Tony Bennett of Virginia calls for his resignation

Former Virginia men's basketball coach Tony Bennett, who officially announced his retirement Friday morning, pointed to the “current situation” in college sports as one of the driving forces behind his sudden decision to resign from the Cavaliers.

“The hardest thing to say is when I looked at myself and realized I was no longer the best coach to lead this program in this current environment,” Bennett said at his retirement press conference. “If you want to do it, you have to be all in. If you do it half-heartedly, it's not fair to the university and these young men. When I look at it that way, that’s the reason I resigned.”

Bennett, 55, has long lamented the direction of college athletics and the increased emphasis on the transfer portal and name, image and likeness.

“I think it’s right for student-athletes to receive income. Please don’t confuse me,” he said on Friday. “The game and college athletics are not in a healthy state. That is not the case. And there has to be a change, and it won't go back. I think I was equipped to do the job here the old way. It's me.”

“It will be closer to a professional model. There must be collective bargaining. There must be a limitation on the salary pool. There must be restrictions on transfer regulation. There needs to be certain limits on agents' involvement with these young people.” People. … And I'm very concerned about the mental health of the student-athletes as all of these things break down.

Bennett said he initially considered retiring at the end of the 2023-24 season, but he and his staff immediately began rebuilding and signed a contract extension in June that would have kept him in Charlottesville through 2030.

But last weekend, when the university was on fall break and Bennett and his wife, Laurel, went away, thoughts of retirement solidified.

“I was just kind of thinking about what the future would look like,” Bennett said. “And that’s when I kind of realized I couldn’t do that. It's not fair to these guys and this institution that I'm so happy to continue knowing you're not the right person for the job.”

Associate head coach Ron Sanchez will take over the program for the season. Sanchez was on Bennett's staff from 2009 to 2018 before leaving to become the head coach at Charlotte for five seasons. In June 2023, Sanchez suddenly resigned as the 49ers' head coach to return to Virginia and become Bennett's assistant head coach.

“I always hoped that when my time was up, whether it was Ron or Jason (Williford), the two assistant head coaches, someone would take over,” Bennett said, “because that means it's in a good place.”

During Bennett's 15 seasons as coach, he led the Cavaliers to unprecedented and consistent success. He is a two-time Coach of the Year who led Virginia to the national championship in 2019 and also won six ACC regular season titles and two league tournament titles.

“I wish I could have lasted longer. I really do,” Bennett said. “But it was time and I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think we had the right group of young men and the right personnel to take them forward in that way. I think I would regret staying longer even more.” And not being able to be all in and not being sure to give these guys my all than retiring with maybe a little more energy in the tank , would be the greater regret I would feel.

Although Virginia found itself in the national conversation more often under Bennett, the Cavaliers had not won an NCAA Tournament game since their national title run in 2019. They were ranked fifth in the ACC preseason poll released Wednesday.

“I know that sometimes you get to a point where winning is more of a relief than a celebration, and losing sticks is painful for you,” Bennett said. “That stuff has started to take hold.”

Before taking over Virginia in 2009, Bennett led Washington State to two NCAA Tournament appearances in his three seasons as coach in Pullman. The Cougars had back-to-back 26-win seasons in 2006–07 and 2007–08 and reached the Sweet 16 in 2008.

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

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

Bennett's retirement follows a similar pattern to two of his mentors. Bennett's father left Wisconsin three games into the 2000-01 season and was temporarily replaced by assistant coach Brad Soderberg, who had been on Bennett's staff at Virginia. Wisconsin ended up hiring Ryan instead of giving Soderberg the job. When Ryan retired from the Badgers, he left after 12 games in the 2015-16 season.

During Friday's press conference, Bennett said he could try to advocate for student-athletes and coaches in today's ever-changing college sports landscape.

“I adjusted a few,” Bennett said. “But you can’t fight against yourself.”