It was the morning of “Selection Sunday,” the day he’d find out where his University of Richmond women’s basketball team would slot into the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
But Aaron Roussell was nowhere near a basketball arena. He was in Maryland, coaching another team altogether – the RBA South Defenders, a youth travel baseball squad based in Virginia’s capital city.
The team featured Riley, Roussell’s son.
“He’s a super dad, really,” Molly Roussell said Monday after her husband was introduced as the new UVA women’s basketball coach. “He has great work-life balance. He always makes the kids a priority.”
The Roussell children – 15-year-old Riley, 11-year-old Kelsey and 8-year-old Kendall – sat with Molly in the front row Monday as Aaron announced to all of the fellow UVA coaches in attendance or watching remotely, “You’ve got some big-time fans for all of your programs.”
The trio of young new Hoos was outfitted in fresh Cavalier apparel.
“We got a lot of new gear, which is awesome,” Molly said. “(Aaron Roussell) brought home this huge box full of stuff. At first, it was just his size, and my son was like, ‘Where’s my size?’ And he was like, ‘Don’t worry, it’s coming.’ And he brought home a bag of stuff with their names on it, which was awesome.”
Molly describes her husband as “super fun,” with a personality that has attracted loyal friends at each stop in his career.
Roussell, who has led Richmond, Bucknell University and the University of Chicago to the NCAA Tournament, is not only a well-traveled coach. He was about 1,400 miles away from Charlottesville – on a family vacation in Jamaica – when he was first contacted about the UVA vacancy.
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University of Virginia
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