Change could impact class

Virginia’s firing of coach Dave Leitao on Monday has at least one downside.
Sources have told The Daily Progress that it is a virtual certainty that Tristan Spurlock — a highly-rated recruit from Rockville, Md. who had committed to UVa during the early-signing period — will not be coming to Charlottesville.
The sources say that Spurlock was attracted to Virginia almost entirely by Leitao and assistant coach Bill Courtney.
Spurlock, who also strongly considered Georgetown during the recruiting process, is rated as a 4-star recruit by Rivals.com. It is conceivable that the 6-foot-7 wing player waits to see who Virginia will hire as its new coach before completely ruling the Wahoos out, but the chances of that are slim, sources said.
UVa’s only other incoming recruit is point guard Jontel Evans, a 3-star recruit from Bethel High in Hampton.
Neither Spurlock nor Evans returned phone messages on Monday.
With Leitao’s dismissal, Virginia could also take a hit in its 2010 recruiting efforts. The Miller School’s Mychal Parker and Eric Atkins (Mt. St. Joseph’s, Columbia, Md.) were top targets.
Typically, assistant coaches aren’t retained when the head coach is fired and a new coach comes aboard. But whoever replaces Leitao may want to think about keeping Courtney, the staff’s best recruiter — he was responsible for bringing in freshmen Sylven Landesberg and Assane Sene.
Keeping Landesberg happy should be a top priority. On Monday, the ACC Rookie of the Year voiced displeasure with Leitao’s dismissal.
“[What the (expletive)]!” wrote Landesberg on his Facebook page. “I came to play for him, didn’t think I would feel this way.”
One coach who it would be a surprise to see return is Rick Brunson, the school’s director of basketball operations.
Brunson, the former Temple player and NBA journeyman, has rubbed just about everyone in the Virginia athletics department, including members of the UVa basketball staff, the wrong way, according to sources.
It was because of Brunson that the school adapted an overly restrictive media policy that prevented journalists from stopping by the basketball offices unannounced, going against a nearly quarter-century old open-door media policy that spanned several coaching regimes.
Coaches Drew Diener and Steve Seymour are the other members of Leitao’s staff.