Three-time National Coach of the Year Tony Bennett enters his 15th year as the Dean and Markel Families Men’s Head Basketball Coach at the University of Virginia in 2023-24. Bennett came to Charlottesville in 2009 after spending the previous three seasons as the head coach at Washington State, where he was the 2007 National Coach of the Year.
Virginia has amassed a 341-125 (.732) record in 14 seasons under Bennett’s direction. In 2022-23, Bennett guided the Cavaliers a 25-8 record, share of their 11th ACC regular-season title (15-5) and 25th NCAA tournament berth. Bennett passed Terry Holland (326-173, 16 seasons) as UVA’s all-time winningest coach with the win over Syracuse (1/7/23). Bennett recorded his 400th career win at Wake Forest (1/21/23).
In 2021-22, Bennett and the Cavaliers finished 21-14 and advanced to the NIT quarterfinals. The Cavaliers finished 18-7 in 2020-21, earning its 10th ACC regular-season title with a 13-4 record. Bennett became just the third coach in ACC men’s basketball history to lead his program to 10-straight winning conference seasons, joining Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski. UVA advanced to the ACC Tournament semifinals and earned its seventh consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance as the No. 4 seed in the West Region.
A hallmark of Bennett’s teams has been defense, as his squads have ranked in the top five nationally in scoring defense in 11 of his 17 seasons as a head coach. UVA has led the nation in scoring defense six times under Bennett (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020).
Nine Virginia players – Mike Scott (Atlanta, 2012), Joe Harris (Cleveland, 2014), Justin Anderson (Dallas, 2015), Malcolm Brogdon (Milwaukee, 2016), Devon Hall (Oklahoma City, 2018), De’Andre Hunter (Los Angeles Lakers, 2019), Ty Jerome (Philadelphia, 2019), Kyle Guy (New York, 2019) and Trey Murphy III (Memphis, 2021) – have been selected in the NBA Draft during Bennett’s 12-year tenure. Anderson became the first Virginia player selected in the first round (21st overall) since Cory Alexander in 1995, while Hunter was UVA’s highest draft pick (4th overall) since Ralph Sampson was selected first overall in 1983.
Bennett and his wife, Laurel, have two children – a daughter, Anna, and a son, Eli.