Virginia coach Tony Bennett signed a contract extension that retains him with this system by means of the 2029-30 season, the college introduced Thursday.
If Bennett remains to be teaching on April thirtieth, 2026, one other 12 months is robotically added to the contract, tying him to the Cavaliers by means of the 2030-31 season.
Bennett — who turned 55 earlier this June — is the winningest coach in program historical past and led Virginia to its solely nationwide champion in 2019. With the current retirements of Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams and Jim Boeheim, Bennett is the one lively title-winning coach left within the ACC.
“Tony Bennett is foundational to our efforts to compete for championships on this new mannequin of school athletics,” Virginia athletic director Carla Williams stated in a press release. “He embodies all the pieces essential to the College of Virginia and Virginia athletics. It’s an honor to work with him and we’re thrilled about the way forward for males’s basketball underneath his management.”
In his 15 seasons in Charlottesville, Bennett has led Virginia to 2 ACC championships (2014 and 2018) and not less than a share of six ACC regular-season titles (2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023). He has been named ACC Coach of the Yr 4 instances, and has gained two of his three Nationwide Coach of the Yr honors in his present function.
This system hasn’t gained an NCAA Match sport since its nationwide championship victory in 2019, nonetheless. Virginia went 23-11 final season, falling 67-42 to Colorado State within the First 4 of the NCAA Match.
“I really like UVA and it has all the time been a particular place for me and my household,” Bennett stated in a press release. “I’m grateful for the chance to work with Carla Williams and Jim Ryan and to characterize the College of Virginia. My workers and I look ahead to adapting to the brand new panorama of school athletics. We’ll proceed to construct top-of-the-line basketball packages on and off the court docket with out compromising the values of our college.”
Why this extension issues
Whereas Bennett took Virginia to the head of the game in 2019 — famously, just one 12 months after turning into the primary No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed within the NCAA Match — the Cavaliers haven’t tasted success in March. The group earned a No. 4 seed in each 2021 and 2023 earlier than shedding to No. 13 Ohio and No. 13 Furman, respectively, within the first spherical.
That postseason victory drought, coupled with fixed modifications to the game’s panorama, prompted questions on Bennett’s future. His conventional strategies — with a give attention to multiyear growth, and infrequently even redshirt years — go towards the grain of modern-era participant motion, and even Virginia has had retention problems with late. Plus, personally, Bennett isn’t somebody who needs to be the face of the game or be the frontman spurring change; if he couldn’t construct the relationships he values over time, then it was honest to query how lengthy he would proceed to educate — and the chatter elevated this spring after the loss within the First 4.
As a substitute, the Cavaliers signed arguably the very best switch portal class at school historical past, together with former five-star Duke recruit TJ Energy, former San Diego State starter Elijah Saunders, former Florida State guard Jalen Warley and former Kansas State level guard Dai Dai Ames. These 4, mixed with returning wing Isaac McKneely, will type the muse of what Bennett hopes is a much-improved offensive group. Whereas the Cavaliers have all the time been glorious defensively underneath the 55-year-old, the offense has been a lot much less constant; final season, Virginia completed a dismal two hundredth nationally in adjusted offensive effectivity.
Signing Bennett to this extension was a no brainer on Virginia’s half — he’s the very best coach at school historical past and remains to be placing gamers (albeit fewer of them) into the NBA — but it surely signifies that Bennett isn’t able to stroll away simply but. The place a few of his friends have folded within the face of the game’s evolving panorama, this transfer signifies that Bennett is prepared to adapt and attempt to get Virginia again to the height of school basketball.
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(Photograph: Ryan M. Kelly / Getty Pictures)
