Scott Griffith Aldrich is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach and lawyer. He is the current head coach of the

Longwood Lancers men's basketball The Longwood Lancers men's basketball team is the Division I basketball team that represents Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. Since 2012, the team has competed in the Big South Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Associatio ...

team.

Playing career

Aldrich played at Hampden–Sydney under Tony Shaver, where he was team captain his senior year and a part of two NCAA Tournament squads for the Tigers. Aldrich also was a member of the

Chi Phi Chi Phi () is considered by some as the oldest American men's college social fraternities and sororities, fraternity that was established as the result of the merger of three separate organizations that were each known as Chi Phi. The earliest o ...

fraternity and was elected to the

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

and

Omicron Delta Kappa Omicron Delta Kappa (), also known as The Circle and ODK, is one of the most prestigious honor societies in the United States with chapters at more than 300 college campuses. It was founded December 3, 1914, at Washington and Lee University in ...

honors societies.

Coaching career

After graduation from the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...

, Aldrich returned to Hampden–Sydney for the 1999–2000 season as an assistant coach, where he assisted in the Tigers' perfect 24–0 regular season, and No. 1 national ranking in Division III. He also served as head coach of the Tigers' cross country team. Aldrich then entered the private sector for 16 years, while also coaching AAU basketball in the

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

area. Among the players Aldrich coached in AAU include

DeAndre Jordan Hyland DeAndre Jordan Jr. (born July 21, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played one season of college basketball for the Texas A&M Aggies. Jordan was se ...

and

Orie Lemon Orie Lemon (born 9 September 1987) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys, Arizona Cardinals, Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was signed by the Dallas Cowboys as an undraft ...

. He returned to college coaching in 2016, joining Hampden–Sydney classmate

Ryan Odom Robert Ryan Odom (born July 11, 1974) is an American men's college basketball coach who is currently the head coach of the VCU Rams men's basketball team. He was previously the head coach of the Lenoir–Rhyne Bears, the UMBC Retrievers, and the ...

's staff at

UMBC The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a public research university in Baltimore County, Maryland. It has a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs (38 master, 25 doctoral, ...

as the director of basketball operations, and Director of Recruiting/Program Development. Aldrich was part of the Retrievers' historic upset over top-ranked Virginia in the 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. On March 22, 2018, Aldrich was named the ninth head coach in

Longwood University Longwood University is a public university in Farmville, Virginia. Founded in 1839, it is the third-oldest public university in Virginia and one of the hundred oldest institutions of higher education in the United States. Previously a college, Lo ...

program history, replacing

Jayson Gee Jayson Gee (born December 13, 1965) is an American men's college basketball coach who most recently served as an assistant coach under John Brannen at Cincinnati. He was formerly head coach at Longwood from 2013–2018. Prior to Longwood, Gee s ...

. In his first season, he led the Lancers to their first ever Division I postseason appearance in the

2019 College Basketball Invitational The 2019 College Basketball Invitational (CBI) was a single-elimination men's college basketball tournament consisting of 16 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I teams that did not participate in the 2019 NCAA Men's Divisio ...

, and was named a finalist for the Joe B. Hall Award (given for most outstanding first-year head coach), which had been won by Odom in 2017. His second season saw Longwood reach fourth place in the Big South Conference, their highest finish in the league since joining in 2012. In July 2021, Aldrich received a contract extension through 2028. At the close of the 2021–22 season, Aldrich was named the Big South Coach of the Year for leading Longwood to the regular season title. Five days later, Longwood won their first ever Big South Conference tournament and earned a bid to the NCAA tournament.

Non-coaching career

Aldrich was a partner at

Vinson & Elkins Vinson & Elkins LLP (or V&E) is an international law firm with approximately 700 lawyers worldwide headquartered in Downtown Houston, Texas. The firm has offices in major energy, financial, and political centers worldwide, including Austin, Dalla ...

law firm, and also was the founder of an oil and gas company in Texas, as well as a managing director and chief financial officer at a private investment firm.

Head coaching record

Personal life

Aldrich is married to Julie Aldrich. They have three adopted children. Aldrich is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aldrich, Griff 1970s births Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Virginia Basketball players from Virginia College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Hampden–Sydney Tigers basketball coaches Hampden–Sydney Tigers basketball players Longwood Lancers men's basketball coaches Texas lawyers UMBC Retrievers men's basketball coaches University of Virginia School of Law alumni Virginia lawyers