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Published Oct 17, 2024
BREAKING: Tony Bennett to announce retirement on Friday
Justin Ferber  •  CavsCorner
Editor In-Chief
Twitter
@justin_ferber

After a storied 15-season career in Charlottesville that led to multiple ACC crowns and UVa’s first National Championship in men’s basketball in 2019, future Hall of Famer and three-time National Coach of the Year Tony Bennett will announce on Friday his intention to step away from the game.

Bennett, who turned 55 in June, talked in his introductory press conference about building a program that lasts. Over the next decade and a half, that’s precisely what he did.

After accepting the job on March 29, 2009, the Wahoos put together the best decade in the program’s history, culminating with the title victory over Texas Tech five years ago.

By his third year at the helm, UVa picked up 22 wins—most for the program in 17 years—and headed back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five seasons. A year later, the Hoos won 23 games before taking their sixth ACC regular-season title and second ACC Tournament championship the following season. They also earned just the program’s third No. 1 seed ever and first since 1983 on the way to the Sweet 16. In 2014-2015, Virginia won first 19 games and those to No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25 while Bennett won his second national coach of the year honor. That was followed by the Elite Eight a season laterBennett leaves having amassed a 364-136 record (72.8 winning percentage) as the school’s all-time leading coach, a big part of the schools 11 ACC regular-season titles to go with his two ACC Tournament victories and, of course, Virginia’s lone National Championship in men’s hoops.

He’ll also go down as a four-time ACC Coach of the Year and a three-time national Coach of the Year.


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