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This book is an unofficial account of Tony Bennett’s career and is not endorsed by the University of Virginia or the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
FRONT COVER: Virginia head coach Tony Bennett at the podium as the Cavaliers receive the National Championship trophy after winning against Texas Tech at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 8, 2019.
ZACK WAJSGRAS / THE DAILY PROGRESS
LEFT: Virginia head coach Tony Bennett smiles during senior night ceremonies before the start of an NCAA basketball game in Charlottesville on March 5, 2016. RYAN M. KELLY / THE DAILY PROGRESS
Joy comes in the morning
JAN. 10, 2025
On April 1, 2009, 39-year-old Tony Bennett walked into John Paul Jones Arena for his introductory press conference after being hired to lead the University of Virginia’s struggling men’s basketball program.
On Oct. 18, 2024, the 55-year-old Bennett walked out of the same arena as a legend.
In between those two fateful walks through the venue that he helped turn into one of the most formidable in college basketball, Bennett led the Cavaliers on the journey of a lifetime.
In the pages of this book, we will take you through all of it, from UVa’s rise to the pinnacle of the sport to Bennett’s decision to retire from coaching.
During his 15 seasons in Charlottesville, Bennett built Virginia into a juggernaut in his own unique way, using a methodically paced, defensively oriented brand of basketball that frustrated opponents and critics alike.
The results speak for themselves: 364 wins at Virginia (the most in school history), six ACC regular-season championships, two ACC Tournament championships, 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, 10 NBA Draft picks.
And then there’s the 2018-19 season, the most memorable campaign in Virginia men’s basketball history.
A year after losing to UMBC and becoming the first No. 1 men’s seed to lose to a No. 16 seed in NCAA Tournament history, Bennett and the Cavaliers completed a redemption story for the ages by winning the program’s first national championship. On a fateful April night in Minneapolis, the Cavaliers knocked off Texas Tech, 85-77, in overtime in an instant classic, setting off euphoric celebrations in the Twin Cities and back home in Charlottesville and throughout the Commonwealth.
But even as he sat at the mountaintop of college basketball, Bennett didn’t shy away from the bedrock principles that guided him and his program throughout his coaching career.
As he spoke to his team in the locker room at U.S. Bank Stadium following the 2019 national championship game, Bennett had one request of the players he had just guided to glory.
“Promise me you will remain humble,” he asked.
Humility was one of the “five pillars” Bennett
built the Virginia men’s basketball program on, along with passion, unity, servanthood and thankfulness. Those five pillars served Bennett and the Cavaliers well as they experienced college basketball’s highest highs as well as its lowest lows.
Following a gut-wrenching loss to Syracuse in the 2016 Elite 8 in Chicago that denied Virginia a trip to the Final Four for the first time since 1984, Bennett turned to the words of Psalms 30:5 to provide him and his players perspective.
“Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”
Those words ring truer than ever following Bennett’s decision to walk away from coaching as college sports rapidly evolves into a more professional model. As the sadness and shock of his sudden departure recede, Virginia basketball fans can look back fondly on the unmatched joy that Bennett brought to them during his 15 memorable seasons with the Cavaliers.
LEFT: Virginia head coach Tony
laughs with the referee during the first half of a game against North Carolina in Charlottesville. ANDREW SHURTLEFF / THE DAILY PROGRESS
Bennett
JOHN SHIFFLETT
FOREWORD
UVa taps Bennett
At
Washington State,
he
earned a reputation as a rising star
JEFF WHITE, RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH // PUBLISHED MARCH 31, 2009
The University of Virginia has its next men’s basketball coach, and he’s not Minnesota’s Tubby Smith or Oklahoma’s Jeff Capel or Texas’ Rick Barnes or LSU’s Trent Johnson.
To the surprise of virtually everyone who followed this coaching search, UVa hired Washington State’s Tony Bennett yesterday as Dave Leitao’s successor.
Bennett, 39, recently completed his third season at Washington State, where he compiled a 69-33 record. His first team went 1-1 in the NCAA Tournament, and his second team advanced to the Sweet 16. The Cougars finished 17-16 this season, losing in the NIT’s first round.
Washington State had been to the NCAAs only four times before Bennett’s tenure began. He is considered one of the game’s brightest young coaches. Still, Bennett has no ties to the ACC or the East Coast, and the news of his hiring stunned — and, in some cases, disappointed — UVa fans who had been hoping for a coach of the stature of Smith or Barnes.
Bennett “might turn out to be a great coach, but he is hardly the home run that we were looking for,” one supporter said. “Where is the ‘wow’ factor?”
Bennett succeeded his father, the highly respected Dick Bennett, at Washington State. In 2006-07, the younger Bennett was named
The Associated Press’ national coach of the year after leading the Cougars, who had finished 11-17 the previous season, to a 26-8 record.
“Superb hoops DNA, and the kind of person and coach you love playing for under all circumstances,” former UVa coach Terry Holland said by e-mail last night when asked about Bennett’s reputation in the profession.
“A fiery competitor who does it with class — a younger Midwest/West Coast McKillop or Wright,” Holland said, referring to Davidson’s Bob McKillop and Villanova’s Jay Wright.”
A year ago, Bennett turned down Indiana and LSU to remain at Washington State. He was not available for comment last night, so it’s not clear why UVa appeals to him or the terms of the contract he’ll receive.
After the 2007-08 season at Washington State, Bennett’s contract was sweetened to pay him $1 million a year through 2015. Leitao had been making about $1 million a year at UVa.
Virginia did not announce Bennett’s hiring yesterday, and two attempts to reach Athletic Director Craig Littlepage were unsuccessful.
Washington State, however, last night confirmed Bennett’s departure from the Pac-10 school. WSU’s athletic director, Jim Sterk, said in a statement that UVa asked Friday for permission to speak to Bennett.
Leitao resigned under pressure March 16
after four seasons at Virginia and received a buyout of approximately $2.1 million. Under Leitao, the Cavaliers went 27-37 in the ACC and 63-60 overall. UVa finished 10-18 this season — its worst winning percentage since the 1966-67 team went 9-17.
As was the case in 2005, after Pete Gillen stepped down as coach, UVa’s No. 1 target was Smith. In ’05, Smith was at Kentucky. He’s now at Minnesota, but once again UVa’s attempts to lure the former Virginia Commonwealth University assistant to Charlottesville were unsuccessful.
To help find a new coach, Virginia hired an Atlanta-based firm, Parker Executive Search, after the university parted ways with Leitao. Bennett, who grew up in Green Bay, Wis., starred for his father at Wisconsin-Green Bay. For UVa fans unsure of what to expect from Bennett, Russ Pennell offered some insight.
“The biggest thing they’re going to get is a man of integrity and a guy who’s going to speak his mind but do it in a very tactful way,” said Pennell, who as interim coach guided Arizona to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 this month.
On the court, Bennett’s teams, like those of his father, have been known for rugged defense and often deliberate offense. The WSU team that went 26-9 and advanced to the NCAA tourney’s third round in 2007-08 averaged 66.4
OPPOSITE: In this March 7, 2009, photo, Washington State coach Tony Bennett directs his team against Washington in the second half of an NCAA basketball game in Seattle.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Man of faith
How Tony Bennett’s religion has shaped his UVa tenure
WHITELAW REID, THE DAILY PROGRESS // PUBLISHED NOV 24, 2010
Inside of their locker room, just before every game, Virginia players and coaches all take part in a moment of silence.
“Guys on the team who aren’t religious can just reflect what they need to reflect on,” explained Virginia freshman James Johnson, “and the guys who are — we can just pray to ourselves and get our mindset to praise God through our actions on the court.”
The majority of the players in the locker room do in fact pray, and that has a lot to do with Virginia coach Tony Bennett, the guy who recruited them.
Bennett is something of a rare bird when it comes to recruiting. While some coaches promise playing time in a big-time conference or the NBA, Bennett says he doesn’t promise a thing — other than the fact he will do his best to help recruits reach their potential, whatever that may be.
One of Bennett’s key selling points? Himself. And a big part of the Bennett persona is his faith.
As a number of recruits have signed to play for Bennett, the first thing they’ve talked about hasn’t necessarily been the chance to compete in the ACC, play in a state-of-the-art arena, or receive a great education.
Rather, it’s been the connection they’ve felt with Bennett through God.
In his brief tenure, Bennett has signed nine
recruits, a majority of whom are Christians.
Bennett, a devout Christian himself, says he doesn’t go out of his way to try and recruit players who share his faith. It’s just sort of worked out that way.
“I’m not saying, ‘OK, I’m only recruiting this guy because of what he believes,’” said Bennett, during a recent interview with The Daily Progress. “That would be absolutely wrong.
“As you’re recruiting them, you say, ‘This is something that’s important to me,’ and you share, but it’s not a conscious effort at all.
“No matter what a person’s faith or belief is — that’s not the issue. The issue is you want to be coached by someone of character, guys that are principled and will stay together and do the right things. Whether they have any faith or none at all, that’s insignificant.”
Still, there’s no question faith has come into play from the recruits’ end of things.
Current freshman KT Harrell committed to Virginia without ever visiting the University. Both Harrell and his father, Rodney, say Bennett’s Christianity played a vital role in his coming to Charlottesville.
“Coach Bennett loves the Lord,” KT Harrell said, “and just hearing him talk about the certain things that he talked about when he was recruiting me — it definitely drew me more to coming here.
“His relationship with God was a big reason why I came here.”
Johnson is another recruit who was drawn by Bennett’s faith.
“I’m not sure how big [of a factor] it was,” Johnson said. “Of course, it’s the ACC, so I wanted to come for that factor.
“But it’s nice having a coach who shares the same beliefs as you. If you have something you want to talk to him about, you know, walk with the Lord, you can go to him and he’ll give you his honest opinion about it. It kind of helps out.”
During the recruiting process, freshman Akil Mitchell said Bennett and his staff’s religious beliefs made him feel comfortable. Assistant coach Ritchie McKay, the former head coach at Liberty, is also Christian.
“My philosophy is that everything happens for a reason,” Mitchell said. “When coach Bennett and coach McKay told me they were Christians, it just made it that much more of an easier decision.”
On Sundays, Johnson, Harrell and Mitchell can usually be found attending church with Bennett and McKay. Fellow freshmen Billy Baron and Thomas Rogers have also gone on occasion.
“It’s just kind of nice to be with guys who share your ideals and principles,” Johnson said. “If you have an issue going on, you can talk with them about it — from a teammate
OPPOSITE: Virginia coach Tony Bennett, center, yells to his team after Virginia took the lead late in the second half against Minnesota in a game on Nov. 29, 2010, in Minneapolis. Virginia won 87-79.
TOM OLMSCHEID / ASSOCIATED PRESS
standpoint, but also as a fellow Christian. It kind of helps out.”
Of course, not everyone on Bennett’s roster is Christian. Senior Mustapha Farrakhan, who was recruited by former Virginia coach Dave Leitao, is a notable exception.
Farrakhan, the grandson of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, said his faith never comes into play with Bennett. He said it hardly matters that he is in the religious minority on the team.
“You could say that about any other school when somebody commits and they’re a Muslim or a Jew or anything,” Farrakhan said. “It really doesn’t matter. It’s just college basketball. People come together and play.”
To wit: Bennett says one of the things he enjoys most about coaching is melding different types of kids who come from different backgrounds. This season, his six recruits hailed from six different states. In the past, he’s had recruits from other parts of the world.
“That’s the beauty of bringing a team together,” Bennett said. “I always think about that — guys from Europe, California. When they come together, it’s enjoyable.
“What they believe, their faith or where they’re from — they’re really trying to mold everything into a strong unit and wanting to come together for a common goal.”
But Bennett — who met his wife Laurel at a church in Charlotte, N.C. — realizes this a cynical world. He understands the “God Squad” perceptions that have been perpetuated on fan websites and message boards.
RIGHT: Virginia head coach Tony Bennett motivates his players from the sideline during the second half of a game against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., on Dec. 5 2010. Virginia defeated Virginia Tech 57-54.
MATT GENTRY / THE ROANOKE TIMES
“Some people are more open with what their faith is and what they believe,” Bennett said. “In today’s day in age, everything is so publicized. But you can only control what you can control.
“There are probably two or three [players on the team] that are strong or more outspoken with their faith. The other guys are more
individual and private with it.”
Bennett says whatever somebody believes is their individual decision.
“I’ve coached people of all different religions and faiths, or those who don’t have an individual faith or religion,” Bennett said. “Wanting to be a part of a team and building — those are
things that I really look for.
“I’ve recruited guys that are of the Muslim faith, Mormon, Jewish, or no faith at all — that is insignificant. To me, it’s about getting guys that fit your program and want to be a part of something. Those things trump it.”
LEFT: Virginia Cavaliers guards Jontel Evans (1) and KT Harrell (24) celebrate during the game against the Oregon Ducks at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville on Dec. 17, 2010. Virginia won 63-48.
ANDREW SHURTLEFF / THE DAILY PROGRESS
Virginia downs Syracuse to capture ACC regularseason championship
WHITELAW REID, THE DAILY PROGRESS // PUBLISHED MARCH 2, 2014
In the final minutes of the biggest Virginia basketball game in more than three decades, spectators at John Paul Jones Arena were warned not to come on the court. Yeah, like they were really going to listen to that.
It had been 33 years since Virginia fans could call their school’s basketball team ACC champs. Now they finally could, and they weren’t about to let a little announcement — or a previous complaint from Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski about their court-storming — deter them.
After the final second ticked off the clock, a stream of orange jubilance flooded the court. Later, Virginia seniors Joe Harris and Akil Mitchell, with a helping hand from basketball administrator Ronnie Wideman, found a ladder and cut down the nets with their teammates. Does Senior Day get any sweeter?
No. 12 Virginia, thanks to yet another one of its big second-half runs, hammered No. 4 Syracuse, 75-56, in front of a sold-out crowd that stayed on the floor celebrating for a good
30 minutes after the game’s conclusion.
With the win, UVa clinched its first outright ACC regular-season championship since 1981 and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament.
“It’s unbelievable,” Harris said. “I can’t even describe this feeling right now. One of the main reasons I came here, and I know that Akil came here, was to be the foundation for coach [Tony] Bennett’s program and turning this thing back around to what it used to be. For us to go out this way with an ACC crown is unreal.”
Malcolm Brogdon, playing with a sprained right thumb that he sustained in the win over Miami on Wednesday, led the way with 19 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Mitchell had 12 points and nine rebounds, while sophomores Mike Tobey and Justin Anderson chipped in with 11 points each.
Virginia (25-5, 16-1) shot 50 percent from the field and held Syracuse to 36 percent. Orange leading scorer C.J. Fair had 13 points on 4 of 13 shooting.
“They have been the best team in the league
so far this year,” said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim. “They proved that today.”
The lead changed five times in the second half before Virginia, with the game tied at 42, went on a 20-5 run.
A key sequence came when Anthony Gill drew a charge on Syracuse point guard Tyler Ennis, his fourth foul of the game, and London Perrantes drilled a deep 3-pointer.
Later, Anderson hit a 3-pointer, Brogdon hit a pair of jumpers and then Harris — who hadn’t scored a basket all day — nearly brought the roof down when he hit a 3-pointer from the wing.
Harris had missed his first seven shots.
“It was kind of a sigh of relief almost,” said Harris, who finished with seven points. “I thought my shots were feeling good in the first half; I just wasn’t connecting.
“I wasn’t too worried about it. I knew if I got another look at it I was confident I could knock it down.”
Tobey, who had been struggling in recent games, capped the run with a put-back of a
OPPOSITE: Virginia head coach Tony Bennett holds up the net he cut down after the end of the game against Syracuse in Charlottesville, Va. RYAN M. KELLY / THE DAILY PROGRESS
Bennett helps Cavaliers avoid excesses of success
JERRY RATCLIFFE, THE DAILY PROGRESS // PUBLISHED JAN. 26, 2014
Having turned his basketball team into the expected direction, Tony Bennett has been relentless in finding ways to keep Virginia motivated. This week, the Cavaliers’ coach quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson, looking for a spark against underdog Virginia Tech.
“The hero is not fed on sweets,” Bennett told his players before a practice. Translated: don’t buy into the hype, just keep playing good basketball.
The Cavaliers had learned that painful lesson, swallowed all the glory of preseason expectations, magazine covers, all the hoopla. Hook, line and sinker.
Didn’t work out so well as they lost at home to a VCU team that Virginia should have beaten, then lost at home to a good Wisconsin team, then lost on the road to Green Bay. Still trying to figure that one out.
Then came a trip to Tennessee where the real Virginia didn’t even show up. That inexplicable 35-point loss caused a lot of soul searching by the Cavaliers on the long ride home from Rocky Top.
Bennett went back to the drawing board on New Year’s Eve, simplified his offense, got into his team’s collective faces and challenged them to find their identity.
Since then, Virginia has been almost perfect. Six wins in seven games, the only loss coming by inches at Duke, where nobody wins. Six ACC wins, six ACC routs by an average of 17.1 points per victory. UVa led by at least 20 points in all six wins, including Saturday’s 65-45 blowout of visiting Virginia Tech.
Throughout the game, in timeouts, even when the Cavaliers were up by 16 points, Bennett kept pushing, challenging, motivating.
“They’ve been on the pedestal and they’ve seen the other side,” Bennett explained after his team improved to 15-5 on the season. “They got knocked down after they thought how good they’d be at the start of the year with all the projections. We weren’t tough enough, sound enough or playing the kind of ball that gives us a chance.”
That’s when the best of Bennett came out, pulling this team back from the deep. Knoxville could have been Virginia’s Waterloo. Things could have fallen apart. Players could have gone in different directions and the season could have been lost.
Instead, Bennett used it as a rallying point. All-ACC senior point guard Joe Harris drove to Bennett’s house on New Year’s Eve and asked what the team needed to do in order to turn
things around.
The answer was simple: Find your identity. That’s exactly what Harris and his teammates did. They became tough enough, they became sound. Their offense amazingly came to life to where they’re averaging by far the most points of any of Bennett’s previous UVa teams.
Bennett agreed with the hypothesis that his current team is playing his “system,” better than any of his others since he came to ACC country.
“I think we realized after the Tennessee game how we need to play together and what has given us a chance to be competitive and successful. … I think they’ve grasped that,” Bennett said.
Of course, everything is built on defense. But this team has finally lived up to its preseason reputation of having quality depth, perhaps the most in Virginia history. We thought that would be a true strength but it took a while for the coaching staff to figure out court time and roles for the 10 cast members.
Ask any of the players why this team is better in Bennett’s system and they’ll tell you the same thing: unselfishness, no hidden agendas about scoring or playing time.
That’s very difficult to achieve in this modern
OPPOSITE: Virginia guard London Perrantes (23) celebrates after scoring a 3-point shot during the first half of a game against North Carolina in Charlottesville, Va.
RYAN M. KELLY THE DAILY PROGRESS
world of college basketball where players will sulk over such matters and transfer on a whim. Perhaps that has been Bennett’s greatest accomplishment, getting the deepest team in Wahoo history to truly play as a team.
As a result, the Cavaliers are off to the best ACC start since the days of Ralph.
For the true Wahoo fan, no more need be said. Thirty-one years ago, Ralph Sampson’s senior year, Virginia opened the season No. 1 in the nation, went 12-2 in the ACC, 29-5 overall and was thought by many to be the country’s best team. Those Cavaliers fell victim to Jimmy V’s miracle finish.
The current Virginia team has a long way to go to earn mention in the same sentence as those storied Wahoos, but as Harris said after learning that fact Saturday, “I guess it’s cool, but it shouldn’t mean a whole lot to us.”
Harris was right. He and his teammates realize there’s so much more work to be done. A huge challenge lies ahead this coming week: road trips to new ACC members Notre Dame and Pittsburgh, where both teams lie in wait.
That is the challenge that Bennett keeps ever present on his team’s collective minds.
“Every time you step on the floor, there is an opportunity in front of you,” Bennett told the Cavaliers. “Let’s try to seize it.”
While the Emerson quote may have come as a surprise to a couple of Wahoos, Harris knew exactly where his coach was coming from. Bennett’s father, Dick, the former coach at Wisconsin, had previously quoted Emerson when addressing the UVa team.
The elder Bennett had been an
English teacher earlier in life.
“The message was powerful and resonated well,” said Malcolm Brogdon, who has turned on his offense since ACC play began, and led all scorers Saturday with 18 points.
“I think we’re staying humble, staying hungry, and that is the key for us,” Brogdon said. “Notre Dame is a huge opportunity on the road.”
Humble and hungry. The Cavaliers have now won 13 straight ACC home games, matching Duke for the conference’s longest such streak.
The question now is can Bennett take this show on the road for a successful run.
OPPOSITE: Virginia forward Evan Nolte (11) pesters Virginia Tech guard Devin Wilson (11) for the ball. Virginia won 65-45. ANDREW SHURTLEFF / THE DAILY PROGRESS
RIGHT: Virginia forward Akil Mitchell (25) drives for a layup past North Carolina forward James Michael McAdoo (43). RYAN M. KELLY / THE DAILY PROGRESS
Is Virginia a team of destiny? Bennett doesn’t discount the role of faith
JOSH NEEDELMAN, THE DAILY PROGRESS // PUBLISHED
APRIL 7,
2019
MINNEAPOLIS — He didn’t know it yet, but in about eight months Coach Tony Bennett would stand in front of his Virginia team before the Elite Eight and call back to this moment, employing it as an example of faith. But now, Bennett, in his floral orange swim trunks and blue helmet, was floating in the New River in West Virginia, surrounded by his players and assistants on a sweltering August day. The team had gone whitewater rafting, but the boats had been playfully tipped over, pouring the men into the murky waters.
He took a moment to himself: “Alright, Lord. What’s this year going to bring?”
Bennett called back to that thought March 30 in Virginia’s locker room at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. A Final Four berth had eluded Bennett in his first nine years in Charlottesville; the city had not seen once since 1984. Now the Cavaliers had a chance to atone.
“I actually got a little emotional with them,” Bennett said. “I said, ‘Here we are.’” Virginia, of course, would dispatch the Boilermakers in dramatic fashion before
doing the same a week later in the NCAA Tournament semifinal against Auburn. Some have started to label the Cavaliers a “team of destiny.”
Bennett, who one year ago was the face of a program labeled a laughingstock, having become the first No. 1 seed to ever lose to a No. 16 seed (UMBC), didn’t discount the sentiment on the eve of the team’s national championship game against Texas Tech.
“I believe our steps are ordered,” Bennett said. “You walk and you do everything you can with the abilities you’ve been given as players, as coaches, and then you trust. I just, I believe that.”
The whitewater rafting trip, not five months after the UMBC defeat, brought the team closer together. With smiles on their faces and adrenaline in their veins, the Cavaliers players piled into a pair of rafts, four players on each side, and set out to move forward.
“There were times where you could jump out, and I started doing back flips and stuff,” forward Jay Huff said. “I think [Head Athletic Trainer] Ethan [Saliba] was a little
bit nervous.”
De’Andre Hunter needed some extra convincing.
“I don’t like water,” he said. I’m not a good swimmer.”
Hunter, who missed the NCAA Tournament last season with a fractured left wrist, hopped on the raft anyway, and by the end, he said he was having fun.
It wasn’t as enjoyable for Virginia reliving the UMBC loss, which started with ACC Media Day in October. The defeat was part of their history, Wahoos players said over and over. Now they were ready to push onward, to ride the flow of the season wherever it took them.
It would bring many things. The team’s fourth regular season ACC championship in six seasons; more tournament heartbreak in Charlotte, North Carolina’s Spectrum Center; questions the effectiveness of their system, about overcoming adversity, and, by the way, how about those UMBC Retrievers? Remember them?
They sure did.
Chants of “U-M-B-C!” followed the Cavaliers wherever they went, from College Park, Maryland to Clemson, South Carolina to Durham, North Carolina and everywhere in between.
That included Columbia, South Carolina, where Virginia trailed No. 16-seed GardnerWebb by six points at halftime in the first round. Colonial Life Arena, which leaned decidedly in favor of the Runnin’ Bulldogs, was thumping.
Something changed in the second half. A team unmoored, the Cavaliers played free and rolled to the 71-56 victory, kicking of the journey that led them to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the Final Four.
“The fact that we’re here,” Bennett said. “Yeah, I think there’s been a hand in this.”
Three days before they played Auburn, when they somehow turned a four-point deficit with 17 seconds remaining into a 63-62 win, the team touched down at MinneapolisSaint Paul International Airport. They were gifted mini oars, imprinted with a message: “The Road Ends Here.”
Bennett retirement: In emotional presser, coach calls for change in college athletics
ZACH JOACHIM, RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH // PUBLISHED OCT. 19, 2024
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.”
As UVa men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett considered what he wished to share at Friday’s press conference in the dining hall of John Paul Jones Arena, that quote from American Christian missionary Jim Elliot came to mind.
After the shocking news of Bennett’s retirement broke on Thursday, the Cavaliers’ coach, who took the head job in Charlottesville on March 30, 2009, made the news official in an emotional announcement filled with exposition on the state of modern college athletics.
“I’ve been here for 15 years as the head coach. And I thought it would be a little longer, to be honest,” Bennett said before the first of what would prove many pauses to collect himself and hold back tears.
“That’s been on loan. It wasn’t mine to keep. And it’s time for me to give it back — to gain what I can’t lose — to be a better husband … to be a better dad … to be a better friend.
“I’ve given everything I can for 15 years.”
In a room filled with UVa brass, current and former Cavaliers players and others connected to the school such as Indiana Pacers coach and UVa alumnus Rick Carlisle, Bennett spoke for about 20 minutes on what led to his decision.
“I’m a square peg in a round hole,” Bennett said.
Chief among the factors leading to Bennett’s retirement were the state of modern college athletics in the age of name, image and likeness, and the ethical challenges associated with roster construction amid the transience of the transfer portal.
“I looked at myself and I realized I’m no longer the best coach to lead this program in this current environment,” Bennett said. “If you’re gonna do it, you’ve got to be all-in … that’s what made me step down.
“There’s still a way in this environment, to do it and hold to our values. But it’s complicated. To admit, honestly, that I’m not equipped to do this is humbling.”
Bennett stressed that he believes it’s right for college athletes to receive revenue stemming
from NIL.
“But the game and college athletics is not in a healthy spot,” he said. “And there needs to be change. I was equipped to do the job here the old way.”
Bennett said college sports are moving toward a “professional model” in which collective bargaining is essential.
He called for restrictions on the salary pool that programs can spend; for increased transfer regulations; and for limits on agent involvement with college athletes.
He added that he worries about the mental health of student-athletes in the modern landscape.
“This is a place that will not compromise, and do it the right way,” Bennett said, gesturing to Virginia director of athletics Carla Williams, seated next to him at the podium.
“I wish that could be me. But it can’t. When you know in your heart it’s the time, you have to give it away.”
Bennett, 55, went 364-136 at UVa while leading the Cavaliers to six regular-season
OPPOSITE: From left, Carla Williams, University of Virginia Athletic Director, and Tony Bennett, University of Virginia Basketball Head Coach, on stage as Bennett announces his retirement from coaching at John Paul Jones Arena during a press conference on Oct. 18, 2024. CAL CARY / THE DAILY PROGRESS
