Tony Bennett retirement: Former Virginia coach addresses criticism of timing

When news broke of Tony Bennett’s decision to retire just 20 days before Virginia started its season, some wondered if it was health-related – which wasn’t the case. Instead, it came after the national title-winning coach went on a fall break getaway with his wife and reflected on the ever-changing college athletics landscape.

But the timing of the decision drew some criticism. Bennett had signed a contract extension in June after an NCAA Tournament First Four appearance and was at ACC Tipoff just last week in Charlotte. With Ron Sanchez getting his support to take over, the questions continued about why Bennett announced his retirement when he did.

But when asked by CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander about the criticism, Bennett said Oct. 18 wasn’t a long-planned date to announce he was leaving the sideline. It was the way it all unfolded, and it came down to his passion for the game in its current state.

“It wasn’t like I got this set and I planned this date,” Bennett said. “If you’re battling things and you’re not all in and have the passion to give. You have to know who you are, and you have to be all in with everything. If you know you’re fighting yourself in this — because you’re still recruiting, you’re still involved with stuff — you’re gonna have to keep building, and you’re always worrying about what’s next. And I felt, even in the fall, I felt things I haven’t felt for a long time, or maybe I’ve been battling and coaching some of my perspective.

“Sometimes, you know, my anger – and people say, ‘Oh, you don’t get angry’ – but I felt myself becoming a little more transactional in mindset. At times. And then I’d catch myself, but I felt that battle being waged inside, and I never want to be like that. That’s why I’m not equipped for this.”

Tony Bennett: ‘I didn’t want to have that regret of being 80% of what I could be’

Tony Bennett put together a decorated coaching career as a head coach at Washington State and Virginia. He has a 433-169 career record while becoming a two-time Naismith College Coach of the Year, a four-time ACC Coach of the Year and the 2007 Pac-10 Coach of the Year.

At UVA, he finally got to the mountaintop – one year after making NCAA Tournament history with a loss to No. 16 seed UMBC as a No. 1 seed. The Cavaliers won the national championship in 2019, adding an important piece of hardware to Bennett’s trophy case.

But in the time since, college sports changed. The transfer portal started to reflect the NBA’s free agency, and NIL became a central part of roster-building. Bennett saw the transformation and the toll it took on him. As a result, he said he didn’t feel he could be 100% of the coach he wanted to be. Those changes, notably the portal movement and the ever-changing NIL landscape, led to the decision to walk away.

“I’m like, man, what’s gonna happen if this guy doesn’t play, all that,” Bennett said. “What do we gotta [do to] add this, and you’ve got people saying, ‘Oh, this guy’s going to be become available. It’ll cost this much.’ All that stuff. And so I just evaluated all of it, and the fact that even looking at myself in some of those practices, and how I felt, and maybe some of the outbursts that I had, and what I even was thinking in my mind, and then getting back, that was like this internal battle going on what was an indicator. If you would have spent the whole weekend with me (last weekend, when he made the decision), I think you would’ve been pretty clear on it.

“When you have that battle, if you’re not all in and locked … I didn’t want to have that regret of being 80% of what I could be. Because it’s a fine line here. We don’t have all the things the others have in terms of five-stars – we’ve got good players – but it’s a way that you have to build them. If I’m 70%, 80%, that’s not fair to the players. You know what? This staff, they’re the one that are thinking they can handle this model better than I can. And until it changes, no one will be able to handle it fully, but that’s what led to it all this time.”