In the wake of Tony Bennett’s surprise retirement announcement on Thursday, UVa named associate head coach Ron Sanchez as the interim coach for the 2024-25 season. Sanchez has years of experience on the bench, both at Virginia, and as a head coach, making him a natural fit to lead the Hoos this season.
Sanchez came to Virginia from Washington State with Bennett in 2009, after serving as an assistant there for three seasons, helping lead the Cougars to three postseason bids. Sanchez worked on Bennett’s Virginia staff for his first nine seasons, and was a key part of UVa’s eventual turnaround and successful run in the ACC. During his first stint at Virginia, Sanchez was critical part of Virginia’s recruiting efforts, helping bring talent to Charlottesville that led to the program’s turnaround, and eventually the players that won Virginia’s first national title.
Sanchez missed out on UVa’s title run, but for good reason. After interest in other cycles, Sanchez jumped at a head coaching offer from Charlotte, a program that had a successful history but struggled mightily in the years preceding Sanchez’ arrival. The 49ers had four losing seasons ahead of his arrival, including a dismal 6-23 effort in 2018.
Sanchez had a big rebuilding project ahead of him, and had to struggle through the first few seasons before eventually seeing improvement. After going 8-21 in 2019, Charlotte doubled their win total to a 16-13 season in 2020, going 10-8 in the C-USA, their first winning record in conference play in a decade. Charlotte struggled in the COVID season of 2020-21, going 9-16, but bounced back in the next two seasons, going 17-14 in 2021-22, and breaking through with a 22-14 season in 2022-23, Sanchez’ last in the Queen City. They capped that season by winning the CBI tournament.
At Charlotte, Sanchez’ efficiency numbers struggled early, and improved over time, but were never excellent on either end of the floor. The 49ers were a sub-200 Kenpom team in three of the five years, and had just one efficiency mark in the top 100 on either end during his five-year run, the 84th ranked defense in 2019-20. In his final year, Sanchez had Charlotte just outside the top-100 on both offense and defense, and 106th overall, Charlotte’s best Kenpom ranking since 2010 (96th). Under Sanchez, Charlotte played slow, but not quite as slow as Virginia, except in his final year, when Charlotte ranked 362nd in tempo. After years of average to below-average shooting, Sanchez’ final team shot 37.7 percent from three, 19th-best nationally, and 54 percent on twos, 34th-best nationally.
Sanchez returned to Virginia last year, leaving Charlotte in a surprise similar to Bennett’s announcement yesterday. Sanchez was preparing for what would have been his sixth season with the 49ers, coming off of his best year, and ready to lead the program into a new conference, moving from C-USA to the AAC. Sanchez left his head coaching role in early June 2023, after the typical coaching cycle window, and his return to Virginia was announced soon after. Sanchez replaced departing assistant Kyle Getter, who left Charlottesville for Notre Dame.
“The University of Virginia is truly special to me and my family,” Sanchez said then, in his statement released by UVa athletics. “It is the only institution I would vacate my head coaching position for. I’m thankful for the opportunity to return to Grounds with a new-found lens and perspective.”
“I’m also excited to reconnect with the staff and join their efforts in sustaining the incredible success this program has had over the last decade. I look forward to serving Coach Bennett, the staff, the student-athletes and our community.”
Now, Sanchez begins another head coaching opportunity, and perhaps he saw that as a possibility when he returned to Charlottesville last summer. There was no timeline on Bennett’s retirement from the game, but once Thursday’s announcement came, Sanchez became the obvious fit to guide UVa through this season on short notice. Sanchez’ years of experience coaching alongside Bennett should allow for some continuity of scheme, and one would imagine practices and operational things will remain steady through this season.
The big question is what happens beyond this season? Sanchez has been tasked with leading this Virginia team, one that features a lot of new faces but was picked 5th in the ACC preseason poll. Bennett had talked about this team as the start of a potential two-year window, with most of the team projected to return next year. There’s certainly a path for Sanchez to win over the administration and fans, and keep the job. And there’s precedent in the game for such a move. Texas named Rodney Terry the interim coach several years ago after Chris Beard got fired mid-season; Terry steadied the ship and got the job permanently, and is doing pretty well there. Ohio State fired Chris Holtmann midseason last year, and interim coach Jake Diebler ended up earning the job with a strong finish to the season. And then there are other internal promtions that have taken place of late, including Hubert Davis at UNC, Jon Scheyer at Duke and Kyle Neptune at Villanova. There are also plenty of examples of athletic directors naming interim coaches and then hiring someone else after the season, so nothing is a slam dunk.
What we don’t know is what Sanchez would have to do to earn the job on a permanent basis. Obviously if UVa ends up being a quality team, hanging around the top 25 or even if they won an NCAA Tournament game, that might seal the deal for Sanchez getting the interim tag removed. But what happens if UVa is just average, or if they miss the tournament? It might depend on how the entire operation looks, but it also depends on what Carla Williams wants to do with the role. Given the timing of Bennett’s announcement, tapping an interim option (or giving an internal candidate the job permanently) were the only options in the short term. In March, Williams can either opt for stability if things go well, or open the job up to a national search.
In the meantime, it’s Sanchez at the helm for UVa. And for UVa fans, it will probably take some time adjusting to seeing anyone but Bennett standing next to the bench, after a very successful 15-year run.
