Virginia’s Tony Bennett is retiring before the basketball season

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’s first game against Campbell on Nov. 6.

Sources told ESPN that Bennett’s decision to retire was not health-related.

As of Thursday night, 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 in Charlotte before returning to Charlottesville before last season. Associate head coach Jason Williford has been by Bennett’s side during his tenure at Virginia.

Bennett is a two-time national coach of the year who led Virginia to a national championship in 2019. He won six Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season titles and two ACC Tournament titles.

The Cavaliers made 10 NCAA tournament appearances under Bennett but have not won a tournament game since winning the national title in 2019. They were ranked fifth in the ACC preseason poll released Wednesday.

ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips called Bennett “a tremendous person” and “one of the most accomplished coaches in ACC basketball history.”

“She is a fierce competitor, but one who always leads with integrity, class and unwavering values,” Phillips said in a statement. “He made an indelible impact on countless student-athletes and developed them not only in basketball, but as young men. He is a legend who we will miss deeply as well as his daily impact on league. sports and college athletics.”

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 lamented the direction of college athletics.

During an interview with ESPN at ACC Media Day last week, he was asked why there was speculation that he could be the next Jay Wright and suddenly retire while still in his prime.

“I’ll have to call Jay Wright and see what he says, won’t I?” Bennett said. “I’ve always said, when you’re doing this, you’re in this profession, whether you agree with how it’s going or not, you have to be true to yourself and really look at it and say, Who am I? What can I do? The way I am. Want to manage it and can it be successful enough and choose whether you want to be a part of it?

“And when you feel like the time has come, like Jay did, Coach K, maybe Soap, it’s their choice. And you can sit here and complain. Or you have a decision to make. Either you try to do it your way. Do it. Or do you get to make the decision that maybe it’s going to be three to five years away?

Before taking over at Virginia in 2009, Bennett led Washington State to two NCAA Tournament appearances in his three seasons as head coach. The Cougars reached the Sweet 16 in 2008 following 26-win seasons in 2007 and 2008.

He spent the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at Washington State after four seasons coaching Wisconsin under his father, Dick Bennett and Bo Ryan.

Bennett played for his father in Green Bay, finishing his career as the Mid-Continent Conference’s leading career scorer and the NCAA’s leading career 3-point shooter. He was selected by the Charlotte Hornets in the 1992 NBA draft and spent three seasons with the franchise.