It sounds like an act of folly — sending a poll to 20 student sports writers, asking them to elect the most colorful coaches at the school.
First there are the questions. What makes a coach colorful? Maybe they have something cool going on. Maybe they have an interesting personality.
Then there are the logistics. When the sports writers are spread across 23 sports programs, they are each going to vote for the coach of the program they cover.
Talk about a dud of a poll.
So you try again, and you get this. A list of Virginia’s most “colorful” coaches — whatever that means.
Lars Tiffany, men’s lacrosse
Tiffany once, in the same postgame press conference, labeled his dinged-up squad “a Civil War battle unit,” exalted his training staff for holding together the team’s faceoff men “with magic tape” and equated his star player’s graduation to Patrick Mahomes’s future retirement.
Tiffany, the bard of lacrosse, never fails to entertain postgame. He leans forward. He gestures. He talks and, in the annual blurbs he does about every player on his roster, writes like a poet.
Often his words veer toward the origins of the sport he loves. You can see those Native American roots, in his hands before every game, in the wooden stick his father had made for him. But, as with so much else with Tiffany, you can also hear about them whenever he gets to talking. — Michael Liebermann
Steve Garland, wrestling
The videos come almost every week on the wrestling program’s social media, and they always start similarly. “Hi, this is Steve Garland, head wrestling coach at the University of Virginia, giving my Virginia wrestling weekly video newsletter.”
They sometimes last a few minutes and sometimes stretch to eight or nine, Garland sitting in his office recapping the week to a phone camera, enthusiastically talking about everything to do with his program.
It’s just one example of the coach putting himself out there. Whether it is filming those videos of himself or running community events, Garland’s electricity has been on display every day of his 19-year tenure. — Ryan Weiner
Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, women’s basketball
The women’s basketball program is in an era of rebuilding, in search of a return to the glory of the 1990s when reaching the NCAA Tournament was the standard. Agugua-Hamilton’s fierceness is what gives many fans hope for the future.
Since taking over in 2022, Agugua-Hamilton has earned a fitting nickname. She is known as “Coach Mox,” an abbreviation of her first name. But Mox could also be short for moxie.
She is never afraid to speak her mind or to carry out postgame press conferences however she wants — single-sentence answers following a poor performance or glowing responses in support of her players after strong showings. She has even installed a slogan, “grind now, shine later.” It is one that represents her outlook. — Lauren Halak
George Gelnovatch, men’s soccer
Virginia beat Virginia Tech last fall at home, snapping a historic six-game winless streak. It was one of those nights, energy swirling, where people stand around afterward and reminisce. For some reason, a random statistical nugget came up — when was the last time Virginia came back from two goals down to beat Virginia Tech?
Gelnovatch — who is sometimes stony-faced, an arms-crossed sort of guy — knew the answer immediately. He knew the game, and the year, and the player who scored the winning goal, 12 years ago. Afterward, Quinn Hull, the program’s sports information director, smiled and shook his head. Gelnovatch, now on the precipice of his 30th season at Virginia, is “an encyclopedia of his program.”
“There will be times,” Hull said, “when I’ll think I have him on something [about program history] and then he just pulls it out.” — Michael Liebermann
Shannon Wells, volleyball
Win or loss, Wells walks over to the media after games excited to engage. She shakes the journalists’ hands, says it is good to see them again and launches into a detailed explanation of what she’s seen that she’s proud of and what they plan to work on next.
What is even more impressive is how her sunniness has turned the volleyball program around since she took over in 2021. In their most recent season, the Cavaliers made their first postseason appearance in 25 years and played for a crowd of almost 2,900 in John Paul Jones Arena.
Wells even starred in a TikTok this offseason for one of her assistant coach’s Instagram accounts. Perhaps she was just humoring a younger assistant. But, as with all things, she did it with her usual eager disposition. — Victoria Blankenship
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