Breaking down the consequences of Tony Bennett's retirement

In an emotional information convention asserting his retirement on Friday, former Virginia Cavaliers head coach Tony Bennett did not mince phrases on his causes for retiring from school basketball, simply three weeks earlier than the season was set to tip.

“I am now not the most effective coach to guide this program on this present setting,” Bennett, 55, mentioned.

In a vacuum, his announcement Thursday wasn’t totally a shock. Rumors had swirled for years that he may step down sooner than his age and stage of success would point out. The timing, nevertheless, was a shock.

And he’ll go away a void at Virginia and within the school basketball universe. That is, in spite of everything, the coach who led the Cavaliers to their first and solely nationwide title in 2019, a yr after dropping to 16-seed UMBC within the best upset in school basketball historical past. He hadn’t received an NCAA match sport since that nationwide title, but he was considered one of many prime coaches within the sport.

Simply final week, he spoke at ACC media day concerning the upcoming season and the advantages of including Kyle Man, a starter on the 2019 nationwide title workforce, to the employees. He’d additionally mentioned his uncertainty with the brand new realities of the game, realities he didn’t appear to take pleasure in.

“I all the time have mentioned, whenever you’re doing this … it’s a must to be true to your self and actually have a look at it and say, who am I? Can I function how I would like and may or not it’s profitable sufficient? And also you get to decide on if you wish to be part of it or not,” he advised ESPN. “And whenever you really feel it is time, like Jay did, like Coach Ok, possibly Saban, it is their selection. And you may sit right here and complain and gripe. Or you’ve gotten a choice to make. Both you attempt to do it in your manner otherwise you get to make that call.”

Per week later, Bennett mentioned he had determined he might now not serve the Virginia program in the way in which he needed.

“I believe it is proper for student-athletes to obtain income. Please do not mistake me,” Bennett mentioned Friday. “The sport and school athletics isn’t in a wholesome spot. It is not. And there must be change and it isn’t going to return. I believe I used to be geared up to do the job right here the previous manner. That is who I’m.”

As the sport quickly shifted, it grew to become clear groups akin to Bennett’s Virginia — constructed on the event of younger expertise who would keep on campus for 3 or 4 years and provides this system a steady set of veteran anchors — must shift their mindsets to win large. Within the period of NIL compensation and elevated switch portal motion, profitable constantly is harder now than it was when three returning gamers (Ty Jerome, Kyle Man and De’Andre Hunter) fueled a run to the 2019 nationwide championship.

Bennett mentioned he did not really feel the will to be taught to teach a special manner. He additionally mentioned Friday that he needed to depart this system to somebody he trusted: Ron Sanchez, who was a part of Bennett’s staffs at Washington State and Virginia, with a profitable stint as head coach at Charlotte from 2018 to 2023..

“They’ve carried me by way of this transition — the way in which they suppose, how they relate, the way in which their minds are on this panorama, is what’s wanted,” Bennett mentioned of Sanchez and fellow affiliate coach Jason Williford. “And so I am so grateful. And I simply need it to go so effectively for these guys.”

As a brand new period begins for the Cavaliers, ESPN’s Myron Medcalf and Jeff Borzello break down what’s subsequent for the varsity, its gamers and the game.

What legacy does Bennett go away behind?

Medcalf: He received Virginia’s lone nationwide title, and that is vital for any coach. That nationwide title run not solely gave Virginia a contemporary slate on the basketball courtroom, it modified the notion of your complete college. The Cavs grew to become greater than the 1-seed that misplaced to 16-seed UMBC in 2018.

There are a number of coaches on this sport with lengthy careers who received a single nationwide title (Tom Izzo, Jim Boeheim, John Calipari) that elevated their legacies. Bennett will equally go down as a legend, and it isn’t a wild idea to ascertain Virginia memorializing his contributions with a statue or one other gesture. He is that necessary to this system’s historical past.

Borzello: Moreover the nationwide championship, Bennett can be most remembered for his type of play — and his unflinching loyalty to that type of play. Throughout Bennett’s tenure, Virginia performed a few of the slowest, most deliberate basketball within the nation, by no means rating increased than No. 316 nationally in tempo (and that got here in his first season in Charlottesville). Prior to now 4 seasons, they had been Nos. 357, 357, 360 and 362, respectively.

They had been really elite defensively, too. From 2012-2020, Virginia ranked exterior the top-10 in adjusted defensive effectivity at KenPom simply as soon as — once they completed twenty fifth. Bennett recruited to that type, he discovered gamers he thought might match what he needed to do on the courtroom, after which he developed them. After a few early NCAA match exits, and the UMBC loss, there was widespread criticism that Virginia could not win large in March with that type of play. Did Bennett change? Nope. He doubled down and received the nationwide championship.

What would be the first order of enterprise for Sanchez?

Borzello: Maintain the roster collectively. NCAA guidelines state gamers have 30 days following a training change to enter the switch portal. Virginia’s gamers doubtless would want a waiver to be eligible at their subsequent college (or on the very least wait till the semester ends), however they may additionally go away and redshirt this season at a special college, whatever the waiver course of. Virginia was picked fifth within the ACC preseason ballot launched on Wednesday; loads of high-major faculties would have curiosity within the Cavaliers’ gamers, had been they to enter the portal.

Medcalf: Contemplating the season begins in three weeks, there isn’t a time for Sanchez to go off-script — and it will not be essential. Sanchez spent prolonged stretches on Bennett’s staffs at Washington State and Virginia, so there can be continuity and familiarity … so long as the gamers resolve to remain. That’s no assure, however the bonds on Bennett’s employees ought to assist this system keep away from the chaos most groups would endure if their longtime head coach had determined to retire lower than three weeks earlier than the beginning of the season.

I believe Sanchez’s first information convention can be impactful. He is identified inside the Virginia group, however not essentially to the bigger school basketball group, regardless of a five-year head-coaching stint at Charlotte that ended with a CBI championship in 2023. Sanchez is near Bennett and I am certain feels a specific loyalty to him due to the affect he has had on Sanchez’s profession. However I additionally suppose it is necessary for Sanchez to convey that this system is in good palms.

He will need to steadiness his respect for Bennett and the acknowledgement of a brand new period — one which has to incorporate Virginia accepting the calls for of NIL and switch portal chaos. There isn’t any different option to compete on this present panorama. Sanchez has to make that clear when he is formally launched because the interim head coach.

What’s the largest problem for Virginia with out Bennett on the helm?

Borzello: Though the Cavaliers have not been a Ultimate 4 or title contender over the previous few seasons, these are nonetheless pretty sizable footwear to fill. Bennett led them to a nationwide championship and 6 ACC regular-season titles — together with in two of these latest “down” seasons. These are the requirements Bennett set.

Stylistically, Sanchez is more likely to proceed Bennett’s slower, extra defensive type. Throughout his time at Charlotte, the 49ers had been constantly towards the underside of the league in possessions per sport, rating next-to-last nationally in tempo in his remaining season — slower than even Virginia. The roster was constructed with that type in thoughts, so it should not be a problem for this season.

Coaches across the ACC have additionally mentioned Bennett was one of many higher head-coach recruiters within the league; as soon as he grew to become concerned in a recruitment, he was tough to beat. Will Sanchez have the identical affect on the recruiting path? And if the varsity opts to rent another person because the everlasting head coach within the spring, there doubtless must be a roster overhaul.

Why are extra coaches exiting the game amid the large modifications which have altered the sport?

Medcalf: Not way back, I talked to a coach who advised me that he is now not a head coach, only a basic supervisor. The duties on the shoulders of faculty basketball coaches have multiplied lately. It is not nearly athletes’ new freedom of motion or advantages accessible to them, both. These modifications have additionally elevated the vitality it takes to each recruit and retain a workforce. Coaches have all the time had a hand in fundraising, however these efforts are nonstop now. The fixed turnover through the portal is an unbelievable problem, too.

Teaching in 2024 is a tiring, arduous expertise in methods it wasn’t simply 5 years in the past. It simply appears like fewer coaches — particularly those that’ve made seven figures for a very long time — will keep previous 65 or 70 contemplating the grind this job now calls for.