Bennett’s decision comes as a shock across the college basketball landscape and on the eve of Virginia’s 2024–25 season opener. The program’s first game is less than three weeks away on Nov. 6, as the team will host Campbell University in the matchup.
The 55-year-old Bennett has been at the helm in Charlottesville, Va., since 2009 and finishes his Cavaliers career with a nice round number of 500 career games coached at the school. He posted a 364–136 record over 15 seasons, winning 72.8 percent of his games. Those 364 victories are the most in Virginia Cavaliers men’s basketball history. Bennett also led the Cavaliers to six ACC regular season championships and another pair of ACC Tournament titles.
The crown jewel of Bennett’s tenure at the University of Virginia (UVA) was the 2019 national championship, especially considering the circumstances. The prior season, Virginia dominated its competition, posting a 28–2 regular season record, winning the ACC regular season, and then notching three more wins to claim the conference championship. The Cavaliers sat at 31–2 overall and entered the 2018 NCAA Tournament as the number one overall seed.
However, the Cavaliers would make the wrong kind of history as they became the first No. 1 seed in March Madness history to lose to a 16-seed. The Cavaliers fell to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Retrievers, 74–54, in a shocking result that is, per seeding, the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history. Both Bennett and his players then had to deal with criticism and jokes the entire offseason, but he was able to regroup, go 35–3 the next season, and cut down the nets for the only NCAA Tournament championship in Cavaliers history.
Prior to joining Virginia, Bennett coached Washington State (WSU) for three seasons, leading the program to the NCAA Tournament twice. The first appearance in 2007 saw WSU end a 12-year drought without an appearance in March Madness. After he left, the Cougars would go another 15 years before another tournament appearance, as Bennett had the only two NCAA Tournament bids over a 29-year span for the school.
Bennett spent time as an assistant at Washington State under his father, Dick Bennett, who was a high school and college coach for 40 years. The younger Bennett was also on his father’s bench at Wisconsin. Tony Bennett turned to coaching after a four-year professional career, which included three seasons in the NBA. He played 152 games for the Charlotte Hornets from 1992-95, averaging 3.5 points and 2.0 assists as a backup point guard.
Bennett’s playing career reached its peak in college at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, where he was a two-time Conference Player of the Year. He averaged 19.4 points over his four-year career, and his 49.7 percent mark from three-point range remains an NCAA Division I record.
Overall, in his coaching career, Bennett has a 433-169 record (.719), with 12 NCAA Tournament appearances across 18 seasons. He ranks first all-time at both Washington State and Virginia in winning percentage (min. three seasons), in addition to having the most coaching wins in UVA program history. Bennett was bestowed the Henry Iba Award as the nation’s best coach three times in his career, making him the only recipient to win it more than twice. He’s also one of two coaches, along with Kelvin Sampson, to win the award at multiple schools.
Now, the question is who will try to replace Bennett’s spot on the bench as the UVA head coach. His staff features several assistants with decades of experience, as well as former UVA standouts like Jason Williford and Isaiah Wilkins. However, just one person on his staff has experience as a head coach at the college level—current associate head coach Ron Sanchez. He returned to the program last season after spending the previous five years leading the Charlotte 49ers. Prior to that, Sanchez spent a dozen years as an assistant under Bennett at both Virginia and Washington State.
Whoever replaces Bennett will take up a team that went 23-11 last season, including 13-7 in conference play. The Cavaliers reached a ranking as high as 21 in the AP Poll but were bounced in the First Four of the 2024 NCAA Tournament by fellow 10th-seeded Colorado State.
