Former Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich is heading to the West Coast to be the new head coach of the Pepperdine Waves, the school announced on Thursday. Aldrich spent this past season as the associate head coach at Virginia, and before that led the Lancers for seven seasons and took them to two NCAA Tournaments.
“We were looking for a leader who could build something meaningful and sustainable,” said AD Tanner Gardner. “Griff’s passion for developing young men, his proven ability to transform programs, and his alignment with our mission make him the right person to lead Pepperdine Men’s Basketball. His record of success speaks for itself, and we’re excited for the future under his leadership.”
Aldrich was a hot name on the coaching circuit for several cycles as he turned Longwood into a consistent Big South winner. His team won the league in 2022 and then won the Big South Tournament to get their first-ever D-I NCAA Tournament berth. They returned to the Big Dance two years later, part of a stretch of three-straight 20+ win seasons for Aldrich and the Lancers.
He stepped down from his position following the 2024-25 season in order to join new head coach Ryan Odom at UVA, where Aldrich had previously attended law school. The Cavaliers won 30 games and finished the season ranked in the AP Top 10, a massive improvement from their sub-.500 record the year prior.
“Julie and I are extremely thrilled to join the Pepperdine and Malibu communities,” Aldrich said. “The opportunity to build a championship-caliber program within a University that promotes faith, academics, and excellence is tremendously exciting for our family. We cannot wait to start this new chapter in Malibu – and to begin building and establishing a program that will become a source of pride for our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and fans.”
Aldrich has had a unique career, from his beginnings as a player and later assistant coach at D-III Hampden-Sydney, to nearly a decade and a half working in the private sector as a lawyer and oil and gas executive. He returned to college basketball in 2016, becoming the director of operations and recruiting at UMBC for Odom, who was a teammate and classmate at Hampden-Sydney. He was hired by Longwood in 2018 with very little coaching experience relative to his peers, but quickly proved he was the man for the job by going to the CBI twice in his first three seasons before the breakout year in 201-22.
Pepperdine parted ways with former head coach Ed Schilling after just two seasons, during which the Waves went 22-45 (8-28). The program last played in the NCAA Tournament in 2002 and has struggled to compete in the WCC alongside powerhouse programs like Gonzaga (leaving for the Pac-12 in 2026) and Saint Mary’s.
credit to Pepperdine Waves for the image