Basketball Coaching Legend Abruptly Steps Away from Clemson Rival's Program

On Thursday, shocking news broke that Tony Bennett, the long-time coach of the UVA Men's Basketball team, had announced his retirement.

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One of the most prominent coaches in the Clemson Tigers Conference has stepped away from basketball.

On Thursday, it was reported that Tony Bennett, the head coach of the University of Virginia men’s basketball program, would be retiring. The news stated that the move would be effective immediately.  

The move comes just less than a month before the Virginia head coach is set to begin his 16th season at the helm of the Men’s team. He led UVA to a 364-136 record over 15 seasons and was named ACC Coach of the Year four times over that span (2014, 2015, 2018, 2019). He is the all-time winningest coach in the program's history. 

In 2019. He led the Cavaliers to their first NCAA national championship after recording a school record of 35 wins. 

Before his time in Virginia, Bennett was the coach at Washington State for three seasons, where he finished as the Pac-10 Coach of the Year in 2007. Across his 18 seasons as a head coach at the Division I level, Bennett was awarded the National Coach of the Year Award on three different occasions (2007, 2015, 2018). 

The news comes as quite a shock to many in the basketball community as Bennett and a few of his key players were just present at ACC Media Day just one week ago. The Cavaliers are looking to defend their ACC regular-season title from last season after going 25-8 (15-5 in ACC) in 2022-23. 

The University has yet to announce who will be taking over the program for the 2024-25 season. Regardless of who is named, they will have big shoes to fill, as Bennett led Virginia to 10 NCAA Tournament appearances. 

The school announced that Bennett will officially announce his retirement at a news conference on Friday at 11 a.m. ET. The conference will be streamed and available on the school's social platforms. 

For the Tigers, Clemson will face the new program coach and the rest of the Cavaliers squad on Saturday, March 1st, at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia, just three games before the end of the regular season. The team lost both contests against UVA last season, including a 76-56 defeat in the ACC Tournament Semifinals.