The University of Virginia announced on Thursday afternoon that legendary college basketball coach Tony Bennett is stepping down from his post, effective immediately. No further information has been provided at this point but he seemed to hint at his reasoning just last week.
It is a shocking move that comes just 20 days before the start of the regular season.
Bennett is only 55 years old and only became a head coach in 2006 at Washington State. There was no prior indication that he would not continue as head coach of the Cavaliers. He was in attendance at the ACC Media Tipoff in Charlotte, North Carolina last week. This comes as a complete surprise.
Virginia hired Bennett in 2009. The last 15 years have been an overwhelming success. His list of accomplishments is up there with some of the all-time greats, especially considering the short length of his career.
- 2019 National Champion
- Four-time ACC Coach of the Year
- Three-time U.S. Basketball Writers Association Coach of the Year
- 2007 PAC-10 Coach of the Year
- Four No. 1 seeds
- 12 NCAA Tournament appearances
- 433-169 career record
As good as he was, the last four years did not live up to the expectations in Charlottesville. The Hoos lost in the First Round of March Madness in 2021 and 2023. They were relegated to the NIT in 2024.
Last season’s postseason performance was even worse. Virginia made the NCAA Tournament over other more qualified bubble teams. It lost to Colorado in the First Four after scoring just 14 points in the first half.
Perhaps the recent streak of struggles contributed to Tony Bennett’s sudden retirement. It could be health. We don’t know for sure and certainly hope it is not the latter.
However, Bennett recently discussed the current state of college basketball with ESPN insider Jeff Borzello and provided some insight on why he was considered a prime candidate to retire early:
I gotta call Jay Wright and see what he says, right? I always have said, when you’re doing this, you’re in this profession, whether you agree how it’s going or not, you have to be true to yourself and really look at it and say, who am I? Can I operate how I want and can it be successful enough?
And you get to choose if you wanna be a part of it or not. And when you feel it’s time, like Jay did, like Coach K, maybe Saban, it’s their choice. And you can sit here and complain and gripe. Or you have a decision to make.
Either you try to do it in your way or you get to make that decision. So I think Jay Wright probably foresaw the where this is going … It’ll be better whenever there’s regulations. Is that three to five years away? Who knows? But if it’s not — those are decisions that every man has to make when it’s his time.
— Tony Bennett, via Jeff Borzello
The Cavaliers will host a press conference on Friday morning to allow the head coach to announce his decision in his own words.
In the meantime, Virginia is less than three weeks away from its season-opener against Campbell on Nov. 6. Although an interim head coach has yet to be announced, Ron Sanchez appears to be the leader in the clubhouse. Players now have 30 days to enter the transfer portal without penalty.