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Jeff Borzello, ESPN Staff Writer
Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett will announce his immediate retirement Friday, the school announced.
Bennett, 55, was set to begin his 16th season with the Cavaliers in less than three weeks, with the program opening the campaign against Campbell on Nov. 6.
As of Thursday afternoon, the school had not named an interim replacement. The most likely option is associate head coach Ron Sanchez, who spent five seasons as the head coach at Charlotte before returning to Charlottesville prior to last season. Associate head coach Jason Williford also has been by Bennett’s side during his entire tenure at Virginia.
Bennett is a two-time national coach of the year who led Virginia to the national championship in 2019. He won six ACC regular-season titles and two ACC tournament titles.
The Cavaliers made 10 NCAA tournament appearances under Bennett, but hadn’t won a tournament game since the national title run in 2019. They were picked fifth in the ACC preseason poll released Wednesday.
Bennett signed a two-year contract extension in June through the end of the 2029-30 season.
Despite leading the program to unprecedented success during his time in Charlottesville, Bennett also bemoaned the direction of college athletics.
During an interview with ESPN at ACC Media Day last week, he was asked why there was a perception that he could be the next Jay Wright and abruptly retire while still in his prime.
“I gotta call Jay Wright and see what he says, right?” Bennett said. “I always have said, when you’re doing this, you’re in this profession, whether you agree how it’s going or not, you have to be true to yourself and really look at it and say, who am I? Can I operate how I want and can it be successful enough? And you get to choose if you wanna be a part of it or not.
“And when you feel it’s time, like Jay did, like Coach K, maybe Saban, it’s their choice. And you can sit here and complain and gripe. Or you have a decision to make. Either you try to do it in your way or you get to make that decision. So I think Jay Wright probably foresaw where this is going … It’ll be better whenever there’s regulations. Is that three to five years away? Who knows? But if it’s not — those are decisions that every man has to make when it’s his time.”
Prior to taking over at Virginia in 2009, Bennett led Washington State to two NCAA tournament appearances in his three seasons as head coach there. The Cougars had back-to-back 26-win seasons in 2007 and 2008, reaching the Sweet 16 in 2008.
He had spent the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at Washington State after four seasons at Wisconsin coaching under his father, Dick Bennett, and Bo Ryan.
Bennett played for his father at Green Bay, finishing his career as the Mid-Continent Conference’s all-time leading scorer and the NCAA’s all-time leading 3-point shooter. He was selected by the Charlotte Hornets in the 1992 NBA draft and spent three seasons with the franchise.
