to be something. Maybe it's not a hard salary cap. It's something that way, but how do you deal with Title IX? You can't ignore it. It's law. Title IX is law. You've got to figure out

how that, and it's almost impossible to be Title IX compliant with football in there if they're getting what Ohio State spent this year, $20-something million this year alone on NIL. And they're not the only ones, but I think they're at the top end of that. I mean, Alabama, Alabama for their recruits. We talked about this. They had a row, a row of luxury automobiles.

That was Texas. Oh, that was Texas. Yeah. A row of luxury automobiles. Lamborghinis. Lamborghinis that the players could drive. I mean, how do you compete with that? I mean, that's absolutely insane here.

I'll throw questions are coming in quickly for coach. Yeah. This question, this question's from charlotte uh does coach jones think the uh march madness field should be expanded to include more programs jerry and jerry i'm curious of his opinion as coach of uh american and odu the mid-majors as's highlighted, deserve to get in the dance and they're being overlooked? Well, so if you told me that we could expand it, you know, to 72, 76, you know, whatever, and there would be more mid-major programs in there, I'd say yes. I'd say hell yes. That's not what would happen, right? The Power Five, you know, the SEC, Greg Sankey down there, the commissioner of the SEC, they're already getting in line that

if it expands, they want more Power Five schools. They, you know, they want 10, 11, 12 schools from the SEC, the Big Ten, the ACC, and the Big 12. So I would say no, I don't want it to expand because I could care less about more mediocre Power Fives teams getting in there. The schools, you know, as teams move around conferences, they're making their decision. We're going to go into this conference knowing that that conference is really, really tough. And they're making the decision because they're going to get more. They're going to get more resources, more money, more exposure, more of everything. So as part of that decision to go into those conferences, they should also accept some responsibility that, you know, that, okay,

if we're making this move, it's going to be harder, not easier. It's going to be harder to get to the NCAA tournament. What about opening? There's been a suggestion that just open up to everybody, every division one school and just make it a true national tournament. Good or bad idea? It seems too complicated for me. I mean, I know I got a Virginia degree, but I'm not smart enough to figure that out.

This question's coming for Coach Jones. This one is from South Carolina. Who's the best player he's ever coached, and who's the best player he's ever coached, and who's the best player he's ever coached against? The best player that's ever coached? That best player that you have ever coached, and the best player that you have ever coached against. Oh.

Well, technically, in 1983, I was on the coaching staff. So that would have to be Ralph Samson. But as a head coach, Brian Stiff. Not a bad choice. That I've coached. The best player that I ever coached against. Wow, I have to think about that. You know, when you look at their entire career,

you know, and, you know, you look back, including the NBA, it might have been Tim Duncan. He probably wouldn't have been in the top 10. He wouldn't have been in the top ten. He wouldn't have been in the top five for sure, maybe not the top ten of the best college players that I ever coached against, if that makes sense. Oh, yeah. Kind of like Michael Jordan.

Yeah, we get Carolina. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. That's a great point, Jerry. Well, Jordan did win a national championship. I coached against Jordan as well. Yeah. exactly. That's a great point, Jerry. Well, Jordan did win a national championship. I coached against Jordan as well. Yeah.

Yeah. More questions coming in for Coach Jones. This is a good one, a local question for you. What's Jeff Jones' favorite place to eat at in Charlottesville from his playing days, his coaching days, and right now? Wow. Well, the Aberdeen Barn has to be up there. We got so lucky as players to eat pregame meal and other meals at the Aberdeen Barn.

Back in the day, Terry Spathos, he spoiled us and everything. Still there. That would definitely have to be up there. You know, I understood, and it's been years since I've gone there, but Little John's on the corner was a pretty special place when I was playing. There were some late nights spent with Terry Gates and some of my other teammates rolling into Little Johns. And then I think it went away, and now it's come back.

But that's definitely kind of a tradition. That's a legendary place. But a closing question for Coach. Oh, wow, you're putting the pressure on me now. And we should highlight Aberdeen Barn, a supporter of Jerry Rack. Yeah, it's one of my sponsors. We appreciate that plug for sure.

Well, Angela, Terry's sister is running it now. She's awesome. Derek is still there. Derek was a young guy way back when, but he's still working there. And Jimmy Rowe, hey, we spent a lot of time.

Jimmy Rowe was one of the servers. He was a huge basketball fan and a great, great guy, good friend. So as players especially, as I said, we were really lucky to go there. Oh, as fans, we're really lucky to go there. Nothing like the cheese dip, nothing like the ramekins that come for the low-to-bake potatoes, and the prime rib, I swear to God, it's the best prime rib I've ever had. Yeah, that's awesome.

Oh, and the Spathos family, Jeff, you may not have known this, but they were honored a couple of weeks ago at a home game. They were given the Cross Sabre Award from the Virginia Football Alumni Club. It's the highest honor that club gives. So that just shows you what an integral part of UVA athletics, Aberdeen Barnes, has been over the decades. I'll tell you what, the number of certainly men's basketball and probably football players that played at UVA that had

a dinner at the Aberdeen Barn on their official visit. I mean, we're talking numbering in the hundreds. Oh, absolutely. You know, that was, you know, you had 48 hours. One of the meals was going to be at Aberdeen Barn. So this is a really good commercial. I was going to say that. It's a sponsor over here.

This is perfect, Coach Jones. Maybe we'll get Jerry a free meal. Absolutely. I guess one thing, I'm sure some of the viewers probably have this in the file, but are loaded up. But I guess a lot of people are pulling for you during your health issues. How's your health and how's Danny? So she's great. She's, you know, still working remotely with Axios, the publication up in D.C. And, you know, enjoying that. My health is good. I feel great. I feel more mental clarity than I have in years. Woodsealy, you know, my AD here and really, really good friend, and Danae, they didn't allow me to talk to the staff about basketball. They, you know, they gave them orders. So if I had to ask questions, the guys on the staff would just ignore me. But about three weeks after the heart attack, my mental clarity was unbelievable because I didn't have all that stress and all that,

you know, everything, your, your brain just doesn't rest during, during the season. That, that's, that's continued. And then you just physically, I'm trying to do, you know, a lot of the things that I should have been doing for the last 30 years, but, you know, a lot of walking, eating healthier. And, and I feel, you know and I feel great. You look great. Absolutely. Absolutely. Coach Jones, you are the absolute best. This has been a pleasure to chat with you.

To the viewers and listeners who we did not get to their questions, we're mindful of Coach Jones' time. He just gave us 57 minutes of his most precious commodity today. You had, from what I counted, 11 different states watching you today, Coach Jones, on the Jerry and Jerry Show. We look forward to doing this again in the future. Absolutely. Just let me know.

Maybe Jerry more than a day in advance. Yeah, I know. I'm sorry I put the pressure on you like that. I know you're used to it. Yeah, I know. I'm sorry I put the pressure on you like that. But I know you're used to it. Yeah. Now, I'd love to be with you. It's brought back some great memories. And, you know, it doesn't surprise me that the show's, you know, doing so great. Jerry's a Hall of Famer and kind of an institution

with the UVA and Charlottesville sports scene been around for a while you have a good one coach that's one way of saying we're old we appreciate you love you brother

take care Jeff Jones guys absolutely fantastic judah will stay here uh on this shot i'll tell you what a couple of items that came out in this interview hoodie that i need to highlight um and first the interview was magical he's the best i mean you don't get any better than that he's absolutely magical um i think he broke some news in here multiple times here, or first time we've ever heard of things multiple times. Yeah, as close as I was to that coaching search, there was a couple things there that I didn't even know. Right, so I'll let you unpack

that. The first thing I want to highlight that I think is news is he said, for a fact, Jason Williford and the entire current UVA coaching staff had no idea about the retirement. Yeah. Those were his exact words. Yeah, and I think that clears up a lot of speculation out there about how choreographed everything was. But I think Tony truly did decide when he was away with Laurel down at the Tide's end that he just

you know, they say that all the coaches at some point in time they get hit. They just get hit with I can't do this anymore. Well, he did say this. He did say this and then I'll get out of your way. Williford and the staff didn't know about it. He did not know about Sanchez. Whether Sanchez knew the retirement was coming. And like he said, they'll probably take that to the grave. They'll take it to the grave.

Right, right. That was interesting to me. It was interesting. So that was good stuff. and he knows williford you know he's like he said he recruited started right recruiting jason when he was uh in a ninth grade right so he's known williford since the ninth grade jay willie since the ninth grade yeah other items that stood out to me from the interview and i'll you take it from there the comment terry holland made about the mccue Center and Virginia, the university,

overlooking the men's basketball program and the need to retire immediately. Well, I knew that. I was very close to Terry Holland and Ann, his wife. And Terry told me for—Terry was very upset that the university was doing nothing to enhance the basketball program particularly University Hall which was even at that point

had outlived its purpose and when Ralph Sampson was here and they could have sold out a 40,000 seat arena probably every night instead of a 10,000-seat arena. The demand for tickets was so incredible, and I don't know who it was at the time,

but somebody in the university told Terry to hold off because they could have easily raised the money for a bigger arena at that point. The university told Terry to hold off that they would take care of that down the road. And they never addressed it. They never did. And that became Terry's passion when he came back as AD is to get a new basketball arena. But he used to tell me in conversations, Jerry, they're killing the goose that laid the golden egg,

and I can't take it anymore. Yeah. But even with that, I was shocked when he just suddenly said it was going to be his last year. I can't say I'm totally shocked, but I was surprised. And I took the job at Davidson as the AD. Right. But, yeah, I wasn't surprised by that statement because I knew that Terry was very disenchanted, pissed off, really.

Yeah. That, I mean, it was enough to drive him out of the coaching profession, which was sad because I think – He had a lot of runway left. I think like George Welsh. I think they both had runways left. 100%. 100%.

One more thing from the interview. How about the timeline of Rick Barnes, Pete Gillen, Mike Montgomery, Jeff Jones, 29, head coach UVA, anywhere you want to go with that. That was fascinating. Yeah, that was some good stuff because there were some things that he mentioned that I didn't know. I did know all about the Pete Gillen situation.

I knew all about Montgomery. I knew he visited twice. And like I said, I bumped into him and Jim Copeland outside of University Hall and sort of forced my... I mean, you were a young man. I was. Yeah. And I kind of forced the issue.

I was being aggressive as a reporter, but obviously they dodged all the questions I gave them. But I kind of thought at that point it would probably be Mike Montgomery, who was at Stanford at the time, for those people who don't know who Mike Montgomery is. And then when he kind of got teed off that they didn't offer him the job, and Terry Holland had been, I think, pushing for Rick Barnes because they were close. Rick Barnes is from North Carolina, like Terry is, was. Would have been a hell of a hire. Yeah, I think Rick wanted to come back to the ACC and eventually he did

to Clemson. But I think Terry pushed for that and convinced Copeland to go after Barnes. And like I said, I know Barnes was spent most of the evening late into the night at Jim Copeland's office at University Hall. He accepted the job. Then he said, I've got to go back and tell my people at Providence. And he and Copeland got on the old, I was at the Daily Progress Inn, and the Daily Progress owner, Thomas Worrell, had a plane that he let the University of

Virginia use for various things. The Worrell family owned the Daily Progress. Yeah, they got into the Worrell plane, flew back to Providence. Barnes told Copeland to wait at the airport and he would come back and they would fly back to Charlottesville for the announcement. Terry Holland told me afterwards

that there was a major mistake by Copeland. He says once you get somebody in your place and you get them to agree. You don't let them leave. You don't let them leave. Until the contract is signed. Cardinal sin. Right.

But he did, and they went back, and Rick Barnes went back to Providence to tell Dave Gavitt, who was one of the most powerful men in college basketball, the AD. And as Jeff related, Cabot said, that's not going to happen. And Barnes never came back to the airport. And so Copeland flew home alone. Copeland told me this. And so from that point, they were trying to figure out where to go,

and I was talking to Terry one night about possibilities, and he told me, he says, what about Jeff? I said, well, what about Jeff? I said, he's awfully young. And he said, yeah, but he's never screwed up a program anywhere before he's never been a head coach he's knows basketball he's he's a uva guy he's a uva guy people love him right and uh so why not jeff and i i totally agreed and so that's where they went with that search and the rest is history unbelievable stuff that was one of the best interviews we have done on the Jerry and Jerry Show. UVA basketball fans, watch the interview start to finish.

Judah, we're going to go a little bit long today on the program. At the 11-22 minute marker on Election Day, so seven minutes over time, we've got to talk football. It was a fantastic interview. That was fun. Pitt Panthers, seven-and-a-half-point favorites. Virginia hasn't won at Pittsburgh since Groh was on the sidelines and Dave Weinstein was on the sidelines with the Panthers.

This is a football team, I can say very straightforwardly, that is reeling right now. What did Virginia need to focus on coming out of the bye week, and what do you make of this matchup against a top 25 team? Well, hopefully they got their offensive line healed up because that was a glaring fault against North Carolina when they gave up 10 sacks, and Anthony Calandria was running for his life most of the day.

Yeah. So if they don't get that fixed, and again, it's all about healing, so you can't rush that sometimes. So who knows? Well, I guess we'll find out at Tony Elliott's press conference this afternoon of where that stands. But they had to, you know, hopefully they got healed, and in the meantime, I guess they've just, again, I think we talked to Matt Schaub about this last week, that they had to self-scout again and focus on the things they do well,

toss out the things that aren't working well, and go from there. I mean, Pitt was undefeated going into SMU last weekend and got shellacked. Shellacked. 48-25. And Virginia's got SMU on the calendar. Yeah. It looks like now that SMU and Miami are on a collision course for the ACC

championship game who saw that coming right Clemson shocked by I still can't believe that they lost at home to Louisville that was they're going to regret that for a long long time that could sting debut Sweeney come end of the year. Louisville climbs into the top 25. Five teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference ranked in the top 25. Virginia still has Pittsburgh, SMU, Notre Dame, and Virginia Tech on the docket, and they're trying to avoid the seven-game losing streak. We talked to Matt Schaub, and I agreed with you, Hootie,

and I want to give the man some props here. He said don't sleep on SMU in the summer and before the season started. He predicted that SMU was going to be a damn good football team, and look at where they are right now. You and Matt Schaub made the statement last week that Calandria is the guy. I agree with you 100%. The follow-up question to that is if Calandria struggles out of the gate, will there be a quick hook with Elliott inserted into the ballgame

earlier than mop-up duty against the Pitt Panthers? That's a good question, and I think that's a possibility. I think it depends on how slow out of the gate he might be and if he's having problems because he's making mistakes as a decision maker as opposed to running for his life because that's out of his control. If he throws a couple of picks early, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if they have a quick hook at that point, if it's his fault, if he's making bad decisions.

Otherwise, I don't think so. If he's playing well and they're just having trouble moving the chains, I'm not sure that it will make any difference. Questions coming in for you. Before we get to them, predictions with the Pittsburgh game and then the rest of the schedule. What do you think is going to happen? Keys to victory for Virginia and some predictions.

Well, Pitt's number 23 in the country. They slept five spots after that loss. And it'll be interesting to see because in the past, sometimes when Pitt is out of the picture for a run at the title, even though we had division titles back then, they've kind of relaxed a little bit maybe and become a little more vulnerable. So it'll be interesting to see how they bounce back after their first defeat of the season

because they had a golden opportunity right there that doesn't come easy. They didn't play well. They appeared unprepared. They were behind 21-3 before you could blink. The offense only scored three points the first 44 minutes of the game. Their quarterback, Eli Holstein, was pressured on 20 of his 57 dropbacks, even though SMU only blitzed 13 times. So they were getting to him through their offense line. So Pitt has some vulnerabilities if Virginia can take advantage of it and attack.

But also some props. I watched that game. Some props to SMU. SMU's a good football team. Yeah. It's going to be hard for anybody to beat those guys. Right. Right. SMU looks like, guys, and SMU is on good football team. Yeah. It's going to be hard for anybody to beat those guys. Right, right. SMU looks like, guys, and SMU is on the schedule here.

This is the question that's all over the feed here. How do you stop a seven-game losing streak to close the season? I think they're, I won't say their only opportunity, but I think their best opportunity is probably this weekend, even though it's on the road and a place that they've only won once before. I agree 100%. It's against a team that's going to be trying to bounce back. Right.

The ACC game day, people are going to be there for that. I'm not sure why. I don't know who makes that call. But, you know, and Virginia Tech, we thought they were getting better and better, and then they turned around and lost in overtime. Again, another close loss that they could have won. And it's awfully hard to say that Virginia has much of a chance in Blacksburg because of the history. But, I mean, it doesn't look good for this football team.

I don't know how they's tough to say that, but it's hard to have any faith in a team that looked as bad as it did against Carolina a little more than a week ago. I concur. I concur. If they finish with a victory somehow to close this season and get five wins, it's sad to say, but that is going to be a success for this club. Absolutely. Five wins is a success for this club. Absolutely. Five

wins is a success for this club. We'll close with this. News notes, items out of the notebook, anything you want to cover. I'm curious of what's in the hopper on jerryratcliffe.com at this hybrid time of year with basketball, a matchup against Campbell on the horizon, a football team that's fighting for their lives, a football team that's fighting for their lives, a basketball team that's searching for an identity, a coaching staff that's looking to maintain its job under this interim tag and title? Will we see an up-tempo Hoops team?

Whose team is this? Is this McNeely's team? Is this TJ's team? Is it Day Day's team? Is it Ron's team? I mean, so much to cover right now, Hoody. I think it's McNeely's team? Is this TJ's team? Is it Day-Day's team? Is it Ron's team? I mean, so much to cover right now, Hootie. I think it's McNeely's team. Ultimately, it's Ron Sanchez's team. But if you're talking about the guy who the players are going to follow, it's going to be McNeely.

I think we will see some up-tempo. I don't know that much about Campbell. I haven't looked at them yet, but that's a game here tomorrow night to open the season. Crazy. I was driving back from Atlanta last night and listened to parts of the Duke and Carolina games on my way home. But just about everybody in the ACC has opened up. But we'll be covering that game and focusing a lot on the Virginia Pitt game, a huge game for the Virginia football program,

and everything Wahoo. Tough week for my family. We lost my ex-wife to a long fight with breast cancer this past week, and I wanted to acknowledge that and thank the people at the hospice house over on Park Street for their incredible caregiving that they gave her for her time there and we'll miss her. I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sorry for Scott. And it's Amy. Amy. Amy, your daughter.

Yeah, your loss. Puts things into perspective, guys. At this time of presidential elections and struggling football teams and basketball teams searching for their identities. Hug those close to you guys because life is certainly precious. Jerry Ratcliffe set up the interview with Jeff Jones. It was, frankly speaking, I've been in the media game for a long time, not as long as my colleague here, Jerry Ratcliffe, the best boss I ever had, but that was one of the best interviews I've ever been a part of. That was a fun 50 minutes. We were only supposed to go 20 or 25. We went 58.

We could have gone two hours. Easily gone two hours. And Jeff clearly was enjoying it. I think he did. I think he did. He clearly enjoyed it. JerryRackliff.com for anything orange and blue related. JerryRackliff.com. The man covers the athletic department and college sports better than anyone.

JerryRackliff.com. Judah Wickhauer behind the camera. My name is Jerry Miller, and it's the Jerry and Jerry Show. Thank you kindly for joining us. So long, everybody. He's going to tell us when the mic's on. Thank you.