By CHARLIE PARENT
Tony Bennett, the Virginia head coach who won the NCAA championship in 2019, will retire at a press conference Friday morning, the school announced Thursday.
The 55-year old Bennett led the Cavaliers to the the NCAA Tournament 10 times, won the ACC regular season title six times and the ACC Tournament on two occasions.
Bennett is the winningest coach in Virginia history, amassing a 364-136 record in 15 seasons Charlottesville.
The news sent shockwaves through the college basketball world, with the regular season just three weeks away. Virginia is set to play Campbell on Nov. 6, but will be tested early with matchups against Villanova and No. 12 Tennessee in November.
Bennett follows Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Jay Wright (Villanova), Roy Williams (North Carolina) and Jim Boeheim (Syracuse) as national championship coaches to retire since 2021. Bennett reportedly did not retire for health reasons, but the emergence of NIL and the transfer portal era has dramatically changed the game and the way coaches must deal with it. “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?” Bennett recently told ESPN’s Jeff Borzello. “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 the 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.” With Tony Bennett’s retirement, there are now 6 active D-1 men’s coaches with championship rings: Dan Hurley (2) Bill Self (2) Rick Pitino (1, but we all saw him win 2) John Calipari (1) Tom Izzo (1) Scott Drew (1) Follow Charlie on Twitter Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter Follow ZAGSBLOGHoops on Instagram And Like ZAGS on FacebookIf 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
