AFP Podcasts

UVA Basketball rolls out the red carpet for Ryan Odom

The search is over, and UVA Basketball has its guy, Ryan Odom, who was introduced to the world on Monday with a public press conference at JPJ.

Odom said hello by offering the observation “I love offense,” and that he want to “play fast,” which might take some getting used to by the Embrace the Pace set.

Notebook: The latest on what we know about the UVA Basketball coach search

The timestamp on the email from the UVA Basketball SID announcing that the school was cutting ties with Ron Sanchez was 5:00 p.m. ET on the dot.

#TeamAFP’s Scott German noted that the FlightAware flight-tracking app had the team in the air over the Virginia-North Carolina border as the email was going out.

Sanchez didn’t learn his fate by email in the air or when the plane landed in Charlottesville, in case you were wondering.

Our contacts down in Charlotte described the scene after Virginia’s 66-60 loss to Georgia Tech that bounced the ‘Hoos from the ACC Tournament and ended the 2024-2025 season.

From what we were told, Sanchez was ushered into a room ahead of his postgame presser for a quick meeting.

We don’t know who else was in the room, but we can presume it was the athletics director, Carla Williams.

Sanchez was later than usual to the presser, and from a look at the video on YouTube, and a read of the transcript, he knew what was up.

UVA Basketball at the ACC Tournament, update on the coach search

There are two stories to follow right now with UVA Basketball – the season, which is now down to whatever happens in the ACC Tournament, and the coach search, which is at the end stages on a different time frame.

Today’s podcast tries to dive into both.

I start with a look ahead to Wednesday’s second-round ACC Tournament 8-9 game between UVA and Georgia Tech.

Then we shift to the latest in the coach search, which has had a ton of developments in just the past couple of days.

NASCAR fights back, with suit against 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports

The gloves are off at NASCAR headquarters, with news breaking that the racing giant has filed a countersuit against 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, which initiated action against NASCAR last year over the terms of the new team charters.

Rod Mullins, our NASCAR beat writer, joined the show to help me break down the particulars to the latest move in this back-and-forth.

Rod also reviews Christopher Bell’s win from Sunday in Texas, and gets us ready for this weekend in Phoenix.

#TeamAFP breaks down the latest in the UVA Basketball coaching search

The search committee that has been vetting candidates for the open UVA Basketball coaching job is in crunch time.

We know who the top candidates are now, but of course there are so many variables at play.

I had Scott German on with me on today’s podcast to break down the latest of what we know, which is a lot – that the search is revolving around, for now, at least, Marquette coach Shaka Smart and VCU coach Ryan Odom.

Among the issues: we’re still weeks away from being able to get anybody to sign on the bottom line.

In the pod, we examine the factors at play in getting the search to where it is now, and what can happen between now and thereabouts of April 1 that can lead to one or the other of the top candidates getting the job, or there being a need to get to a fallback candidate.

Podcast: What should NASCAR do about TV, streaming?

Rod Mullins, our NASCAR beat writer, joins “Street Knowledge” to review Christopher Bell’s OT win in Atlanta, and to help get us ready for this weekend in Texas.

The meat of the podcast this week is on the topic of TV ratings: for the Cup Series, Xfinity Series and the Truck Series, with an eye toward what NASCAR will do in the next couple of years to address its TV rights.

We wrap the show with news out of Southwest Virginia. Rod is also the editor of Dickenson Media, and we chatted about flooding in the Tri-State area, and the lack of action from the Trump administration on requests for disaster declarations in Virginia and West Virginia.

The latest on the UVA Basketball coach search

Ron Sanchez is the interim coach with the UVA Basketball program, but there’s some momentum toward Sanchez being a serious candidate to get the job on a full-time basis.

I go into detail about what we’re hearing on the Sanchez candidacy in this podcast, and also share what I learned from the look at the contracts of Virginia Tech basketball coach Mike Young and Hokies football coach Brent Pry.

UVA Basketball pulls road upset at Pitt

A busy couple of days for UVA Basketball, with the loss at home to Virginia Tech at the buzzer on Saturday, then the quick turnaround for a road trip to Pitt.

The ‘Hoos dominated the NCAA Tournament aspirant, winning 73-57 in a game that was essentially over at halftime.

We break down how UVA did it, ahead of talking through the news coming up the rest of this week with the wrap on the winter recruiting season for UVA Football.

MAGA flexing its muscles during first week of Trump 2.0

DEI – diversity, equity, inclusion – is “immoral,” per Donald Trump, a White man born into millions whose father bought him an Ivy League degree and gave him a $400 million head start in the business world.

Your first indication that U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is planning to run for re-election in 2026: he voted for the Laken Riley Act, the pretend get-tough-on-immigration bill that will allow the Trump administration to go after DACAs and people under Temporary Protected Status protections.

We finally heard from our MAGA congressman, Ben Cline, on the issue of President Trump’s inexcusable pardons of the 1,500 J6ers who tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election to keep their Dear Leader in power.

UVA-Boston College, issues on defense

The UVA Basketball team, which has lost its last five, and is 1-6 in the ACC, gets Boston College, which has lost its last four, and is 1-6 in the ACC, in JPJ on Tuesday night.

The only reason this one is on TV – ACC Network, 7 p.m. ET – is because every game is on TV in this day and age.

True story: my wife gave up her season tickets this season (we might have anticipated … something), so she buys single-games each time out.

The gamble: that she’d get ‘em cheaper than what we’d pay for the season tickets plus VAF donation.

The price for her tickets in the 300s for this one: 80 cents each.

Even with fees, she’s out eight bucks for two tickets.

My, how the mighty have fallen.

Still, I feel worse for the BC folks, because that program has had three winning seasons since cutting bait with Al Skinner (247-165 in 13 seasons there) way back in 2010.

Earl Grant got the Eagles into the NIT last season, but he lost Quinten Post to the G League, Claudell Harris to Mississippi State, Jaeden Zackery to Clemson, Devin McGlockton to Vanderbilt, and Prince Aligbe to Seton Hall.

Boston College is 9-9.

Its one ACC win is Miami, 78-68 at home back on Jan.1.

Let me feel bad for one more guy: Dan Bonner is on the call for ACCN for this one.

Dan deserves better.