Terry Holland, who coached UVA to more than 300 victories in basketball and served as influential athletic director, has died

Terry Holland, who coached the University of Virginia men’s basketball team to more than 300 victories before becoming an influential administrator at UVA and East Carolina, has died. He was 80.

Holland died Sunday after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Monday.

Holland, with a 326-173 record, was Virginia’s winningest men’s basketball coach until he was passed earlier this season by Tony Bennett. During Holland’s 16 seasons from 1974-90, he guided the Cavaliers to nine NCAA Tournament trips, two Final Four appearances (1981 and 1984) and an NIT championship in 1980.

“Terry was a CLASSY winner who was a man of integrity & loyalty,” longtime ESPN broadcaster Dick Vitale wrote on Twitter. “Terry was A big time WINNER in the GAME of LIFE! May he RIP!”

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, who played at ACC rival Duke from 1982-86, on Twitter called Holland “one of the ACC’s greatest coaches, and one of the game’s finest gentlemen.”

After a stint as Davidson’s athletic director, Holland returned to Charlottesville as UVA’s athletic director and then a special assistant to the president. He was the driving force behind fundraising efforts, planning and construction of the $130 million John Paul Jones Arena.

Holland was named one of the 50 most influential figures in Atlantic Coast Conference basketball history by the Charlotte Observer in 1999.

Holland finished 418-216 in his career, with coaching stints at Davidson and UVA.

“As both a successful coach and respected administrator, Terry Holland leaves an indelible imprint on the University of Virginia, the ACC, college basketball and college athletics,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement. “He was a true gentleman that embraces his players and colleagues as a family. Our hearts will remain with his wife Ann and the entire Holland family.”

Holland was a North Carolina native and played baseball, basketball and football for four years at Clinton High, about an hour south of Raleigh. He was valedictorian of his senior class and attended Davidson on a scholarship.

At Davidson, he played basketball for three seasons under coach Lefty Driesell and was part of the program’s first nationally-ranked team. He became an assistant coach before being hired as Davidson’s head coach and was 135-92 over five seasons.

Holland has credited Driesell — a Norfolk native who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018 — as his biggest influence as a coach.

Holland arrived at UVA in 1974 and set about putting the men’s basketball program on the national map. The Cavaliers won the program’s first ACC Tournament title and made their first NCAA Tournament during the 1975-76 season.

In 1980, Virginia — led by 7-foot-4 center Ralph Sampson — won the NIT Tournament and followed that with three consecutive ACC regular-season championships and three NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Final Four trip in 1981.

Virginia started the 1980-81 season 23-0 and was ranked No. 1 nationally for the first time.

“To me, he’s iconic to Virginia, Virginia basketball, ACC basketball and basketball, in general,” Sampson told the Daily Press in 2016 at a celebration honoring Holland and the 1976 team. “He’s meant so much to so many people.”

Jeff Jones, now the coach at Old Dominion, was the starting point guard for four seasons at Virginia under Holland from 1978-82 and served as an assistant coach under Holland on a staff that included three other future head coaches: Seth Greenberg, Jim Larranaga and Dave Odom.

When Jones got cut by the Golden State Warriors in November 1982 after a record-setting career as Holland’s point guard at UVA, Holland held a position for him despite the fact that the Cavaliers’ season had already started.

Jones spent eight years as a UVA assistant under Holland before becoming the Cavaliers’ head coach for eight seasons.

“For a coach in the ACC with the success that he had enjoyed, he was just kind of genuine and down to earth,” Jones said Monday. “He projected that image of being a gentleman and all that stuff. I saw different sides of that behind the scenes, but a good guy. He had an ego. I mean, everybody has an ego. But he never let that get in the way of trying to do what the team needed or what was best for whatever situation.”

Jones stayed in touch with Holland’s family through Holland’s wife, Anne, and Odom, who became the Wake Forest head coach after serving on Holland’s UVA staff.

“The last few years, it’s been difficult to communicate,” Jones said. “But I know he’s in a good place now. And I’m sure when March Madness starts, he’ll have a front-row seat.”

Holland led the Cavaliers to another Final Four appearance in 1984 (despite a 6-8 finish in the ACC), and UVA made the NCAA Tournament in four of Holland’s final five seasons. He won 20-plus games nine times, including 29, 30 and 29 victories in three straight seasons from 1980-82.

Holland left Virginia to become Davidson’s athletic director in 1990 and oversaw the program’s return to the Southern Conference. He returned to Charlottesville in 1995 as Virginia’s athletic director.

Holland set in motion the vision of JPJ Arena — construction finished after his departure — and he also spurred an $86 million renovation and expansion of Scott Stadium and construction of the $18.5 million U.Va. Aquatics and Fitness Center.

Holland became athletic director at ECU in 2004 and helped orchestrate a turnaround of the Pirates’ football, baseball and basketball programs, along with the transformation of campus facilities that included a $25 million Olympic sports complex now named in his honor. He retired in 2013 and split his time between Denver and Wilmington, North Carolina.

Holland was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.

Staff writer David Hall contributed to this story.

Jami Frankenberry, 757-446-2376, jami.frankenberry@pilotonline.com. Twitter @JamiVP