CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Dean and Markel Families Men’s Head Basketball Coach Tony Bennett announced his retirement after 15 seasons at the University of Virginia today (Oct. 18).
Bennett posted a 364-136 record at UVA, guiding the Cavaliers to the 2019 NCAA championship, two ACC tournament titles, six ACC regular-season championships and 10 NCAA tournament appearances. Bennett was named ACC Coach of the Year in 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019.
The three-time National Coach of the Year amassed a 433-169 overall record in 18 seasons, including a 69-33 mark and a pair of NCAA tournament appearances at Washington State from 2007-09.
“I have been here as 15 years as the head coach … this position has been on loan and it’s time to give it back … I’ve given everything I had for 15 years.” pic.twitter.com/9eskqWYDXf
— Virginia Men’s Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) October 18, 2024
“I’ve been here for 15 years as the head coach, and I thought it would be a little longer, to be honest, but that’s been on loan,” Bennett said. “It wasn’t mine to keep. This position has been on loan and it’s time for me to give it back.
“And it’s mine to give back, and I’ve given everything I can for 15 years. I go back to the reason why I came here. I was so excited to test myself as a coach against the Hall of Fame coaches: Coach K, Coach Roy Williams, actually Coach Gary Williams, Coach Boeheim. I wanted to see if I could, with my staff, who’s the reason why we’ve had this success while we’re here, could build a program in our unique way to compete against the Blue Bloods.”
University of Virginia Director of Athletics Carla Williams announced that Associate Head Coach Ron Sanchez will lead the men’s basketball program as Interim Head Coach for the 2024-25 season.
“The University of Virginia is an amazing place because of people like Tony Bennett.” Williams said. “Tony is a Hall of Fame coach and a world class human. He poured his heart and soul into this program and the UVA community for 15 years. He elevated the UVA men’s basketball program back to national prominence and our first NCAA championship. Tony led the program with his guiding pillars of humility, passion, unity, servanthood and thankfulness, and we’re all grateful for the way he represents college basketball and college athletics. I will miss him serving as our coach, but I’m excited to work with him in a different capacity to continue serving UVA and the values that are important to us.”
Bennett was introduced as the head coach of the Virginia men’s basketball program on April 1, 2009, after three successful seasons at Washington State, including NCAA tournament appearances in 2007 and 2008. The Cougars’ 69 wins over those three seasons are the most over any three-year period in school history.
After posting a 31-31 record in his first two seasons at UVA, Bennett guided the Cavaliers to a school-best nine consecutive seasons with 22 or more wins. In 2013-14, Bennett led UVA to its first 30-win (second in school history) since 1981-82 as the Cavaliers won ACC regular season and tournament championships, while advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16. The Cavaliers went 30-4 in 2014-15, claiming its second straight ACC league title and advancing to the NCAA third round. UVA advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight in 2015-16 after posting a 29-8 record. The Cavaliers went 31-3 in 2017-18 before posting a 35-3 record, including 17-1 mark in the ACC, en route to its first NCAA championship in 2018-19. Bennett passed Terry Holland (326-173, 16 seasons) as UVA’s all-time winningest coach with the win over Syracuse (1/7/23) and recorded his 400th career win at Wake Forest (1/21/23).
The hallmark of Bennett-coached teams was defense as the Cavaliers led the nation in scoring defense six times and finished in the top-six nationally in each of the last 13 seasons.
Ten Virginia players – Mike Scott (Atlanta, 2012), Joe Harris (Cleveland, 2014), Justin Anderson (Dallas, 2015), Malcolm Brogdon (Milwaukee, 2016), Devon Hall (Oklahoma City, 2018), De’Andre Hunter (Los Angeles Lakers, 2019), Ty Jerome (Philadelphia, 2019), Kyle Guy (New York, 2019), Trey Murphy III (Memphis, 2021) and Ryan Dunn (Denver, 2024) – have been selected in the NBA Draft during Bennett’s 15-year tenure. Anderson became the first Virginia player selected in the first round (21st overall) since Cory Alexander in 1995, while Hunter was UVA’s highest draft pick (4th overall) since Ralph Sampson was selected first overall in 1983.
Bennett’s teams have not only been successful on the court, but also in the classroom and community. UVA’s Ben Vander Plas earned CSC Academic All-America Team Member of the Year in 2023, and Jerome Meyinsse received the ACC’s Skip Prosser Award in 2010 as the conference’s top men’s basketball student-athlete. UVA’s Harris (2014), Brogdon (2015) and Anthony Gill (2016) were named to the NABC Allstate Good Works.
