In a statement issued by the university on Monday, it was revealed that Terry Holland, a great basketball coach who spent 16 years building the University of Virginia’s program into a national powerhouse, died suddenly at the age of 80.
Holland has a successful career as an athletic administrator following his retirement as a coach. By 2019, Holland had stopped attending Virginia games at home owing to his Alzheimer’s disease.
Terry Holland Obituary
Before Holland took over the faltering Virginia basketball program in 1974, the squad had only had three winning seasons in the prior 21 years. Nonetheless, Holland created a culture of tenacious defense, which proved to be a successful recipe.
Despite having two of his first three teams with losing records, he managed to compile an amazing career record of 326-173 by leading the Cavaliers to nine NCAA tournament trips, two Final Fours, and the 1980 NIT championship.
He guided the squad to their first ACC tournament victory in 1976 despite their underwhelming 15-11 regular season record. Holland had a distinguished 418-216 overall record during his five years as head coach at Davidson.
Ralph Sampson, a highly sought-after recruit who stood at 7 feet 4 inches and was from Harrisonburg, may have been Holland’s greatest accomplishment. Sampson joined the Cavaliers for the 1979–80 season. The program then started to reverse course.
In an earlier this month interview with The Associated Press, Sampson stated that Holland was the determining factor in his decision to attend Virginia. In Sampson’s first year, the Cavaliers won the NIT under Holland’s leadership, and in each of his final three seasons, they qualified for the NCAA tournament.
In 1981, they made it as far as the Final Four before falling to North Carolina in the national semifinals.
Sampson likely contributed to the program’s increased notoriety by winning the national player of the year awards each of his last three years. In their first season without Sampson, Virginia made it back to the Final Four but fell to Houston in overtime in the championship game. Four of the team’s final six seasons under Holland’s leadership saw them play in the NCAA tournament.