A 2019 national champion and longtime head coach of Virginia Men’s Basketball, Tony Bennett, will retire before the beginning of the season, as reported by the school on Thursday.
The coach, who has been in charge of the Cavaliers since 15 years ago, will retire as soon as possible. A news conference for the discussion between Bennett and the university has been slated for Friday morning, while the school has yet to announce who will take over the job in Bennett’s absence.
Many media organizations have also confirmed that retirement has nothing to do with health issues.
The about-to-retire coach has a very successful career and is popular for some great achievements he recorded, which include his involvement in one of the biggest turnarounds ever witnessed in the NCAA tournament, a year after his team experienced one of its most shocking devastations.
Virginia went into the tournament in 2018 as the No. 1 seed but was the first top seed to lose in the first round with a 74-54 loss to No. 16 seed University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Only Purdue has experienced such a knockout in the first round before in 2023.
Virginia returned as a strong team in the 2018-2019 season despite their previous loss with the return of major players like Kyle Guy, De’Andre Hunter, and Ty Jerome. The team also won the ACC regular-season title and went on a perfect 6-0 run in the NCAA tournament that fetched them the national championship.
The team championship race included narrow wins, such as a four-point win against Oregon in the Sweet 16 and a five-point win against Purdue in the Elite Eight. Virginia also crashed Auburn in a 63-63 win after Guy sank three clutch free throws with only 0.6 seconds left after a foul on his potential game-winning 3-point attempt.
Virginia won the national honor by beating Texas Tech 85-77 in overtime after two days.
