Remembering Terry Holland

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Legendary UVA Men’s Basketball Coach and Athletics Director Terry Holland has died.

Holland passed away Sunday, February 26, at the age of 80. He had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

Holland coached at the University of Virginia from 1974-1990. In those 16 seasons he led the Cavaliers to nine NCAA tournament appearances, two Final Fours, and an ACC Championship in 1976.

A couple years later, Holland landed prize recruit Ralph Sampson.

Holland would help Sampson become a three-time National Player of the Year. The two led Virginia to the Final Four in 1981.

A year after Sampson graduated, Holland led UVA to another Final Four in 1984. Current UVA broadcaster Jimmy Miller was on that team.

“He was tough on all of us. You’d see him off the court and he had the coat and tie, southern gentleman, but when you got inside the lines and on that court, he was a fierce competitor,” Miller said.

Miller played four seasons for Holland. He still remembers Holland coming to his house in West Virginia to recruit him.

“Moving furniture in our living room out of the way, he said, ‘Jim, you’re going to come down here in the spring and we’re going to work on your footwork.’ He changed the trajectory of my life,” Miller said.

Holland was Virginia’s all-time winningest coach when he stepped down in 1990. That win record stood until this season, when Coach Tony Bennett broke it.

“His impact was lasting. I have the utmost respect for him as a basketball coach and his influence there, but he put this place, at least from my perspective, on the map and established so much of what is today,” Bennett said.

Holland finished his coaching career with 418 wins.

He is survived by his wife, Ann, two daughters, and three grandkids.

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