COURTHOUSE — Tony Elliott was nearing the end of his first season as the University of Virginia’s head football coach when three players died in a shooting.
In November, Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry were killed after returning from a field trip, and two other people were wounded: student Marlee Morgan and Mike Hollins, another member of the team who has since returned to the field. A former player stands accused of multiple crimes.
The final two games of Elliott’s first season as coach were canceled following the tragedy while he, his team and the UVA community grieved.
Now Elliott is approaching his second season. UVA is still healing.
To hear Elliott tell it, faith is what brought him together with the Cavaliers, and faith will move them forward.
“I believe everything happens for a reason,” Elliott told me on Wednesday, April 19, shortly before he addressed members of the Virginia Beach Sports Club at Virginia Beach National Golf Course.
“Unfortunately,” he added, “a lot of times, we don’t know until the future.”
Elliott feels blessed to lead the team.
“What we went through as a program you could never anticipate and couldn’t prepare for,” he said.
“I have the responsibility – day in, day out – to be the best person I can be every day.”
His example is a powerful one because he has faced tragedy and adversity. During his remarks in Virginia Beach, he spoke about what he has overcome.
In addition to faith, his involvement in athletics saved him during a tumultuous youth.
Elliott spoke of an alcoholic father. His mother escaped the marriage with Elliott and his sister, leaving under the cover of night. Then their mother died in an automobile accident, and he and his sister, after living again with their father, went from California to his aunt and uncle’s home in South Carolina.
“She was my guardian angel,” Elliott said of his aunt. “When we moved in with her, she told me if I were going to play sports, I’d have to maintain a B-plus average. I made those grades because playing sports takes away the anger.”
Elliott eventually went on to study and play at Clemson, where he later worked as a renowned member of its championship coaching staff.
While still a student, he earned an engineering degree and served as team captain while carrying a team-high grade point average, according to The Athletic. He told me it paid homage to his aunt.
Elliott thanked the Virginia Beach Sports Club for having him to speak and for their work, especially in supporting young people involved in athletics. The club awards scholarships to a student athlete from each high school in Virginia Beach.
Its annual Jamboree on Wednesday, May 31, at the Founder’s Inn, supports a scholarship fund that helps student athletes continue their educations.
“You guys are critical,” Elliott told members of the club. “It gives many young people the opportunity to be something. [Through] the scholarships you give out, athletes get a chance to better themselves, learn how to achieve. Student-athletes show them how to keep achieving. Settings goals and surpassing them.”
Elliott is determined to help the team heal while setting his student athletes on a path toward achievement.
“I came to UVA to build a national championship program,” Elliott said. “Every season, you have to build a new house. You have to be a master craftsman. You can’t take any shortcuts. Now things are slowly headed in the right direction.”
Dawson Odums, a Virginia Beach resident who is leading his own football program at Norfolk State University, is a friend of Elliott’s.
“The integrity of a man is not what he says, but how he acts when no one is around,” Odums said during an interview. “Coach Elliott is the true definition of how hard work pays off. Tony is one of the more intelligent people I know, and I know he will do well at UVA.”
Added Odums, “Keep pushing, my brother. We’re pulling for you, my brother.”
Blake Morant, a member of the alumni board of directors at UVA and a professor at George Washington University Law School, said a leader with Elliott’s character makes a difference.
“Coach Elliott embodies the values that have always been a part of UVA athletics, namely, integrity, scholarship and an appreciation for teamwork that fosters the human spirit,” he told me. “His stewardship of the program, particularly in the aftermath of the recent tragedy, signals the incredible value of his leadership at a critical time for the university.”
As Elliott supports the team and its community, I asked who supports him?
“My family supports me,” Elliott said. “My wife, Tamika, and my two sons, A.J. and Ace. The university and the alums and community.”
And, as ever, faith.
“It’s what’s carried me,” the coach said, “and will continue to carry me.”
Visit vbsportsclub.com to learn more about the organization.
The author is a writer and documentary filmmaker who grew up in Norfolk and lived in Virginia Beach for much of his life. He ran a production company, worked in college athletics and was curator at an art gallery in Virginia Beach for years.
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