‘Coach Mox’ says she’s settled with Virginia after sudden firing following Sweet 16
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Former women’s basketball coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton says she has reached a settlement with the University of Virginia after her sudden firing on April 5, a week after leading the Cavaliers to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000.
Details of the settlement were not made public. Agugua-Hamilton shared a statement about it on her Instagram account after the Associated Press published a story about the settlement.
Agugua-Hamilton and her representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Virginia declined to comment.
USA TODAY Sports previously reported that Agugua-Hamilton — widely known in and outside the program as “Coach Mox” — had been the subject of an internal investigation and there were allegations of staff mistreatment within the program, according to four people with knowledge of the situation.
According to a copy of Agugua-Hamilton’s contract obtained by USA TODAY Sports, Virginia owed her a sizable buyout if she was terminated without cause. The contract stipulates that Virginia would have to pay her the remaining amount of her base salary, 80% of supplemental compensation, 80% of royalties and any bonuses earned, but not yet received. According to the figures outlined in her contract — which ran through the 2027-28 season — Agugua-Hamilton would have been owed about $1.3 million.
The contract also says that Virginia, at its discretion, may pay Agugua-Hamilton a lump sum of payments remaining for the term of her contract. Such a lump sum payment would also mean that Agugua-Hamilton would have no obligation to seek employment elsewhere.
“The recent resolution of this matter allows everyone to move forward, and I welcome that opportunity,” Agugua-Hamilton wrote in a statement published to her Instagram account on Monday, July 27. “I am proud of my career, grateful to every player and coach whose path has crossed mine, and excited for what is to come next. My passion for coaching has always been less about wins and losses and more about making a positive difference in the lives of young people. That passion remains as strong as ever.”
In the caption of that Instagram post, Agugua-Hamilton wrote that her “silence was by design” and she is “so excited to take a year off from coaching.”
Across four years leading the Cavaliers’ women’s basketball program, Agugua-Hamilton had a 70-58 record, including a 29-42 mark in ACC play. This past season marked Virginia’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2018 and they were one of the last four teams to make the field. The Cavaliers defeated Arizona State in the First Four and then upset higher-seeded Georgia and Iowa to make it to the Sweet 16 — becoming the first double-digit seed to reach the regional semifinals in the Women’s NCAA Tournament since 2022.
Before becoming the head coach at UVA, Agugua-Hamilton was the head coach at Missouri State where she went 74-15 with two trips to March Madness.
Virginia hired Richmond coach Aaron Roussell three days after Agugua-Hamilton was fired. He had guided the Spiders to three consecutive NCAA Tournament berths, with two of those appearances coming via at-large berths. Despite the transfer portal being open and her taking a visit to Dawn Staley’s South Carolina, Roussell was able to retain star guard Kymora Johnson, a First Team All-ACC selection.