Former Holy Cross star Sylven Landesberg will wait to see who replaces Dave Leitao as the new Virginia coach before making any decisions about his future, according to Holy Cross coach Paul Gilvary.
The 6-foot-6 Landesberg, a Brooklyn native, led Virginia in scoring as a freshman at 16.6 points per game and also averaged 6.0 rebounds and was named the ACC Freshman of the Year.
“He’s a pretty sharp kid,” Gilvary said Tuesday by phone. “His parents are very smart people, too. He wouldn’t do anything until a new coach is hired and then he’ll meet with the new coach and if any decision needs to be made it won’t be made until things play out.”
Landesberg originally chose Virginia over St. John’s and Georgia Tech.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of reasons to go to the University of Virginia, academically and socially,” Gilvary said. “The guy who convinced [Landesberg] to go there was Coach Leitao so the fact that he’s gone is upsetting.”
Leitao resigned Monday after a 10-18 season in which the Cavaliers finished 11th in the ACC. The University will pay him approximately $1.2 million.
“Dave has been a respected colleague and a fine University representative in the local community during his tenure here,” Virginia AD Craig Littlepage said in a statement. “He brought a great deal of leadership, discipline and integrity to his coaching responsibilities. I appreciate his hard work and dedication to athletics at the University of Virginia.”
A national search for a new men’s head basketball coach will get under way immediately. Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel and Xavier coach Sean Miller are two names reportedly in the mix.
“We expect to attract a strong pool of candidates interested in becoming a part of our University community,” Littlepage said.
“Our intention is to hire the very best person to lead the University’s basketball program consistent with our overall department goals,” he added. “Our team has a promising nucleus of young players who we expect will continue to develop.”
