In election season, there’s often talk of the “October surprise,” a development that can upend the race and shift the narrative. Unfortunately for UVa basketball fans, they received an October surprise of their own, one that most of the fanbase has been dreading for a while now.
On Thursday, Tony Bennett announced he would retire, out of the blue, and effective immediately. At just 55 years old, Bennett is hardly at retirement age, but said that he felt recently that it was time for him to move on, and for the program to do the same. After a wildly successful 15-year run at UVa, Bennett was ready to hang it up and allow the program to turn the page and move forward in what is unmistakably a new era in college sports.
We could spend this column going over all of Bennett’s various accomplishments during his run at UVa, but Cavalier fans are more than familiar with them at this point.
364 wins, the most in program history. A 72.8% win percentage. Six ACC regular season titles. Two ACC tournament titles, including UVa’s first since 1976. 10 NCAA tournament appearances, with three trips to the second weekend or beyond, and one Final Four. Five weeks atop the AP Poll. Five different national coach of the year honors. ACC Coach of the Year four times. 11 NBA draft picks that have made hundreds of millions of dollars in their professional careers. And of course, the program’s first national title.
For all those reasons, plus his success at Washington State, Bennett will be enshrined in the hall of fame someday down the road. Although it will probably embarrass him, UVa will surely find some way to honor Bennett too, with a statue, or by naming the court after him, or something along those lines. He has certainly earned it.
But UVa isn’t just losing a coach: Tony Bennett IS Virginia Basketball.
To fans, recruits, the media and anyone who takes in the sport on a regular basis. Bennett wasn’t just coaching at Virginia, he built a brand here. It wasn’t always the most popular to outsiders who bemoaned UVa’s style of play, but it got results. And everyone knew what to expect. The program would be built on defense, player development, and would be very tough to beat in the regular season, and frankly, susceptible to underperformance in the postseason at times. Fans embraced UVa’s basketball tenets and culture and Bennett, though far from a self-promoter, was the face of the program while players came and went.
And just like that, he’s gone. Bennett may find a way to contribute to UVa athletics or the program at some point down the road, but his time on the bench is done. UVa fans at John Paul Jones Arena will take some adjusting, just as it took some time to learn Bennett’s philosophy and style in the first place, but change has arrived.
So where does UVa basketball go from here?
A good place to start that conversation is by talking about why Bennett is stepping down now, according to the man himself. In Friday’s press conference, Bennett cited two of his Five Pillars, Humility and Passion, when talking about his decision to leave now.
“That’s probably the thing that’s choked me up the most and is the hardest thing to say. When I looked at myself and realized I’m no longer the best coach to lead this program in this current environment,” Bennett said, fighting through emotion. “And if you’re going to do it, you’ve got to be all in. You’ve got to have everything. If you do it half-heartedly, it’s not fair to the University and those young men. In looking at it, that’s what made me step down. There’s still a way in this environment. There’s a way with (AD Carla Williams) and President Ryan and the board to do it and hold to our values, but it’s complicated. And to admit, honestly, that I’m not equipped to do this is humbling, but it honors the pillars.”
He followed up by stating his position much more bluntly.
“The game and college athletics is not in a healthy spot,” Bennett continued. “It’s not. And there needs to be change.”
Bennett went on to talk about a few areas where he feels improvement is needed, around transfer regulations, dealing with agents, and player compensation guidelines. Basically, he decided that he is unable or unwilling to adapt to the new reality, and knows that it’s time to let someone else take a shot at it. There is humility in recognizing your own limitations, and while UVa will struggle to find a coach as good as a future hall-of-famer, but having Bennett stay in his role reluctantly and not be all in, especially in the player acquisition part of the role, the arrow will only start to point downwards.
Two things can be true at the same time. Better player movement and compensation for NIL is a good thing for the student athletes, and in a lot of ways, they’re better off in the “current environment.” But Bennett is probably right too, that change is needed. If for no other reason, the game is clearly starting to lose some of its most-talented leaders, as Bennett is not the first coach to opt for more time on the golf course rather than deal with the headaches of recruiting and roster management that currently exist. Bennett suggested that he’d like to help make way for some of those improvements to take place, and perhaps he’ll be able to do that with more time on his hands. But he admitted that we’re never going back to the way it used to be, not completely anyway, even if better guidelines are in place.
So UVa will need to find someone that is willing to work in the current environment, even if they have to grin and bear it. The program has to be forward looking, building infrastructure to compete in the current environment, and have a leader that will do what it takes, but do so with the integrity that the athletic department and University will be looking for.
Omar from “The Wire” said it best. “The game is out there. And it’s either play, or get played.”
Perhaps that leader is already in the program. Bennett made a point, multiple times, in Friday’s presser of saying that his staff has shepherded him through the changes to the sport and recruiting in recent years, and made it clear he feels they’re equipped to take the program forward.
Longtime Bennett assistant Ron Sanchez was named UVa’s interim coach for the 2024-25 season, so that’s where UVa goes next, at least for now. Sanchez, who returned to UVa last year after a 72-78 five-year stint as Charlotte’s head coach, was long considered a favorite to take over when Bennett stepped down. Sanchez, along with fellow assistant Jason Williford, took the lead on a lot of recruiting matters over the years, and got a front-row seat to Bennett’s coaching standard, and could potentially try to carry the torch forward. The same old, with a vibey new banner.
With all respect to Bennett, the timing of his departure was not ideal. The case he made was that he realized, recently and suddenly, that it was time, and that he would do more harm than good by coaching out the season, going through the motions. Perhaps he feels that way because he has trust in Sanchez and the staff that they’ll do good work without him and the program can simply go on without him. Or perhaps, he saw this as an opportunity to get one of his guys a shot, and keep the program somewhat intact, just under new management. Bennett’s October retirement puts his players in a bit of a tough spot, especially if playing for the future hall-of-famer was part of their reason for coming to Virginia. The transfer portal is now open for them for the next 30 days because of the coaching change, but halfway through the semester at UVa, and with rosters across the country pretty full, moving at this point would be challenging.
Bennett leaving now does force UVa to give Sanchez a bit of an audition for the 2024-25 season, which could end up being a good thing if he is successful. And if he’s not, nobody will have to wonder what might have been.
Williams could have given Sanchez the job permanently with Bennett stepping down, as other schools have done in similar situations, when they didn’t necessarily have to. Such a move would have provided more clarity around where the program was heading, which would have impacted recruiting one way or the other. After all, UVa does have a talented 2025 commit in local product Chance Mallory, who has not signed with the Hoos yet, and might be wondering what the long-term plan is before he makes any further commitments.
But after Friday’s presser, Williams said that they would have a national search for Bennett’s replacement, and obviously Sanchez will have the opportunity to prove himself capable with a full season in front of him. If he does well, it will be easy to give him the job and maintain some consistency. If he doesn’t, given how Williams framed the situation on Friday, there will probably be a new face of the program, and a new direction, come spring. In a way, Sanchez getting a full season as the interim coach gives Williams a bit more cover, too, as she might not feel like she has to appoint Bennett’s chosen successor, if she has other ideas. Now, she can point to the 2024-25 results if she goes in another direction. And if those results are good, her choice is probably even easier.
Now that Bennett has retired, we can offer some transparency; In March, with rumblings about Bennett’s future making the rounds, we had a retirement story and a coaching hot board ready to go, if news should break. Sanchez and Williford were the first two names listed, as they seemed like the most-logical successors if Bennett stepped aside then. But there are nearly 20 other coaches on the list, too, all of whom have been successful building their own programs and could be good fits for UVa’s culture. But that list and speculation about who could be next is a conversation for another day, as Sanchez takes center stage and shoots his shot, so to speak.
For the next six months or so, UVa fans may feel like they’re in a bit of purgatory, with the program at a fork in the road. But regardless of what comes next, if it’s Sanchez or wholesale change, Bennett is leaving behind the blueprint for how to win at Virginia.
“We did it in a unique way. That was my vision, our vision as a staff. Can we build this program that’s maybe a little different than how you do it?” Bennett said on Friday in his opening remarks. “That’s the beauty of this sport. You get to choose how you do it, with whom you do it, in the style you do it. We chose a way that we thought was the best way to win.”
That’s the lesson. Bennett had his way, he stuck to it, and won. Without the winning, the rest is impossible, so whoever comes next will have to get the job done, however they choose to do it. Tony Bennett won’t be replaced, even if he will be succeeded. The next guy can’t do it exactly how Bennett did, even if its someone from his own staff. Iin the coach’s own words, he’s not a fit for the program in the game’s current state. Whoever leads the program into the future will have to carve out their own way, both on and off the court, and make it work. And hopefully they’ll do it with the same principle and integrity that Bennett carried through his 15 years at the University. People adored Bennett for the wins, but for who he was, too.
“I’ve been here for 15 years as the head coach. I thought it would be a little longer, to be honest,” Bennett said last week. “But that’s been on loan, it wasn’t mine to keep. It’s time for me to give it back.”
Bennett is right, he couldn’t keep the job forever. And now he’s chosen to give it back. But as the torch is passed, Bennett’s legacy will shape the UVa program for years to come. He set the standard for all that comes after, and leaves giant shoes to fill. Whatever comes next, whether it’s something similar or a different path, the program will live and grow from what Bennett built.
