Virginia’s Tony Bennett stuns college basketball with retirement weeks before 2024-25 season
Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett, who coached the Cavaliers to their lone national championship in 2019, is retiring just weeks before the start of the regular season.
The school said in a social media post Thursday afternoon that Bennett, 55, will announce his retirement in a press conference on Friday morning at 11 a.m.
Bennett has led Virginia to a 364-136 record as head coach since taking the reins of the program in 2009. He led the Cavaliers to six regular-season ACC titles, 10 NCAA Tournament appearances and was named ACC Coach of the Year four times.
His 2019 team remains one of the more memorable redemption stories in men’s college basketball. After losing in the first round in 2018 to UMBC – becoming the first-ever No. 1 seed to lose to a 16-seed in men’s March Madness – Bennett’s ‘Hoos came back the next season to win the regular season ACC title and then storm their way through the NCAA Tournament. The run – powered by six NBA players – featured two overtime victories, clutch free throws from Kyle Guy, memorable passes from Kihei Clark and a buzzer-beater by Mamadi Diakite.
The timing of Bennett’s retirement is curious, considering he just appeared at the ACC’s media days last week, and Virginia’s 2024-25 season begins in less than three weeks. According to reporting from Nicole Auerbach and Jeff Goodman, Bennett’s retirement is not health related.
Bennett’s retirement is the latest high-profile one in ACC men’s basketball, which has seen Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina’s Roy Williams and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim depart the sport in recent years. Bennett’s retirement also means that, for the first time since 1981, the ACC will not have a men’s basketball coach in it with a national championship.
Interesting to perhaps only me, but I was a Wisconsin student reporter covering hoops when Dick Bennett abruptly “retired” at age 57 in November of 2000 after a Final Four the previous spring, citing burnout. (He’d resurface a few years later.)
Tony’s 55. Maybe a similar deal.
— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) October 17, 2024
Tony Bennett is all class and College Basketball will sorely miss him
— Tate Frazier (@tatefrazier) October 17, 2024
I’m speechless.
— Caroline Darney (@cwdarney) October 17, 2024
If the news is true, college basketball just lost a man with incredible class, humility, and dignity. Tony Bennett is an awesome teacher of our game. You will be deeply missed!
— Rick Pitino (@RealPitino) October 17, 2024
Tony is one of the most talented and toughest coaches we ever competed against . We always respected him and his teams at the highest level . A class guy –
Inspirational – spiritual and an incredible competitor !! @UVAMensHoops https://t.co/aSgZxGFfAD— Jay Wright (@CoachJayWright) October 17, 2024
RE: Tony Bennett. Anyone paying attention shouldn’t be shocked he’d retire early. Had a whole convo with @BrendanRMarks at the ACC Tournament in March about the very real possibility he’d step away. But a week after ACC Tipoff? That’s wild.
— Joe Ovies (@joeovies) October 17, 2024
We’ll update this post as we learn more about Bennett’s retirement.