Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett retires effective immediately

Virginia men’s basketball coach, Tony Bennett never sought to be the center of attention. That included his surprising and abrupt decision to retire with immediate effect, announced on the eve of the start of the season.

The program said Thursday that Bennett, 55, will announce his retirement at a news conference Friday at 11 a.m. EDT. No reasons were given for his decision, which was simply revealed in an online post by the program months after he had signed. a contract extension to stay in work at least until 2030.

This came a week after Bennett appeared at the Atlantic Coast Conference preseason media days, and with the Cavaliers’ first game against Campbell approaching at home on November 6.

Bennett led the Cavaliers to the national title in 2019. In his 15 seasons coaching in Charlottesville, he made 10 appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

At Virginia, he had a record of 364 wins and 136 losses, which included two ACC tournament titles and six regular-season conference championships. He was named AP National Coach of the Year twice, once at Washington State in 2007 and at Virginia in 2018.

Bennett left Pullman for Charlottesville before the 2009-10 season, with a mission to resurrect a program that had been a regular standout winner of the 1980s with 7-foot-10 Ralph Sampson, but had reached to just one NCAA tournament in eight seasons. He got the Cavaliers back to March Madness in his third season, installing a defense-oriented system that included a slow-paced offense that led to many low scores and made Virginia fans roar in approval for forced clock violations. launch.

The crowning moment came in a streak of six consecutive attempts to participate in tournaments between 2014 and 2019, four of them as a number one seed. However, that period also included an incredible year-long period of crushing humiliation on the court, followed by the highest point of moments.

In 2018, the Cavaliers were the first seed in the tournament, but then they They became the first number one seed to lose to a number 16 seed, upset by UMBC . Awkwardly, weeks later he was named the AP Men’s National Coach of the Year, an honor he secured primarily because of his success in the regular season.

But Bennett He handled it with a deft, firm, reassuring touch. based on his faith, telling his injured players who even heard death threats that they had the opportunity to write their own ending to that terrible moment and that everyone (family, friends and critics) was waiting to see how they would respond. That following year, the Cavaliers defeated Texas Tech in overtime to win the program’s only NCAA championship in an all-time redemptive moment in tournament history that came amid multiple nervy moments.

Bennett savored that ending in Minneapolis, emphatically placing Virginia’s name sticker on the champions line of the draw during the trophy presentation. After the players cut down the nets and danced among the confetti, everyone gathered on stage to watch the video boards overhead as the “One Shining Moment” highlight montage began to play, a tradition that marks the end of the tournament.

Fittingly, the humble Bennett watched the scene from the back, leaning on a railing at the edge of the stage while holding one of the nets.

Four years later, when Purdue became the second team to fall in a 16-on-1 upset, Bennett texted Boilermakers coach Matt Painter .

“Matt is one of the best coaches we have in college football, he is a man of character,” Bennett told the AP in February. “And not many can say, except me, ‘I’ve felt that pain.’ …So I just wanted to say, ‘If you ever want to talk, I’m here. I think about you a lot and I hope your story is the same as ours.’”

He almost did it. Purdue made it all the way to the NCAA title game before falling in UConn’s final push toward a new title.

Still, the 2019 crown turned out to be the highlight of Bennett’s time in Virginia. He got the Cavaliers back to the NCAA in three of his final four seasons, but the Cavaliers never won another tournament game. Along the way, questions arose about whether his methodical playing philosophy could work as well in an era when veteran players moved freely between schools through the transfer portal.

In March, the Cavaliers only managed 42 points in a 25-point loss to Colorado State in the First Four. But Bennett returned to ACC preseason media days as usual in Charlotte, not far from the site of the upset over UMBC, talking about plans for an upcoming season in which the Cavaliers were picked to finish fifth in the league. expanded to 18 teams.

“I think you have to look at the model and adjust it a little bit,” Bennett said then, without offering any indication of what would happen on Thursday.

Instead, Bennett, who was the only active ACC coach with an NCAA title, became the league’s latest high-profile coach to say enough is enough, following Hall of Famers like Carolina’s Roy Williams. North in 2021, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski in 2022 and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim in 2023.

“Tony Bennett embodies everything a high-quality basketball coach should be,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said in a statement. “He built strong relationships with his players, worked seamlessly with his administration and earned deep respect across the country, not only as a basketball coach, but as a person of great character and class. “His presence will be deeply missed.”

Bennett’s first stint as head coach was a three-year stint with Washington State, where he won 69 games and made the NCAAs twice, including a Sweet 16 appearance in 2008. Before that, the son of former college coach Dick Bennett was on his father’s staff at Washington State and Wisconsin.

He coached eventual NBA All-Star and four-time world champion Klay Thompson in his final season at Washington State, and went on to coach numerous future NBA players such as Joe Harris, Malcolm Brogdon, DeAndre Hunter and Ty Jerome.

Bennett played in college for his father at Wisconsin-Green Bay, then was a second-round draft pick of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets in 1992 and spent three seasons with the team.