An apathetic and out of control program that lacked fundamentals on the basketball court.
These were the complaints Virginia fans had of Pete Gillen, a personable and witty man who had worn out his welcome in Charlottesville.
The Cavalier head coach had led his team to once NCAA tournament in seven seasons, a first round loss to Gonzaga but could never build on that momentum.
His teams could not play defense and could not muster a winning record in the ACC for most of his years at Virginia.
So the great search went out for Gillen's replacement. The names were plentiful and the process was embarrassingly long and complicated.
First came the Tubby Smith rumors, but monetary issues seemed to complicate the path to a major hire.
Then it looked like UVA would retread and pick a former assistant in South Carolina's Dave Odom. However, that apparently turned out to be only a consultation on Virginia's search, not a hire.
The result was another Dave, Dave Leitao from Depaul University. His hire left many Virginia fans asking one question.
Who?
Leitao was a long-time assistant of UConn's Jim Calhoun, serving as one of his leading recruiters. He and Calhoun had gone all the way back from his playing days at Northeastern. Their friendship and camaraderie was evident.
Leitao, having previously coached at Northeastern unsuccessfully, returned to his mentor and found success in his second departure at Depaul University. In fact, Leitao's success gave Depaul the opportunity to join the Big East.
Certainly coaching at an ACC school had to be an attractive offer, but it also helped to go to a school where he would not have to do battle with his role model year in and year out.
So here was Leitao, an extremely different picture from his predecessor.
Gillen's humor was replaced with a stoic yet aggressive Leitao.
Gillen's short and sweaty stature was replaced with a tall and sophisticated stature.
Indeed Leitao looked like a coach, dressed to the nines and saying all the right things.
His first two games showed the mark of a new era, earning technical fouls against teams like Liberty University.
How would the short-tempered Leitao fare in the ACC? He won't last a game!
Leitao had a seven-man roster with which to use as other players transferred or graduated. This forced him to play two young players, J.R. Reynolds and Sean Singletary almost ad nauseum.
Sometimes you wondered if Singletary might pass out, ranking near the top in the ACC in minutes played as just a sophomore. When you consider he played near 80% of the season with a busted shoulder, it makes the accomplishment even more impressive.
Leitao's first year revolved around J.R. Reynolds. Reynolds was a fair shooter, but people really wondered how good he could really be. Did he have the talent of an ACC guard?
Reynolds needed to prove he could be consistent and be a leader, something he failed to do in an embarassing loss to Fordham. With Singletary out, Reynolds could only score eight points and Virginia was left wondering where they were heading.
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