Virginia
Hodge finds a place to put down his roots at West Virginia
If Ross Hodge was leaving North Texas, he wanted to find a place where he could plant roots. Turns out that’s exactly what Athletic Director Wren Baker wanted in a candidate for the next head coach as well.
“We felt like it was important the next head coach and their family put down roots and truly embrace being here,” Baker said.
West Virginia certainly has those qualities on the basketball side of things but also offered the right fit for Hodge and his family with just the location itself.
Hodge and his wife Shelly have two children, Emery and Reed and it was a family decision to make the choice to leave their deep ties in Denton.
For one, the decision brought Shelly back closer to her family in Baltimore, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
It also brought them to a place where they can embrace the location and scenery.
“The Morgantown community, we love mountains. We love rivers. We love lakes. There’s something about being in the mountains,” Hodge said.
It’s something that Hodge mentioned during the interview process that there’s something spiritual about being around nature and it dates back to growing up in the country.
He would then move to the city in Dallas during his formative years and admittedly had never been an avid outdoorsman, but things changed once he took the assistant job at Colorado State.
Hodge served as an assistant with the Rams from 2012-16 and it was during his time in Fort Collins where he discovered his love of the outdoors.
“Was the opportunity to get connected and go on hikes and spend time in the mountains and it lets you know there’s something much bigger than you out there,” he said. “And there really is something divine about spending time in nature, and my family loves that, and we can’t get the opportunity to do that.”
Throw on top of the people in the community with the opportunities that the basketball program provided, and it made the decision a no-brainer for Hodge to make the move to the Mountain State.
“I’m interested in people and being in a place that we can call home,” Hodge said.
Prince Andrew’s ex-girlfriend, Lady Victoria Hervey, gloated over the death-by-suicide of Andrew’s sex accuser, Virginia Giuffre, a mother of three.
In a vile message on Instagram, Hervey posted a screenshot of the news of Giuffre’s death with the caption, “When lies catch up with you, there’s no way out.”
She then posted another message, saying, “I have taken the decision to pause my posts on Virginia Giuffre at this time. Irrespective of the circumstances, suicide in anyone at any time is tragic, and in a young mother who has children, even more so.”
However, she left the first post up.
Hervey has been one of Giuffre’s most voluble critics and has frequently alleged that Giuffre faked the notorious picture of herself as a teenager with Prince Andrew. Hervey has poured scorn on claims that the famous photograph of a grinning Andrew with his arm slung around Roberts’ bare midriff when she was just 17 is genuine.
Hervey, whose brother was the famously dissolute seventh Marquess of Bristol, has previously suggested that the picture of Roberts and Andrew was a composite made with an “Irish body double.”
Andrew has also refused to accept that the photo is genuine.
“From the investigations that we’ve done, you can’t prove whether or not that photograph is faked or not because it is a photograph of a photograph of a photograph,” he said in the Newsnight interview. ”Nobody can prove whether or not that photograph has been doctored, but I don’t recollect that photograph ever being taken.”
Giuffre repeatedly insisted that the photo was real.
“It’s a real photo,” she said in an interview with British TV show Panorama. “I’ve given it to the FBI for their investigation, and it’s an authentic photo. There’s a date on the back of it from when it was printed.”
Giuffre received a bumper payout from Andrew in 2022 over claims he sexually assaulted her as a teenager.
Andrew has always said he has no recollection of meeting Giuffre. He has not commented on her death.
Giuffre’s family confirmed her passing on Friday, describing her in a statement to NBC News as a “lifelong fighter” who could “no longer carry the weight” of the trauma she endured.
Giuffre was born in California, but her family moved to Palm Beach County, Florida, where Giuffre got a job working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago before being recruited by Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein under the pretense of working as a masseuse for the billionaire financier.
Giuffre alleged she was forced into sexual encounters with Epstein’s powerful associates, including Prince Andrew. Although Andrew denied any wrongdoing, he settled her civil lawsuit in 2022 for an undisclosed amount, rumored to be around $14 million, and was forced to give up his royal role due to the scandal.
Police confirmed they received reports of an unresponsive woman at a property in the Perth suburb of Neergabby on Friday night.
“Police and St John Western Australia attended and provided emergency first aid,” a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia. “Sadly, the 41-year-old woman was declared deceased at the scene.”
Giuffre’s lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, described her client as a “dear friend and an incredible champion for other victims.”
Her representative, Dini von Mueffling, added: “Virginia was one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever had the honor to know.”
Well, no one saw this commitment coming!
The UNC basketball program added some guard depth, securing a commitment from Virginia Tech transfer Jaydon Young.
Jaydon Young has committed to North Carolina, he tells @greenlightbball.🐑
He averaged 16.3PTS in his final six ACC games— notably scoring 27PTS vs. Miami & 26PTS vs. Syracuse📊
Spent first two seasons at VA Tech.📈@jaydonyoung4 pic.twitter.com/lJtEzxzxIZ — GREENLIGHT MEDIA (@greenlightbball) April 25, 2025
Young originally committed to High Point this offseason, but coaching changes led for the former Virginia Tech Hokie to reevaluate his options. This led him to Chapel Hill, bringing the 6-foot-4 guard back to his home state to continue his college basketball career.
I give him (and North Carolina) credit: NO ONE had any inklings that this was even in consideration!
Anyways, Young spent the first two seasons of his college career at Virginia Tech. This past season, Young’s role increased and his production followed suit, averaging 8.1 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists per-game in more than 22 minutes per contest.
Young put up some big-time performances down the stretch, scoring in double-figures in each of his final six games of the 2024-2025 season. He scored 27 points in a win over Miami and followed it up two games later with a 26-point outburst in an overtime victory over Syracuse.
While he likely will be a rotational piece, Young is a guy who can provide a spark in any role he’s utilized in. His shooting percentages are not eye-popping (which could be a result of taking a large number of shots), but given his attempts should be much lower once he arrives in Chapel Hill, the hope is that he’ll be able to be more effective with more space and opportunities to work with.
This was a very random commitment but one that makes a lot of sense for the UNC basketball program, as Jaydon Young provides some much-needed depth at the guard position. He becomes the latest piece to this puzzle, a group that will look a lot different than the team we saw during the 2024-2025 season.
HAMPTON, Va. — An experimental aircraft has crashed at a military base near the coast of Virginia, authorities said Thursday.
The incident occurred at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in the city of Hampton and is under investigation, U.S. Air Force Airman Donnell Ramsey said in a phone call. He was unable to provide information on possible injuries.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a post on X that it was “investigating the crash of an experimental MX Aircraft MXS near Hampton, Virginia.” The post did not contain more information.
The MXS is a single-seat airplane, according to the MX Aircraft website. The Australian company specializes in sport, aerobatic and race aircraft.
An airshow is scheduled for the base Saturday and Sunday. But it’s unclear if the plane is involved in the event.
The base is composed of the Army’s Fort Eustis and Langley Air Force Base, which sits near the southwestern edge of the Chesapeake Bay.
The installation is home to squadrons of F-22 Raptor fighter jets. One of them shot down a Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic in 2023.
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