Washington Post – Bennett, 55, is one of the most accomplished active coaches in men’s college basketball and led the Cavaliers to the 2019 NCAA championship and two ACC tournament titles in his 15 seasons in Charlottesville.
Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett will announce his retirement effective immediately at a news conference Friday morning, the basketball program announced on social media Thursday afternoon.
Bennett is responsible for one of the best runs in NCAA tournament history just a year after the biggest upset ever.
In 2018, Virginia entered the NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed and became the first top seed to lose in the first round to a No. 16 seed when the Cavaliers lost 74-54 to the University of Maryland Baltimore County. To this day, no other No. 1 seed has lost in the first round.
Virginia many key players from that team ahead of the 2018-19 season like Kyle Guy, De’Andre Hunter and Ty Jerome. The Cavaliers went on to win the ACC regular-season title once again, and this time, went 6-0 in the NCAA tournament.
The Cavaliers beat Oregon by four in the Sweet 16 and then Purdue by five in the Elite Eight.
Virginia then knocked off Auburn 63-62 in the Final Four when Guy made three free throws with 0.6 seconds to go after he was fouled on a potential game-winning 3-pointer.
