The final news conference of the Tony Bennett era at the University of Virginia had the now-former head coach of the Cavalier men’s basketball team thinking about the first time he stepped to the podium as the Wahoos’ leader.
On Friday, he sat in the same second-floor room at John Paul Jones Arena as he did on April 1, 2009, with then-Director of Athletics Craig Littlepage by his side.
“I can remember 15 1/2 years ago sitting with you here,” Bennett said Friday as he found Littlepage in the crowd. “My son and daughter, Anna and Eli, were 7 and 8 years old. Laurel (Bennett’s wife) was right there. You still look the same, Laurel. I look about 30 years older.
“But how special that moment was, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity.”
The feeling from Wahoo Nation is mutual.
Bennett took the UVA community on a 15-year ride that no Hoo will soon forget. In connection with Bennett’s retirement, UVA Today looks back at the special moments in the winningest coaching career in Cavalier men’s basketball history.
It’s fair to say Bennett, who came to Charlottesville from Washington State University, called his shot on the day he was introduced as UVA’s coach.
“I came here to build a great team,” Bennett said then, “but more importantly I came here to build a program that lasts.”
Ten trips to the NCAA Tournament, six Atlantic Coast Conference regular season titles and a national championship later, he did just that.
In the 14 seasons before Bennett arrived, UVA had made the NCAA Tournament only three times. He took the Cavaliers to the Big Dance 10 times, starting with the 2011-12 team that went 22-10.
Played in front of what is still believed to be one of the most raucous atmospheres in JPJ history, UVA blitzed Syracuse University, 75-56, to claim its first outright regular season ACC championship in 33 years.
A few weeks later in Greensboro, North Carolina, the Cavaliers won the ACC Tournament title for only the second time in program history.
The 2013-14 season was truly the beginning of UVA’s arrival on the national scene. A year later, the Wahoos went 30-4, tying the school record for wins, and claiming another ACC regular season title.
Bennett received the Henry Iba Award, presented annually to the national coach of the year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.
The wins were great, but there’s a loss that UVA fans will forever remember because of what it led to 13 months later.
The Cavaliers made history when they fell to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, becoming the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Bennett famously handled the defeat with class, setting up what came next for the program.
Led by a motivated core of returning players, namely Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome and De’Andre Hunter, Bennett and the Cavaliers achieved ultimate redemption from the previous spring as they ended a wild ride through the NCAA Tournament with an overtime victory, beating Texas Tech in the national championship.
“If you learn to use adversity right,” Bennett said, “it will buy you a ticket to a place you couldn’t have gone any other way.”
A 73-66 win over Syracuse gave Bennett victory No. 327 in his UVA career, moving him past the late Terry Holland as the winningest coach in program history.
“This is not a ‘me’ award,” a humble Bennett told the crowd at JPJ, which included Terry’s wife, Ann Holland, “this is an ‘us’ award.”
Three weeks before the start of what would be his 16th season, Bennett, citing his discomfort in a rapidly changing college athletics landscape, retires and hands the program off to longtime friend and assistant, Ron Sanchez.
“I’ve given everything I’ve had for 15 years,” he said.
