In the wake of Tony Bennett’s surprising immediate retirement, Ron Sanchez has been named the interim head coach of the Virginia men’s basketball team for the 2024-2025 season, as announced at Bennett’s retirement press conference on Friday morning. Bennett gave a lengthy opening statement to begin the press conference that ended with him indicating that Sanchez would be taking over head coaching duties for the Cavaliers this season.
UVA director of athletics Carla Williams confirmed after the press conference that Sanchez will be serving as the interim head coach at Virginia for the 2024-2025 season and that Virginia will conduct a national search to fill the full-time head coaching position after that.
Virginia announced Bennett’s retirement on Thursday afternoon, a stunning development considering that the 2024-2025 basketball season is less than three weeks away and the fact that Bennett signed a contract extension earlier this year to remain the program’s head coach through the 2030 season.
In his press conference on Friday, Bennett cited the complex and problematic state of college basketball and its issues regarding NIL and the NCAA calendar with the transfer portal as primary factors in his decision to retire, a decision he came to earlier this week while on a brief vacation with his wife, Laurel. Bennett came to the conclusion that he was “no longer the right guy for the job.”
When Sanchez rejoined the program in the summer of 2023 after spending five years as the head coach at Charlotte, Tony Bennett had this to say about bringing back his old assistant:
“We are thrilled to welcome Ron and his family back to the University of Virginia. Ron played an integral part in building this program and was a pillar in the community. He is an outstanding recruiter and coach, and really connects with student-athletes. Ron’s last five years as a head coach enhances what he will bring back to our basketball program.”
Sanchez spent 12 years on Tony Bennett’s coaching staff, including three years at Washington State and then the first nine years of Bennett’s tenure at UVA. He was promoted to associate head coach in 2015, served in that role for his last three seasons in Charlottesville, and then returned to that position in 2023.
In five years at Charlotte, Sanchez turned in a 72-78 overall record and coached the 49ers to records above .500 in three of his five seasons. In his final season in Charlotte in 2022-2023, Sanchez led the program to its first-ever postseason tournament title as the 49ers captured the 2023 College Basketball Invitational (CBI).
The 2024-2025 Virginia basketball season is set to to tip off on Wednesday, November 6th, when UVA hosts Campbell at 7pm at John Paul Jones Arena.
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