Craig Littlepage forgives Dave Leitao. Those recruiting battles years ago? Ancient history. That speeding ticket Thursday on Route 250? No sweat.
“This appointment feels right,” Littlepage said Sunday as he introduced Virginia’s basketball coach.
Littlepage and Leitao go back to the 1980s, when Leitao, a Connecticut assistant, and Littlepage, head coach at Rutgers, collided over touted recruits such as Tate George and Chris Smith. UConn won every time.
Littlepage joked Leitao was to blame for his moving from coaching to administration.
Perhaps that mutual history explains why Leitao and Littlepage, nabbed for speeding as he drove his prospective new coach around town, appear so comfortable together.
Most interesting Sunday was that we learned that in evaluating Leitao, not only Littlepage but also Virginia President John Casteen reviewed game tapes. Littlepage saw a team that rebounded and defended fiercely. Casteen liked Leitao’s comportment.
And Sunday showed why. Leitao was poised, serious and ramrod straight, the antithesis of the wisecracking, back-slapping Pete Gillen he replaces.
Leitao promised to “link the past to the future” by reaching out to former Virginia players. Such linkage is imperative. The Gillen years created a separation between some former players and the program. Healing those wounds can only help Leitao as he attempts to raise the Cavaliers from last place in the Atlantic Coast Conference.