Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett is set to announce his immediate retirement, the program announced Thursday. Bennett, 55, will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. ET Friday. The decision comes less than three weeks before the Cavaliers were set to open the 2024-25 season against Campbell on Nov. 6. The school did not name an interim coach for Bennett, who appeared with a few UVA players for the ACC Tip Off preseason media event earlier this month.
Bennett spent the past 15 seasons as head coach at Virginia, leading the program to its first national championship in 2019. He recently signed a contract extension that would have kept him with the Cavaliers through the 2029-2030 season.
He was among the top-10 highest-paid college basketball coaches during the 2022-23 season with a total salary of more than $4.8 million, but his pay dropped to slightly above $4 million for the 2023-24 campaign.
“I love UVA and it has always been a special place for me and my family,” Bennett said in a release at the time of his extension back in June. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with Carla Williams and Jim Ryan and to represent the University of Virginia. My staff and I look forward to adapting to the new landscape of college athletics. We will continue to build one of the best basketball programs on and off the court without compromising the values of our university. Go Hoos!”
Bennett took over the Cavaliers prior to the 2009-2010 season and has produced a 364-136 (.728) overall record. Virginia claimed two ACC Tournament titles (2014, 2018) and six regular-season conference championships (2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023).
Bennett earned two of his three National Coach of the Year honors at Virginia (2015, 2018) and is a four-time winner of the ACC Coach of the Year (2014, 2015, 2018, 2019).
“Tony Bennett is foundational to our efforts to compete for championships in this new model of college athletics,” Virginia athletic director Carla Williams said in a release at the time of the contract extension. “He embodies everything important to the University of Virginia and Virginia Athletics. It’s an honor to work with him and we’re thrilled about the future of men’s basketball under his leadership.”
Virginia is coming off a 23-11 overall record last season. The Cavaliers were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in the First Four.
Virginia has 12 consecutive postseason appearances between the NCAA Tournament and the NIT. However, the Cavaliers have not advanced past the first round of the Big Dance since winning it all in 2019.
Virginia has won at least 23 games in 10 seasons under Bennett, who recently passed the late Terry Holland as the program’s all-time winningest coach during the 2022-23 season.
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Bennett got his first head coaching position in college basketball at Washington State. He led the Cougars from 2006-09, earning the National Coach of the Year after his first season in 2007. Bennett coached Washington State to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances in three seasons.
