In the last couple months, a few names have circulated for the open UVa job. And in the last few weeks, the number of names has dwindled. In the last week or so, there has only been one name, frankly, that has been linked to the job far more than any other candidate.

And that candidate is VCU’s Ryan Odom.

Fresh off leading the Rams to an Atlantic-10 regular-season crown, Odom and his team won their conference tournament on Sunday, clinching their bid to the big dance. In his second year with the Rams, Odom has now led a third program to the NCAA Tournament in his second year (Utah State, UMBC). At the beginning of last week, it felt like Odom and New Mexico’s Richard Pitino were the hot names for the job, but buzz around Pitino has faded since Tuesday or Wednesday of last week. At this point, it seems like Odom’s job to lose, or taking it a step further, that it potentially is his job, and both parties are just waiting for the season to end to make it official.

Odom has had interest from NC State and Villanova in recent weeks, but NC State has seemingly moved on with other candidates at the center of their search. Villanova’s search seems pretty open at this point, and while Odom’s name has come up, it hasn’t been as prevalent as others, like Northwestern’s Chris Collins, for example. That job just came open on Saturday following Nova’s loss in the Big East Tournament, so they haven’t had a ton of time to do the legwork that UVa has been able to do over the last few months. Maybe they’ll be able to get Odom to the table, or maybe it’s too late.

We’re not calling this a done deal by any means. Until a contract is signed, things can change. Odom is still playing too, so the situation can’t quite be settled right now. But every day, Odom to UVa buzz has continued to get louder, both around the program and nationally. There are other names that have been tangentially linked to the job, like Pitino and others, like Grand Canyon’s Bryce Drew, but it’s all Odom all the time, at least for now.

UVa’s season has been over for almost two weeks, and fans are starting to get a little restless with the lack of updates. It’s worth remembering that the administration had quite a head start on the search, and had a search firm in place months ago, during the regular season. The administration was talking to coaches (and their representation) as their own season wound down, and led to an expedited search. So while we all want instant gratification, a lack of updates doesn’t mean that things aren’t progressing. In fact, it’s likely the exact opposite, and most of the work is done. Now, UVa waits for their target or targets, anyone who they’ve decided needs another conversation or simply needs to wrap up a deal, to finish out their season in the postseason. A chaotic search would be more fun to cover and would allow for more updates, but it’s probably not good for the program in the long run.

Odom and VCU will probably draw the eyeballs of the UVa fanbase on Thursday afternoon, when they take on 6-seed BYU in the East Region. The Rams, who are 3.5-point underdogs, take on the Cougars at 4:05pm ET on TNT, from Denver, Colorado. If Odom and his team are able to pull off the upset, they’ll play the winner of 3-seed Wisconsin and 14-seed Montana at some point on Saturday. VCU hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since they beat Oregon State in the 2016 tournament, under Will Wade. And Odom is seeking his second-ever NCAA Tournament victory, the only other coming at UVa’s expense, when he was at UMBC.

Two other names that UVa fans have monitored are squaring off on Friday. Pitino’s New Mexico Lobos fell short in the Mountain West Tournament, but still got an at-large bid as a 10-seed. They’ll take on Shaka Smart’s Marquette in Cleveland on Friday, with the winner likely to face 2-seed Michigan State on Sunday. This should be a very intriguing matchup to watch, even if it doesn’t end up impacting the search, as both teams have great point guards in New Mexico’s Donovan Dent and Marquette’s Kam Jones.

On the fringes of the search, Bryce Drew’s Grand Canyon is looking to pull an upset against a quality “Crab Five” Maryland team, out in Seattle on Friday afternoon. If Drew can lead the Antelopes to a first-round upset for the second-straight year, he could face another coach that has been mentioned for UVa, Colorado State’s Niko Medved. Now linked directly to the opening at his alma mater, Minnesota, Medved has the Rams back in the dance after beating UVa in Dayton last year, and are actually favorites in Vegas against the 5-seed Memphis.

The two big UVa-centric storylines while the coaching search plays out, are roster-related. First, there’s the current roster, and as of now, no Cavaliers have announced intentions to enter the portal. The portal officially opens on Monday, and there’s a decent chance UVa will have a coach in place by then, unless their candidate of choice goes on a big run. I’m sure Carla Williams would have suggested to players that they’ll have a coach in place in the coming days, and perhaps many of them will simply wait and see who gets the job, and then get a chance to meet that person before making any big changes. There will also be a group of players that are bound to leave regardless, for one reason or another. Some came to UVa specifically to play for Tony Bennett, who is now gone. Or, they are going to have opportunities elsewhere, and after a rough 2024-25 season, might be ready for a change of scenery. It’s also worth remembering that UVa has a far-flung roster. There aren’t many local products on the team at all; UVa has as many players from the Pacific Northwest with eligibility remaining, than they have from Virginia and every state that borders it, combined. That may make it a little easier for guys who are considering leaving to do so. With quality resources, the new coach could be able to sway a player or two that are considering leaving too, should they want that player back.

The recruitment of Chance Mallory is wrapping up, too. The 4-star Charlottesville native committed to UVa when Bennett was still in charge, and backed off that pledge after his retirement. Mallory looked around at other options, including Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and Miami, and is now set to announce his commitment this weekend. Despite not having a coach, the Hoos remain in the mix. Mallory was clearly comfortable playing close to home with Bennett in charge, and as wild as it may seem, its plausible that Mallory will commit to UVa again, without the program officially having a coach in place. Even if he does that, he doesn’t have to officially sign with Virginia until after a coach hire is made, so he’s not locked into anything.

Things are pretty straightforward from here. UVa is going to hire a coach whenever they’re able to, or more simply, when that coach is done with this season. If it’s Odom, or someone else, the candidate isn’t going to distract their current team by taking another job before the season is done. There are a bunch of recent hires, including Mark Byington at Vanderbilt last year, who were basically a done deal to their new school while the season wrapped up, and were able to officially complete the deal very soon after; in Byington’s case, he was on a flight to Nashville the day after JMU was eliminated from the big dance.

So the longer UVa’s preferred candidate goes, the longer the wait will be. It’s not necessarily a bad thing if the coach to be goes on a run though, because it makes the hire look a little better to the outside world and casual watchers of the sport who learn coaches and rosters from watching the tournament, and also it’s good experience for that coach to have for the future. If UVa’s top candidate gets knocked out in the first round, this hire could happen fast, maybe as early as the weekend if the deal is all but done. If the candidate(s) go deeper into the tournament, it could take a bit longer to get it done and announced. But theoretically, UVa could have a coach in place just a few days from now, and could have a press conference done in a week or so.

But until then, we wait.