Tony Bennett's retirment opens 30-day transfer portal for Virginia basketball

Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett is retiring immediately, the program announced Thursday afternoon. Bennett revived the Cavaliers’ basketball program during his 15 seasons, winning a national title and making 10 trips to the NCAA tournament.

With a 364–136 record, Virginia was viewed as one of the top programs in the nation. His decision Thursday to retire opens a 30-day transfer portal window for UVA players just 20 days until the season tips off. The Cavaliers were picked to finish fifth in the ACC preseason media poll.

Bennett added five transfers last offseason, including Duke’s TJ Power and Kansas State’s Dai Dai Ames. Virginia is scheduled to open the season on Nov. 6 against Campbell.

NCAA rules allow athletes on a team with a coaching change to enter the portal the day after the change. In this case, Virginia athletes can enter starting Friday. According to the NCAA, an athlete who transfers after enrolling at a school cannot transfer during that same year and compete for a new school. Grad students could transfer if they don’t play in any games this fall and be eligible in the spring.

The 55-year-old Virginia head coach arrived in Charlottesville from Washington State, where he was the head coach from 2006-09 after three seasons as an assistant. He was also an assistant coach at Wisconsin from 1999-2003. He amassed a 433-169 career record.

The college basketball transfer portal is scheduled for 30 days during the spring of the 2024-25 academic year. The portal will open after the second round of the NCAA Tournament and conclude before the end of April. Athletes would still be given a 30-day window to transfer after a head coach’s departure.

According to the NCAA, the portal opens for business on Monday, March 24, and closes on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. The national championship game will be played on April 7 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

The college basketball transfer portal is starting to mirror the NBA’s free agency. Last spring alone, 1,962 Division I players tested the portal waters. According to college basketball analytics expert Evan Miyakawa, for the first time in history, more than half of the points scored in Division I men’s college basketball will be scored by players recruited through the transfer portal, not from high school in 2024-25.