Thank You Ron Sanchez

If he envisioned it, I cannot imagine this was how Ron Sanchez thought his shot at leading the program would come. Literal days before “secret scrimmages” after a whole offseason of preparation and work under CTB’s leadership, the spotlight was thrust upon him.

There’s a strong case to be made that if CTB hadn’t gone about it in the way that he did, neither of his Assistant Head Coaches would have gotten the opportunity to take a run at things. Many would blanche at the idea that it was his “plan” to get one of them an actual tryout even though he comes from a time where your loyalty is first and foremost to your staff, and his father did something similar toward the end of his time at Wisconsin; leaving three games into a season. It’s possible both are just passionate men, prone to burn out, who didn’t know until they knew that it was time. Either way, the intent isn’t really what I want to focus on here.

If CTB had retired after the CSU loss, it’s true that we might have been involved in the previous coaching cycle, which appears to have been a very strong one. It’s unclear what that result would have been. What is clear is that, had we so quickly moved on from the CTB tenure, that would have caused extreme whiplash. There are so many tenured faces from current staff members to former players still involved with the program. There would have always been a sense of, “what if?” had we moved on so quickly. How could we have turned the page on the most successful stretch in program history without exploring what life under the CTB coaching tree looked like?

Well, this season answered that question. Calculated or spontaneous, by doing what he did how he did it, CTB ensured that Coach Sanchez would get the opportunity to actually do the job, and that the fanbase wouldn’t have to wonder. Was it perfect or even fair? Certainly not. But it was a full year where we could see how the players responded, what differentiated Coach Sanchez from his mentor, what differences and similarities there were, and whether or not this is the level of coaching execution we should invest in long term for this program.

Let’s back up for a moment. Why wasn’t it fair/why was it a difficult position for Coach Sanchez?

For one, some of these players may have been recruited by him, but they didn’t sign up to play for him. They signed up to play for CTB. So, aside from the more obvious losses that may have been attributed toward that from Jalen Warley to even Christian Bliss, there was a mental barrier to get over with the rest of the guys as well (for what it’s worth, there was also an opportunity for Coach Sanchez to reach these guys – he had time with both prior to any decisions being made).

Secondly, he didn’t have an opportunity to implement anything of his own, had he wanted to, prior to the season starting. He was forced into continuing what they were doing because all of his time was spent in damage control and there was no time. Of course, as the season progressed, there was time (and need) to tinker, and we saw this wasn’t done to any extreme or great effect.

Thirdly, while there is talent on this roster, it was young and we lost a lot of the expected ball handling/leadership skillset (and perimeter defense) that could have gone a long way on this team. There’s a reason why CTB had referred to it as a two-year window, although I certainly think the team was more talented than 9th in such a down ACC.

Lastly, he also was handcuffed when it came to recruiting new talent because his tenure was, by definition, interim.

That being said, there was plenty of opportunity for him to grow and develop over the season as well. There was opportunity to reconsider how he was using his roster. There was opportunity to experiment. There was opportunity to recognize and develop talent earlier. I don’t care to write the piece, at this point, about why the season didn’t work out better than it did. Those disadvantages discussed earlier were all major factors; but there were elements that we could have controlled better that we didn’t, in my opinion, as well. Ultimately, there’s no need to make this case now; the decision has been made and I strongly believe it was the correct one.

So, instead, I’d like to take this moment to thank Coach Sanchez for how gracefully he handled this season and this situation, as well as his history with the program. Charlotte tenure withstanding, the majority of CTB’s tenure, RS was right there with him.

The thing is, this season may have hurt his coaching profile. It’s not a great look to take a program that has been downright elite for the majority of the past 15 years and finish sub .500. He could have deferred or shirked the responsibility, potentially seeing the writing on the wall early. He could have more vocally placed blame elsewhere throughout the tumult. He did neither of those things. A true servant to the program, Coach Sanchez stood up, mentored his young guys who were surely reeling from disappointment, made the best of the situation, and approached the opportunity with as much positivity and introspection as you could hope for. Certainly, you could view this season as an opportunity he took; but you could also view it as a sacrifice he made. Both might be true.

And, while it wasn’t always consistent and there was shellshock at times, most of the core rotation of players had positive moments throughout the season where they shined, most had moments of high energy, and the group seemed pretty closely knit throughout despite all of the circumstances. It was a team that wasn’t going to reach it’s ceiling and one whose ceiling wasn’t as high as past iterations; but it was a group you still wanted to root for and see do well because they didn’t fall apart and they kept playing for each other, the university, and the coach they didn’t expect. Every time a player seemed to be on the verge of checking out mentally, you’d see them bounce back. Whether it was Dai Dai or Saunders working back from injury, Blake or Cofie responding to benchings, iMacs and Taine’s perceived initial shellshock… even TJ Power, who lost his early season starting role to stop getting playing time altogether, appeared an engaged and supportive teammate from the bench. Surely, this is a testament to the character of the players, but it’s also a testament to the leader who they were following.

Given how the season was going, I would have liked to see Coach Sanchez swing bigger with Xs and Os to differentiate himself from the CTB scheme and showcase some ideas and innovation. There’s a lot of inspiration out there to draw from outside of the past 15 years of UVa basketball. We didn’t get much of that aside from a few moderate tweaks (and continued use of the new offense installed under CTB during the offseason). But what we did get was to see players appear to gel together personality-wise as the season progressed. This year’s outcome could have been better, sure, but it also could have gone entirely off the rails like it looked like it was after the west coast trip. Look at this year’s Miami team. Absolute implosion. The players could have gotten lost in their emotions about the situation, gotten frustrated with each other, looked ahead too far to next season, phoned it in, etc. Instead, they held together. They mustered respectable closure to beloved time for the program. One that ended all too soon.

Plainly put, Coach Sanchez did the incredibly difficult thing of standing tall and calm in these circumstances; weathering the crushed expectations of a disappointed fan base who compared everything to CTB’s standard, and across his own players who had the rug pulled out from under them. Despite that, neither his effort nor his mentorship waivered and we were lucky to have had him as this steward toward, hopefully, a bright future.

Make no mistake, Ron Sanchez didn’t just help build that future through this bridge season, he played a big role in helping CTB revitalize the program to begin with. Our ability to draw (hopefully and expectedly) a well-regarded upcoming coach sought after by other programs, to build off of our recent program prestige, and our rumored $7 million NIL and revenue sharing pool, stand on his shoulders, too.

So, while much of the energy of this site will turn its focus to an eventual new hire, and assuredly some new players; while much of the retrospection will be on CTB’s impact and decision; I’d like to take this moment to thank Ron Sanchez for his faithful service to the program. Cheers, CRS, may you find a fantastic opportunity to have the same positive impact on the culture of a program that you had here for so many years. We were lucky to have you!