The University of Virginia has fired head women’s basketball coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton despite the team’s unexpected NCAA tournament run. According to the university, multiple students made reports of Agugua-Hamilton’s toxic team culture, leading to her dismissal.
According to Yahoo Sports, the University of Virginia is conducting an internal investigation on Agugua-Hamilton’s behavior.
Allegedly, all but two of the current Cavalier’s roster threatened to enter the transfer portal if changes were not made regarding the toxic team culture and mistreatment.
“It was a toxic, nightmarish atmosphere,” one anonymous source said.
That same source claimed, “Agugua-Hamilton also was abusive to support staff and threatened to fire staff, who were scared for their job security.”
Agugua-Hamilton had previously fired two strength coaches, and she had cycled through four creative video assistants in four years, allegedly “reaming out” support staff during outbursts.
Neither the university nor Agugua-Hamilton have released a statement on the termination to explain the move, but Dawn Staley, head women’s basketball coach at the University of South Carolina, did speak publicly on the matter.
Said Staley, “Yeah, I just heard about that. I did reach out to our athletic director at Virginia. She just told me that they did part ways. I don't know why. She said, We'll talk soon. I think I reached out to Coach Mox as well just to check on her. Really haven't had time to have a conversation with her. I don't know what went wrong, but I think she had them on the right track.”
