Bennett wanted to understand everything about the game of basketball to the point that, even as an NBA player, teammates felt he would rather learn and study the game than participate in it. Bennett's teams, especially at Virginia, are known for their
motion offense and stifling defense which features his version of the "pack line" defensive strategy famously devised by his father. The pack line is designed to clog up potential driving lanes to the paint by forcing ball handlers to the middle of the floor where more "help" is concentrated. It forces opposing teams to pass and shoot well, while limiting dribble penetration and post play.
Washington State against
California Tony Bennett accepted the position of head coach at Washington State when his father retired in 2006. Washington State's success immediately skyrocketed under the younger Bennett, and his 26 wins in both the 2006–07 and 2007–08 seasons tied a 66-year-old school record set by the team that reached the Championship Game of the
1941 NCAA tournament.
2006–07: School record 26 wins Bennett led the
2006–07 Cougars basketball team to a 26–8 (13–5
Pac-10, second place) record and the second round of the NCAA tournament. The Cougars earned a No. 3 seed and defeated
Oral Roberts in the opening round before falling to
Vanderbilt in double overtime in the second round. The
NCAA tournament appearance was the first for the Cougars since
1994, breaking a 13-year
March Madness drought for the Cougars. After the
2006–07 season, Bennett was given the prestigious
Henry Iba Award by vote of the
United States Basketball Writers Association, and was named the
AP college basketball Coach of the Year and the
Naismith College Coach of the Year. He was also named the
Rivals.com Coach of the Year.
2007–08: 26 wins and Indiana offer During the
2007–08 season, Bennett finished with a 26–9 record (11–7 in the Pac-10). He also went on to lead the Cougars to the Sweet Sixteen after beating
Winthrop and
Notre Dame in the first and second rounds. After losing to
North Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen, Bennett's team had again reached the school record for wins, with 26. After the season, Bennett reportedly turned down an offer to become head coach at
Indiana, a job which eventually fell to Marquette coach
Tom Crean. He also discussed the
LSU (his wife's alma mater) vacancy at that year's Final Four, a job that eventually went to Stanford coach
Trent Johnson. Bennett decided to remain loyal to WSU.
2008–09: Rebuilding and budget constraints Bennett went back to work at Washington State with a need to replace NBA draft pick
Kyle Weaver. He brought in
Klay Thompson, a talented four-star recruit out of California (and son of former NBA player
Mychal Thompson). Thompson rapidly improved on the offensive side of the court as a freshman, but the team struggled more than in the two previous years on the defensive end and finished 17–16.
Canceled recruiting flights and Final Four trip for staff Washington State dropped charter flights for Bennett and his staff for use in recruiting to the remotely located school and cancelled a trip for his staff to the
2009 Final Four due to ongoing budgetary constraints in the WSU athletics department. As this was happening, Bennett was contacted about the open Virginia job and traveled to Charlottesville to interview. While very impressed with
John Paul Jones Arena and the potential advantages of coaching in
the ACC, he initially decided to once again remain loyal to WSU. However, when Bennett went to call Virginia athletic director
Craig Littlepage and decline the offer, Bennett's wife Laurel stepped in and said "put the phone down," as she could sense a great uncertainty in his voice when he said he would pass up UVA. Bennett then accepted the Virginia offer on March 29 exactly one year, to the day, after turning down the Indiana job.
Virginia Bennett was named head coach at
Virginia on March 31, 2009.
Ritchie McKay, head coach of the
Liberty Flames, stepped down to become Bennett's associate head coach before returning to the Flames in 2015. During the rebuilding process, Bennett's teams increased their win total in every successive season. After inheriting a 10–18 squad that had the worst record in program history since the 1966–67 season, Bennett's Virginia won 15, 16, 22, 23, 30, and 30 games in his first six seasons. Under his guidance, Virginia had four of the five teams with records of 16–2 or better in the 18-game era (2012–2019) of ACC play, and only Virginia had a team finish 17–1 (none went undefeated). Bennett worked from Day 1 to build "a program that lasts" at Virginia. Thousands of fans lined the streets to JPJ from
Charlottesville–Albemarle Airport in 2019 to congratulate the Virginia team and Bennett on winning the program's first NCAA Championship.
2009–10: Five-win improvement In their first season under Bennett his new team finished the season 15–16 (5–11 in the ACC), an improvement of 5 wins (+50%) versus the prior year under Bennett's predecessor (former DePaul coach
Dave Leitao). Sophomore
Sylven Landesberg, a former
McDonald's All-American recruited by Leitao, led the team in scoring before getting suspended for the final game of the season after failing to meet academic obligations. It was soon announced that Landesberg and the program mutually parted ways, and he turned pro but went undrafted.
2010–11: Personnel losses but continued rise Despite every disadvantage, including one star player (Landesberg) leaving because of academic struggles and another (
Mike Scott) going down with an early-season injury and taking a medical redshirt, the Cavaliers started the season with a bang by knocking off No. 13 Minnesota on the road, in Minneapolis, during the
2010 ACC-Big Ten Challenge. UVA improved to 7–9 in the ACC and had a winning record overall. They were passed over for postseason consideration.
2011–12: Most wins at UVA in 17 years This season began much like the last had, with unranked Virginia dismantling No. 15 Michigan in the
2011 ACC-Big Ten Challenge. In just
Bennett's third year at Virginia, he led the Cavaliers to 22 wins and an NCAA Tournament berth. It was the most wins the program had tallied in 17 years and its first NCAA Tournament game (a lopsided loss to
Billy Donovan and Florida) in five years. After rapid development under Bennett over the past three years (of which he played only two because of injury), Mike Scott was taken 43rd overall by the
Atlanta Hawks in the
2012 NBA draft.
2012–13: Establishing the dominant nucleus Based on his early successes,
Athlon Sports named Bennett one of the four best ACC coaches (with Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, and Leonard Hamilton) before the season. The Cavaliers would tally one more win (23) than the previous season, despite losing
Mike Scott to the NBA, and establish nearly all the pieces to take the program even higher.
Justin Anderson,
Malcolm Brogdon,
Anthony Gill,
Joe Harris,
Darion Atkins,
Mike Tobey, and
Akil Mitchell all started or played extensively for the young team. All they were missing was a controlling point guard, which Bennett found on the recruiting trail in "diamond in the rough" three-star
London Perrantes from California.
2013–14: #1 ACC finish and ACC Championship In
2013–14, Perrantes started as a freshman and joined the top players from the previous season as the Cavaliers won their
sixth ACC regular season title, clinching it with a statement 75–56 home win against highly touted ACC newcomer No. 4
Syracuse, a team which had started the season 25–0. It was also their first outright regular season title since 1981. Virginia also won its second-ever ACC Tournament title (their first since 1976), defeating second-seeded No. 7 Duke in the final game, 72–63. The Cavaliers received their third (but first since 1983) No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 1995. Bennett was a finalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year, as well as runner-up for AP Coach of the Year. Bennett signed a new seven-year contract to extend his employment with Virginia through 2021. It included a $1.924 million base salary package, with additional longevity and achievement bonuses. Part of his contract negotiations included long-term contract renewals for his staff.
2014–15: #1 ACC finish and 2nd Henry Iba Award Virginia got off to a
19–0 start, reaching an AP No. 2 ranking for the first time since
1983. Much was made in the press that of the top three teams, each dominating the competition and remaining undefeated well into January (Kentucky, Virginia, and Duke) the Cavaliers were doing so with no McDonald's All-Americans on the roster, whereas the Wildcats and Blue Devils had teams filled with
nine each. Highlights included holding
Georgia Tech,
Rutgers, and
Harvard to under thirty points each and actually "doubling up" the scores of Georgia Tech (57–28) and
Wake Forest (70–34) – unprecedented dominance for any team of the past 50 years against ACC competition. The Harvard game was notable for a near-
tripling score,
76–27 and limiting the Crimson, an NCAA Tournament team, to one field goal in the first half which tied the NCAA record for the shot clock era. Two injuries to
Justin Anderson near the end of the season dampened NCAA Tournament hopes before he turned pro for the
2015 NBA draft. Bennett was awarded his second
Henry Iba Award as the nation's top coach, joining ACC peer
Roy Williams as the only coaches ever to win the award at two different schools. Bennett signed a new contract through 2024, later extended through 2026 and beyond. The number of home-and-away series with programs from other power conferences such as these was virtually unprecedented in the ACC. and
ESPN writer Jeff Goodman chose Bennett as the ideal head coach of his mythical "Dream Team" before the season... stating "I'm going with Bennett, who ... has owned the ACC the past two seasons. Just imagine what he could do with this group of players and this level of talent. Bennett will make sure these guys defend (yes, even you
Niang!) and he also has the ideal, even-keeled temperament." UVA later defeated Iowa State in Niang's final collegiate game in the Sweet Sixteen, before Bennett's first loss (starting 3–0) to
Jim Boeheim's Syracuse in the Elite Eight.
2016–17: 250 career wins UVA brought in a well-rounded recruiting class which included Bennett's first
McDonald's All-American, a consensus top 50 recruit,
Kyle Guy. Former five-star recruit and transfer
Austin Nichols became eligible after sitting out the previous season, but was suspended for two weeks including the season opening game for an undisclosed incident and dismissed entirely for a second undisclosed incident after playing (and starting) in one game. UVA nonetheless broke its record for consecutive weeks ranked in the AP Top 25 poll with a streak of 64 polling weeks spanning more than three years, breaking its previous best of 49 in the 1980s. Bennett recorded his 250th win as a head coach against No. 14 Notre Dame, in South Bend, 71–54, while extending his record against
Mike Brey to 5–0. The Cavaliers notched impressive double-digit victories over eventual national champions No. 5 North Carolina, 53–43, and No. 4 ranked Louisville, 71–55. This completed Bennett's head-to-head rivalry record against Hall of Famer
Rick Pitino at 5–1 before Pitino was
dismissed for NCAA rules violations in the off-season.
2017–18: Unranked to AP #1 and ACC Championship UVA was viewed as a rebuilding team after departures of
London Perrantes,
Marial Shayok, and
Darius Thompson, and the first AP poll had Virginia unranked for the first time since 2013. A
Winston-Salem Journal reporter projected the worst season of Bennett's career at 5–13 in ACC play. UVA was ranked after winning the
NIT Season Tip-Off. They defeated No. 12 North Carolina 61–49 to continue a home streak of 5–0 against the Heels since 2013. No. 2 Virginia then overcame No. 4 Duke on the road for Bennett's first victory at
Cameron Indoor Stadium. The
Winston-Salem Journal reporter literally "ate his words" about Virginia, ingesting a copy of his previous article with
barbeque sauce. UNC prepared for their Duke rivalry game by reviewing tape of UVA suffocating No. 18 Clemson 61–36;
Joel Berry II explained, "We want to be like [Virginia] defensively." UVA attained its first AP No. 1 ranking since 1982. With a 66–37 victory at Pitt, Virginia won its third outright regular season title in five years. The Cavaliers won the
2018 ACC tournament, defeating North Carolina 71–63 in the ACC Championship Game. UVA earned the first overall seed in the
NCAA tournament, but the next day lost ACC Sixth Man of the Year
De'Andre Hunter to a broken wrist. The
New York Daily News changed their pick from Virginia winning the national title to losing in the Sweet Sixteen after the injury. Virginia then notoriously
lost to UMBC in the opening round, the first time since expansion in 1985 that a No. 1 seed lost to a No. 16, in the first ever regional to have its No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 seeds all lose in the opening weekend. Bennett's even-keeled reaction was featured in
Inc. magazine as a lesson in
emotional intelligence and
leadership. For defying rebuilding expectations to finish 31–3, Bennett won a third
Henry Iba Award.
2018–19: The Redemption National Championship : ''Also see
2019: Redemption National Championship section of
Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball.'' UVA opened the season with consecutive wins over ranked
Big Ten teams, No. 25 Wisconsin (
Battle 4 Atlantis) and No. 24 Maryland (
ACC–Big Ten Challenge), the latter of which improved Bennett's record in the Challenge to 8–2. Diminutive (5'9") point guard
Kihei Clark, an unheralded
three-star recruit who had initially committed to the
UC Davis Aggies of the
Big West Conference, started both games as a true freshman. The No. 4 Cavaliers routed No. 9 Virginia Tech 81–59 in the first time in series history that the two rivals met while both ranked in the top ten of the
AP Poll. Virginia started the season 16–0 before falling at No. 1 Duke, 72–70. The game was viewed by 3.8 million people as the highest rated televised game of college basketball in the regular season, and was just the fourth in NCAA history between two teams both ranked number one as No. 4 Virginia was ranked first in the
Coaches Poll before the loss. UVA attained a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, along with Duke and North Carolina, only the second time in NCAA history that three No. 1 seeds came from the same conference. Virginia was the only No. 1 seed to reach
the Final Four after dispatching Gardner-Webb 71–56, Oklahoma 63–51, Oregon 53–49, and Purdue 80–75 in overtime. The Virginia–Purdue game in particular was called an "instant classic" by
Sports Illustrated and
USA Today after
Carsen Edwards threw up extremely long-distance three pointers well beyond NBA range and seemingly could not miss, scoring over half the total for the
red-hot Boilermakers with 42 points and, by far, a new scoring record against Bennett-coached teams.
Mamadi Diakite and Clark played the heroes to save the season with a backtap rebound to Clark and his subsequent bullet pass and game-tying shot from Diakite with under 1 second left to force
overtime. In the Final Four, Virginia defeated
the Auburn Tigers by a single point, 63–62, as
Kyle Guy drained three
free throws with 0.6 seconds on the clock after an Auburn player undercut his lower body on the release of a corner three-pointer just as time expired.
Reigning NCAA football champion and friend
Dabo Swinney sent Bennett a text prior to the title game which he shared with the team: "let the light that shines
in you be brighter than the light that shines
on you." Virginia did just that in a back-and-forth physical
2019 NCAA Tournament Championship Game to outlast fellow defensive stalwarts
Texas Tech in overtime and win it by a score of 85–77.
NABC Defensive Player of the Year redshirt sophomore
De'Andre Hunter scored a career-high 27 points while holding Red Raider star
Jarrett Culver to 15 points on 5-for-22 shooting. Thousands of fans lined the streets from
Charlottesville–Albemarle Airport to
John Paul Jones Arena the next day to welcome the team and Bennett back home. With little left to prove in the college game, Hunter, Jerome, and Guy forwent their remaining eligibility and all three were selected in the
2019 NBA draft; both Hunter and Jerome went in the first round. Bennett was named to a list of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders by
Fortune magazine alongside such names as
Special Counsel (and
UVA Law alumnus)
Robert Mueller,
Prince Harry and
Meghan Markle, and
Tim Cook of
Apple.
2019–20: COVID-shortened season, 11–1 down final stretch The Athletic named Bennett the 2019 College Basketball Person of the Year in the article "Tony Bennett: Humility and Grace made him a most deserving Champion", lauding the five pillars and the foundation they set for the Virginia program. Bennett declined a raise when extending his contract before the season and UVA President
James Ryan called him "one of the most selfless people [he's] ever met." In
CBS Sports' pre-season ranking, Matt Norlander opined Virginia has "arguably the best coach going in the sport." The Cavaliers won the
Hall of Fame Tip Off by defeating
Arizona State in the championship game. After a wrist fracture injury to
Braxton Key the team was blown out at Purdue, 69–40, in an
Elite Eight rematch from the previous season. It was Bennett's first loss in the
ACC–Big Ten Challenge since 2013. His Cavaliers rebounded to defeat No. 7 North Carolina, 56–47, continuing a home streak of 6–0 against the Tar Heels since 2013. Virginia also defeated No. 5 Florida State, No. 7 Duke, and No. 10 Louisville. In the Duke game,
Durham native Jay Huff had 10 blocks to spur the Cavaliers to victory against the Blue Devils. By the end of the season, the No. 17 Cavaliers were 23–7, had won eight straight games, 11 of their final 12, and had earned the No. 2 seed in
the cancelled ACC tournament. In the last game of the season the team defeated No. 10 Louisville, 57–54, and a subsequent
FiveThirtyEight article revealed this squad's defense to be the most effective of any Tony Bennett coached team thus far.
The Athletic called this team Bennett's true "masterpiece", succeeding with far less talent after the previous season's NCAA Championship team lost four starters to professional basketball.
Mamadi Diakite and
Braxton Key graduated on an 8-game ACC winning streak but without a chance to play in the unfinished
2020 ACC tournament or to defend their NCAA Championship.
2020–21: ACC title and COVID troubles Virginia opened as an early favorite to win another NCAA title two years out. However, Virginia was surprised 61–60 by unranked
San Francisco in their second game, and the vaunted Cavalier defense broke down against No. 1
Gonzaga in a December neutral site game (in
Fort Worth, Texas) allowing 60% shooting and 50% three-point shooting in a 98–75 loss. The program faced several postponed and canceled games due to
COVID-19 outbreaks within the UVA and other basketball programs. The team rebounded to shut down No. 12 Clemson 85–50 on the road, Virginia's largest margin of victory in ACC games since 2015. When No. 9 Virginia defeated North Carolina for the seventh straight time, 60–48, it was the first time since 1966 that no UNC players scored in double figures. With that win, Bennett became the third ACC coach in history to have ten straight winning ACC seasons. Nearly the entire UVA team was required to sit out of all team activities for seven days in
quarantine after results of
contact tracing; arriving a day late to the NCAA Tournament and without having practiced. Virginia's rival Louisville, which narrowly missed an NCAA bid, was put on standby in case UVA was unable to assemble a team with at least five eligible players against
MAC champions
Ohio. the week in quarantine and late arrival did Virginia no favors as they shot 35% from the field and lost the game 62–58. After a highly productive
50–40–90 shooting output on the year and effective defensive play, junior
Trey Murphy III was drafted 17th in the first round of the
2021 NBA draft.
2021–22: Delivering a "Punch in the Mouth" The
Arizona Daily Star called Bennett the "gold standard of college basketball coaching" and the modern equivalent of
Arizona's late Hall of Famer
Lute Olson, but said Arizona fans needed to "lower [their] expectations";
Tommy Lloyd, coach-in-waiting at Gonzaga, took the job. Bennett signed transfers
Armaan Franklin from Indiana and
Jayden Gardner from East Carolina, after losing
eight players to graduation, the NBA, and the transfer portal. The Cavaliers got off to their roughest start in a decade, losing 66–58 to Navy, 52–49 to James Madison, and 75–74 to Iowa in the
ACC–Big Ten Challenge, dropping Bennett's Challenge record to 8–4. A 67–50 loss at JPJ to Clemson snapped an 11-game winning streak against the Tigers. Virginia returned the favor with a 10-point victory at Clemson, continuing a 6-game winning streak for UVA at
Littlejohn Coliseum. A 74–58 road loss to North Carolina snapped a 7-game winning streak against the Tar Heels. Regaining composure, Bennett's Cavaliers held
Paolo Banchero to single-digit scoring for the first time of his career as the team emerged from
Cameron Indoor Stadium with a 69–68 win over AP No. 7 Duke in
Mike Krzyzewski's final home game against Virginia, delivered by
Reece Beekman's last-second three-pointer;
Trevor Keels remarked that UVA had "punched [them] in the mouth." The Cavaliers finished 12–8 in-conference, good enough for an 11th straight winning ACC season, but the 12 regular season losses were the most yielded by UVA during that span.
2022–23: 6th ACC season title Virginia opened the season by winning the
Continental Tire Main Event championship belt, taking the opening game over
No. 5 Baylor, 86–79, and defeating
No. 19 Illinois in the championship game, 70–61. UVA defeated Michigan 70–68 at Ann Arbor in UVA's final
ACC–Big Ten Challenge matchup, leaving Bennett with a 9–4 record in the Challenge, and Virginia at 14–8; tied for the 2nd-most Challenge wins out of 29 participating basketball programs in the ACC and Big Ten. The Cavaliers recorded an 8th consecutive home win in their rivalry with (pre-season AP No. 1) North Carolina, 67–58, in January, then defeated the Tar Heels again, 68–59, in the
2023 ACC Tournament quarterfinals. For the season, Virginia tied with Miami at 15–5 in ACC play to share the regular season title but lost to Duke, 59–49, in the ACC Tournament championship game; they lost to Furman in the NCAA Tournament, 68–67, on an errant pass and opposing three pointer with 2 seconds left.
2023–24: unusual inconsistency UVA was more inconsistent in Bennett's final year than previously, but still finished 23–11 with a 13th straight winning record (13–7) in the ACC and a 12–1 record in games decided by less than 10 points. The team also lost ten games by double digits including blowout losses of 20 or more points to Wisconsin, at Memphis, at Notre Dame, at Virginia Tech, at Duke, and in the NCAA First Four to Colorado State. In particular, shooting woes from several starters allowed defenses to focus on locking down primary threats like
Reece Beekman and
Isaac McKneely. McKneely took steps toward becoming a more complete all-around player to pair with his catch-and-shoot sharpshooting. Dunn subsequently declared for the
2024 NBA draft and was selected in the first round by the
Denver Nuggets, while Beekman signed a two-way contract with the
Golden State Warriors.
2024: Retirement On October 18, 2024, Bennett stunned He cited the state of unregulated NIL money and transfers as reasons he is "no longer equipped" to coach modern college basketball and said he hopes these new aspects of the college basketball landscape will be better regulated in time. Bennett said he'd remain around the Virginia program, and would like to take on a part-time role with "lots of vacation time."
Los Angeles Lakers On February 25, 2026, Bennett joined the
Los Angeles Lakers as an NBA draft advisor. ==Player development==