‘I’m no longer the best coach to lead this program in this current environment’: Tony Bennett says tearful goodbye to Virginia

A health scare didn’t cause Tony Bennett to abruptly retire three weeks before the start of the new season. Nor has he been forced to step aside.

The longtime Virginia men’s basketball coach simply doesn’t think he’s the best person to lead the Cavaliers program anymore.

Tears in his eyes but a smile on his face, Bennett explained to reporters on Friday morning that he’s not equipped to deal with college basketball’s modern-day environment. He said he was a better fit for “the old way,” before the transfer portal produced unfettered free agency and the onset of NIL turned recruiting battles into bidding wars.

“That’s probably the thing that has choked me up the most and the hardest thing to say — when I looked at myself and I realized I’m no longer the best coach to lead this program in this current environment,” Bennett said. “If you’re going to do it, you’ve got to be all in. If you do it half-hearted, it’s not fair to the university and those young men. So, you know, in looking at it, that’s what made me step down.”

Bennett’s sudden retirement comes just four months after he signed a new contract extension that locked him in at Virginia through the 2029-30 season. The 55-year-old had just spoken to reporters about his team at the ACC’s basketball tipoff event last week and gave no indication that he was considering stepping away.

Bennett said he “thought about stepping away” after Virginia’s First Four loss to Colorado State last March, but he started to get excited about coaching again after the Cavaliers landed a promising group of transfers and incoming freshmen. Thoughts about retiring only reentered Bennett’s mind earlier this fall when he and his wife took some time away and considered what the future would look like.

“That’s where I came to the realization that I can’t do this,” Bennett said. “It’s not fair to these guys and the institution I love so much when you know you’re not the right guy for this job.”

The son of legendary former Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett, Tony etched his own name into college basketball lore with his achievements as a head coach. He produced back-to-back 26-win seasons at basketball-forlorn Washington State before building Virginia into a perennial national power.

A Virginia program known for its slow-paced, efficient offense and smothering defense won the 2019 national title, surviving a dramatic Elite Eight thriller against Purdue before edging Auburn and Texas Tech the following week. The national championship came a year after Bennett’s team suffered a stunning first-round NCAA tournament loss to UMBC, becoming the first men’s No. 1 seed to lose to 16 seed.

Bennett endured the crushing setback with trademark grace and perspective. He told his heartbroken team, “If you learn to use adversity right, it can take you to a place you couldn’t have gone any other way.”

Now Bennett hopes that Virginia can find a coach who can win in the current college basketball climate without sacrificing the university’s values.

“I wish it could be me, but it can’t,” Bennett said Friday. “When you know that in your heart, you have to give it away.”