Virginia fires women’s hoops coach Thompson after 4 seasons

By HANK KURZ Jr.
AP Sports Writer

Virginia has dismissed women’s basketball coach Tina Thompson after four seasons. Athletic director Carla Williams made the announcement on Wednesday. It came one day after the 14th-seeded Cavaliers were eliminated 61-53 by Wake Forest in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. The Cavaliers were 5-22 this season and 30-63 in four years under Thompson, a Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer and four-time WNBA champion. They were 15-38 against conference competition. Williams says the Cavaliers “have not experienced the kind of success this program has come to expect and deserve.”  Williams says a national search would begin immediately to name Thompson’s successor.