CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- When Tony Elliott walked into his first team meeting at Virginia in late 2021, he promised to develop the model program, one built on excellence in the classroom and on the field. He did it while looking at a representation of all he and his team would have to overcome: His players were sitting on white plastic folding chairs inside the indoor practice facility, because its outdated football building did not have a meeting room big enough to fit everyone.
Elliott came from Clemson, where the football facility, which opened in 2017, featured everything from a king-sized weight room to an in-house barber shop to state-of-the-art training tables and recovery areas.