Griff Aldrich describes his career path as surreal.
It certainly has not been linear but more of a full circle to get to this point as head coach for Longwood men's basketball, which clinched its first Division I NCAA tournament bid by winning the Big South Conference Championship.
The tournament trophy sits in Aldrich's office, tiny compared with the workspaces of his former professional life as a partner in a large international law firm, a business owner and private equity executive.
Aldrich's Longwood office sits in Farmville, Virginia, about 6 miles from his college basketball roots at Division III Hampden-Sydney. He played four years there for coach Tony Shaver and made two Division III NCAA tournament appearances with the Tigers.
"I just had an incredible experience playing with some amazing teammates," he said. "It was just a formative time for me, my opportunity to play college athletics. Coach Shaver taught me so much, really about myself and the game of basketball."
This is where Aldrich's life began to veer off his expected course, the start of an orbital path both away and eventually back to college basketball.
After college, he wanted to keep basketball part of his life through coaching. He had an initial opportunity to do so at Wake Forest for Dave Odom, the father of Aldrich's college teammate and friend Ryan Odom — now the head coach at Utah State. But Aldrich had also applied to law school as a backup plan, and when Dave Odom heard from his son that Aldrich got into the University of Virginia School of Law, he advised him to take that path.
Aldrich hugs one of his Longwood players during the Big South Conference Championship. A former Division III basketball player, Aldrich spent more than 15 years as a lawyer and in business before returning to college basketball.
"I did that, and it was the right decision," Aldrich said. "It was the right advice, even though it wasn't my preferred course."
After earning his Juris Doctor, Aldrich returned to his alma mater for one year as an assistant coach before entering a career in law to help pay off student debt. He thrived as a lawyer and became a partner at Vinson & Elkins' Houston office. In the years to come, he'd lead his own oil and gas company and serve as the managing director and chief financial officer in a national energy-focused private investment firm.
Through it all, Aldrich said, "basketball remained a huge part of life for me." Specifically, his college basketball experience loomed large.
"I think my time in college basketball as a player was extremely formative," he said. "I know when I was in law school, having to study for exams first year, being able to push to that next level was absolutely developed on the practice floor at Hampden-Sydney. I think the same was true practicing law, being up at 2 in the morning, doing due diligence and being able to continue to grind through, that persistence and toughness was developed on the practice floor. I'm not the smartest guy or the most talented or gifted, but I do think what I may have been able to develop is a really strong work ethic and trying to do things the right way."
These are the reasons and forces that pulled Aldrich back to the game. At first, that was through an AAU basketball program he founded in Houston called HIS Hoops, which brings a "holistic approach" to developing players through faith, education and basketball.
"That was a really special experience. You got so connected with the guys," Aldrich said.
"It was really more to provide mentorship, some stability, push people the right direction and provide a positive experience for our players. It was just amazing to see the fruit that was occurring in our players, the growth they were having both academically, personally and athletically."
In his fourth season leading Longwood, Aldrich said he felt a calling to help more young men through basketball after he launched an AAU program in Houston that focuses on the holistic improvement of players.
Aldrich felt he was being called to do more to help young players grow through the game. At first, he thought that just meant more involvement with HIS Hoops. His wife, Julie, was the first one to even mention the idea of returning to college basketball. Aldrich, 42 at the time and 15-plus years removed from that world, didn't think it was feasible.
A few months later, Aldrich said "providence intervened" when Ryan Odom got the men's head coaching job at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He offered Aldrich a spot on his staff as a recruiting coordinator and director of development. In his second year at UMBC, the Retrievers shocked the world by beating Virginia, becoming the first No. 16 seed in NCAA tournament history to beat a No. 1 seed.
Aldrich was introduced as Longwood's head coach in the weeks that followed. Now, the program enters its first NCAA tournament in his fourth season.
"It's just been a surreal experience because when we left the private sector to get into college basketball, the goal was never to be a head coach," Aldrich, whose team will face Tennessee in the first round Thursday, said. "I feel unbelievably blessed to be back in a community that I know and love."
It's the same community where he started his college basketball career 30 years ago. While so many things have changed in the decades since, the life lessons and traits Aldrich took from his student-athlete experience have not. Now, he's the one passing them on.
"I do think I've been very much shaped by my coaches and the experiences both in high school and at Hampden-Sydney College," Aldrich said. "We really feel at Longwood that athletics really reveals one's character and, in order for you to achieve maximum potential, your character has to grow and develop. Yes, we want to chase championships and build a sustainable basketball program, but if we're not developing men of character, then we will have been a failure. One of our big components is to try to really help our guys understand who they are and, by the time they leave Longwood, that they know a little bit more about themselves and how they can grow and improve, not only as players but more importantly as men.
"In all honesty, it was that that kind of drove me back into coaching in the first place."
Longwood celebrates its Big South Conference Championship. The Lancers will face Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship on Thursday.
