Legendary VA Basketball Coach Walks Away Days Before Season Starts

The sports world was stunned this week when one of the best college coaches in the business decided to step down.  

Virginia men’s basketball head coach, Tony Bennett, announced that he was retiring effective immediately.  

Shock Resignation 

The resignation took everyone by surprise, mostly because Bennett had only recently signed a new contract with the university to coach the team through 2030. Bennett has coached the team for 15 years, bringing the program back to national prominence, winning the school’s first national title in 2019.  

The retirement was posted on the school’s social media accounts, but no reason was given at the time. Coach Bennett was scheduled to hold a press conference on Friday to make the formal announcement. 

A Basketball Life 

Basketball was in Bennett’s genes, having played for his father at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay (UWGB). Playing for his father, the combination took the team to two NIT appearances and one appearance in the NCAA tournament. During that time, Bennett was named the conference Player of the Year twice.  

Bennett was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in 1992, serving primarily as a backup to point guard Muggsy Bogues. Eventually, Bennett started seeing more and more playing time, but his pro career in the United States was cut short after only three years due to an injury.  

While trying to make a comeback from that injury, he played briefly overseas, named to the New Zealand NBL All-Star Five twice.  

Bennett coached briefly overseas, then joined the Wisconsin coaching staff after his father retired. His father unretired to take a coaching job at Washington State, and Bennett followed him there with the understanding he would take over as head coach when his father decided to retire again. 

After three up-and-down years at Washington State, he would accept the head coaching position at Virginia in 2009.  

Moving On 

Bennett inherited a program in turmoil that had gone 10-18 the previous season, the worst record the team had since the 1966-67 season. Once Bennett took over, however, the team steadily improved with each season. He coached them to 15 wins in his first season, then had back-to-back 30-win seasons in his 5th and 6th years.  

By the 2015-16 season, Virginia had become a defensive powerhouse. The team made it to the Elite Eight that year, and the program was clearly now among the power brokers in the tournament. Then came the 2018-19 season, where Virginia had unprecedented defensive success. The team won its Final Four game by a single point in dramatic last-second fashion, then went to OT against Texas Tech to win its first-ever national championship. Clearly, Bennett will be missed.