Griff Aldrich was named Head Men's Basketball Coach at Pepperdine University in March 2026. He enters his first season at the helm of the Waves in 2026-27.
A proven program builder who has helped architect turnarounds and NCAA Tournament appearances at three institutions over the past decade, most recently as the associate head coach at the University of Virginia, Aldrich is set to lead the Waves into a new era of basketball in Malibu.
His coaching career includes stops at Virginia, Longwood and UMBC, where he helped lead program transformations at each school which resulted in four NCAA Tournament appearances.
Aldrich arrived at Pepperdine after serving as associate head coach at Virginia in 2025-26, helping lead one of the nation’s biggest turnarounds from the season prior. Before his stint at Virginia, Aldrich put together a decorated head coaching tenure at Longwood from 2018-25.
His lone season on the bench at Virginia saw the Cavaliers achieve a 30-6 overall record, a 15-win improvement from the 2024-25 campaign. Beginning the season unranked, the Cavaliers were a top-10 program by the end of the regular season, having recorded a 15-3 record in the ACC on their way to an ACC Championship Game appearance. Virginia was eventually a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament and reached the Round of 32.
Aldrich spent seven seasons as the head coach at Longwood, where he engineered one of the most sizable transformations in college basketball. He led the Lancers to Big South regular season and tournament championships, guiding the program to multiple NCAA Tournament appearances, the first in the program’s Division I era. He amassed a 127-100 overall record in his seven seasons as head coach in Farmville.
In 2023-24, he guided the Lancers to their third straight 20-win season, where the program won their second Big South Championship and reached the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three seasons. Following the season, Aldrich was named a finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award, given annually to a men's head basketball coach in NCAA Division I who also exhibits strong moral character.
He was named Big South Coach of the Year in 2022 following the program’s first-ever berth to The Big Dance, as the Lancers posted a 26-7 overall record which featured a 15-1 mark in conference play. Following the season, Aldrich was a finalist for the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award, given to the top Division I coach in the country, along with the Hugh Durham Award, given annually the the top mid-major coach in the nation.
Aldrich saw immediate success in his rebuild of the Longwood program, guiding the Lancers to their first-ever Division I postseason appearance in CBI in 2018-19. He was named a finalist for the Joe B. Hall Coach of the Year Award, presented annually to the top first-year head coach in Division I college basketball.
In 2020-21, the Lancers won a then-record 10 Big South contests while advancing to the semifinals of the conference tournament. The team went on to earn their second postseason berth in three seasons, once again reaching the CBI.
“We were looking for a leader who could build something meaningful and sustainable,” said Director of Athletics Tanner Gardner on hiring Aldrich. “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.”
After a successful 16-year career in law and business, Aldrich originally returned to the basketball scene in 2016, joining the staff of former college teammate Ryan Odom at UMBC as Director of Recruiting and Player Development. Aldrich was involved in all aspects of the program’s rebuild, serving as Odom’s Chief of Staff, overseeing the recruiting, scouting, quality control, program development and community engagement efforts for the Retrievers.
In two seasons at UMBC, he helped lead one of the most memorable turnarounds in recent memory in college basketball. The Retrievers had won less than 10 games with 20 or more losses in seven straight seasons prior to the arrival of Aldrich, who immediately helped guide the program to back-to-back 20-win seasons.
UMBC won the America East title during his second season on staff, eventually becoming the first No. 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament to ever defeat a No. 1 seed, as the Retrievers knocked off No. 1 Virginia by a score of 74-54 in March 2018.
His first stint in coaching came at his alma mater Hampden-Sydney College for the 1999-2000 season, where he served under his former college coach Tony Shaver. He helped lead the Tigers to an undefeated 24-0 regular season and a No. 1 Division III national ranking that season.
Aldrich graduated from Hampden-Sydney in 1996, where he was a part of two NCAA Tournament teams. He went on to earn his Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia.
"Julie and I are extremely thrilled to join the Pepperdine and Malibu communities,” said Aldrich. “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’s career path includes significant experience beyond the sidelines, with success in the legal and business world. He joined the Houston-based law firm Vinson & Elkins following his first coaching stint at Hampden-Sydney, where he eventually became a partner, advising clients on mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and private equity transactions. In 2012, he stepped away to launch his own company and later served as managing director and chief financial officer of Atinum Energy Investments, furthering his executive-level leadership experience.
While at Vinson & Elkins, he served as head coach at multiple high-level AAU basketball programs for high school players. He eventually founded the HIS Hoops program in Houston's Third Ward, where his work with students focused on faith, academics and basketball.
A native of Virginia Beach, Virginia, Aldrich and his wife Julie have three children: Scott, Ford and Laura Lee.
