UVA Fires Agugua-Hamilton After Historic Sweet 16 Run
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- Virginia fired Amaka Agugua-Hamilton as head coach of the women's basketball program on Saturday, days after she led the Cavaliers to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2000.
- Agugua-Hamilton finished 70-58 overall and 29-42 in ACC play, with her team becoming the first double-digit seed to reach the regional semifinals since 2022.
- Virginia pulled off the upset of the tournament by knocking off No. 2 seed Iowa on the road in double overtime in the second round, then became the first First Four team to advance to the Sweet 16 before falling to TCU.
- Agugua-Hamilton reflected after the TCU loss: "we came up short, but that doesn't take away from our season or the growth we've had with our program."
- South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, who starred at Virginia as a player, said she had just heard about the change and didn't know why, noting Agugua-Hamilton "had them on the right track."
Why it matters: The firing cuts against the usual calculus of tournament success: Agugua-Hamilton just delivered Virginia's deepest NCAA run in 25 years and the bracket's biggest upset, yet was let go within days. South Carolina's Dawn Staley, a Virginia alumna, publicly questioned the decision and the timing, saying she didn't know why the program had "parted ways" with a coach who was building momentum.
