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sports Diahuebs 17 Maart 2022

Former CEO, law firm partner has Longwood hoops on the rise

(AP) — In this small cen- countability program where
tral Virginia town called ... we are on them constant-
Farmville, the claim to ly, whether it’s June 24th or
fame has been massive whether it’s March 3rd. You
furniture warehouses that are what you repeatedly do.”
promise to satisfy any
shopper’s preferred style. A repeat performance as a gi-
ant slayer would certainly put
It isn’t known as an NCAA a smile on Aldrich’s face. He
Tournament town. was a part of the biggest upset
in men’s tournament history.
This week, both things are
true. Aldrich was in his second
season with UMBC when
Welcome to Longwood Uni- the Retrievers became the
versity, where Griff Aldrich, a first No. 16 seed to beat a
former lawyer and CEO, and No. 1 overall seed in the
Rebecca Tillett — both hired men’s tournament, knocking
the same day four years ago off Virginia 74-54.
— have the Lancers men’s
and women’s teams in the Aldrich had joined the staff of
NCAA Tournament for the a good team,” Tillett said of ment win. The men face a which explains the quote on a former teammate and friend
first time in each program’s her team’s determination to tougher task, though Aldrich wall outside the men’s locker Ryan Odom at UMBC in
history. match the men’s accomplish- has seen firsthand what can room: “You are what you re- 2016 after a 16-year hiatus
ment. “And so I think there be accomplished by an un- peatedly do.” from the sport while work-
Aldrich’s journey to Farm- was some of that competi- derdog with a solid founda- ing in Houston. He took a
ville is an intriguing tale. tiveness for our women, like tion. “Excellence is not an event. job as director of basketball
we want to be at the level that It’s a habit,” Aldrich tells his operations that paid $32,000
Six years ago, the former they’re achieving as well.” He’s big fan of Aristotle, players. “We’re a high ac- annually.
partner at a major Houston
law firm who became CEO Yes, March 6 was a big day for
of a private equity company Farmville.
he founded, walked away
from that success to pur- It was so big that on March 7,
sue his long-held dream of although it was spring break
coaching college basketball. on campus, about 200 peo-
ple gathered to welcome the
“I think it’s not just the game. teams back to town.
I think we really felt called
to do this,” Aldrich, 47 and That greeting, complete
a devout Christian, said in a with a police, fire and rescue
recent interview. “And there’s vehicles escort with sirens
a real spiritual component blaring, was hastily arranged
that’s involved here because by Mayor David Whitus, a
when I was in the private Longwood alum and season
sector, everything was about ticket-holder for both pro-
climbing and promotion and grams. As the buses turned
things like that.” onto campus, players for
both teams exited the buses
Peers at the firm of Vinson & and celebrated with the fans.
Elkins were not entirely sur-
prised by his decision. “Allowing the people to touch
the players and the players to
“It was one of those things touch the people was magic,”
where everybody said, `Oh said Whitus, who estimates
yeah, the writing was on the the city’s population is about
wall,’” said V&E colleague 8,000. “The community is
Stephen Gill, who noted that absolutely thrilled.”
Aldrich was very effective
at dealing with “sharks” as a Fittingly, both Lancers teams
lawyer, but clearly loved bas- will make their tourney de-
ketball. “We just didn’t see it buts on Thursday.
because you think about it in
terms of monetary issues and Longwood (26-6), a 14th
whatnot. seed, will face third-seeded
Tennessee (26-7) in the first
“I mean, he just loved coach- round of the men’s tourna-
ing and he loved working ment in Indianapolis. The
with young kids.” women (21-11) will face
Mount St. Mary’s (16-12) in
The Longwood women’s a matchup of No. 16 seeds in
team also made history, win- the inaugural women’s First
ning its first Big South Tour- Four in Raleigh, North Car-
nament title several hours af- olina.
ter the men.
Tillett and the women have a
“So as they’re rising, you good chance to notch Long-
know, there’s like, well, we’re wood’s first NCAA Tourna-