UPDATED: Tony Bennett retires after 15 seasons at Virginia, Ron Sanchez named interim HC
Virginia head coach Tony Bennett officially announced his retirement in a press conference on Friday after the news first broke a day prior. Bennett, 55, was hired in 2009 and went 364-136 overall with ten NCAA Tournament appearances and six ACC titles. In 2019, he led the Cavs to their first-ever NCAA National Championship, an enormous achievement and spectacular bounce back after being the first 1-seed to lose a 16-seed the year prior.
“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.”
Bennett came to Virginia after spending three seasons as the head coach at Washington State, taking over for his father, Dick, whom he played for and later coached under at both Wazzu and Wisconsin. During his time in Charlottesville, he helmed a defensive-first unit that was as unique as it was successful. He returned the Cavs back to their former glory as an ACC and national powerhouse, culminating in cutting down the nets in April 2019.
“The University of Virginia is an amazing place because of people like Tony Bennett,” said AD Carla Williams. “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.”
Associate head coach Ron Sanchez has been named interim head coach for the 2024-25 season. Sanchez is also a member of the Dick Bennett coaching tree and was one of Tony’s assistants at Washington State before following him to UVA in 2009. After six seasons as an assistant and three as associate head coach, he left for the head coaching job at Charlotte in 2018 and led the 49ers for five years. Sanchez was 72-78 overall but built the program into a CUSA contender, winning 22 games and a CBI title in his final year there. He resigned last June to return to Virginia as associate head coach and will now take over for his long-time mentor.
The Cavaliers, who were picked 5th in the preseason ACC poll earlier this week, will start the season on November 6th, hosting Campbell at John Paul Jones Arena.
credit to Virginia Athletics for the image
