Why not Virginia? How Tony Elliott weathered tragedy and built a winner

"When Tony Elliott walked into his first team meeting at Virginia in late 2021, he promised to develop the model program, one built on excellence in the classroom and on the field. He did it while looking at a representation of all he and his team would have to overcome: His players were sitting on white plastic folding chairs inside the indoor practice facility, because its outdated football building did not have a meeting room big enough to fit everyone."

"But when he arrived at Virginia, the facility he inherited had no modern amenities. Every meeting room was too small. There was no nutrition space -- meals were handed out of a trailer after practice. No players lounge, either, nor space for support staff. It looked and felt every bit like something from 1991, which is, in fact, the year it was built."

Tony Elliott arrived at Virginia in late 2021 and pledged to build a model program focused on academic and athletic excellence. He inherited outdated facilities constructed in 1991, with too-small meeting rooms, no nutrition space, no players lounge, and meals handed out of a trailer. Elliott contrasted Virginia's conditions with Clemson's modern 2017 facility that included a king-sized weight room, in-house barber shop, and state-of-the-art recovery areas. He sold a vision that persuaded recruits and transfers such as Lavel Davis Jr., D'Sean Perry, and Devin Chandler to play for him. Virginia reached an 8-2 start, its best since 1990, and remained in ACC contention.

Read at ESPN.com