CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Terry Holland had a tremendous impact on numerous student-athletes and coaches during his tenure as a coach and athletics director at Virginia, Davidson and East Carolina. On Saturday afternoon, many of those individuals had the opportunity to discuss the influence Holland had on their lives during a tribute to honor him at John Paul Jones Arena.
Three-time national player of the year and Naismith Hall of Fame member Ralph Sampson shared moderator duties with ESPN basketball analyst, former UVA assistant basketball coach and former Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg.
Other coaches from around the college basketball landscape who participated included Virginia head coach Tony Bennett, Kentucky head basketball coach John Calipari, Miami head basketball coach Jim Larranaga, Old Dominion head basketball coach and former UVA player Jeff Jones, Indiana Pacers head coach and former UVA player Rick Carlisle and former East Carolina head football coaches Ruffin McNeill and Skip Holtz.
"Every time I was around him I just wanted to give him a big hug and say thank you. Thank you for what you've done for Virginia basketball. To be the coach at UVA it's such an honor to follow in coach's footsteps," said Bennett.
In addition to the lineup of speakers, three-time Grammy Award winner Bruce Hornsby performed. A native of Williamsburg, Va., Hornsby, an avid college basketball fan, was one of Holland’s favorite musical artists.
Holland served as head coach at Virginia from 1974 to 1990, retiring as UVA’s all-time winningest men’s basketball coach with a 326-173 (.653) record. Holland guided the Cavaliers to a pair of NCAA Final Four berths (1981 and 1984), three consecutive ACC regular-season titles (1981-83), two Elite Eight appearances (1983 and 1989), one ACC tournament championship (1976), one NIT crown (1980), and nine NCAA tournament appearances. He earned ACC Coach of the Year honors in 1981 and 1982.
In his 21 seasons of coaching (including five at Davidson), Holland’s teams compiled a record of 418-216.
After retiring from coaching in 1990, Holland returned to Davidson as athletics director. He later became the athletics director at Virginia for seven seasons from 1994 to 2001 and then at East Carolina for 10 more years.
Holland passed away on Sunday, Feb. 26, at the age of 80.