Tony Bennett (basketball)

Bennett's retired #25 hangs in the rafters of the Resch Center, the home court of the Green Bay Phoenix. Bennett holds 1st place all-time for the Phoenix in both scoring and assists.

Bennett, a point guard, played for his father Dick Bennett at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay (UWGB) following his high school career at Stevens Point Area Senior High and Preble High School. The Bennetts led the Phoenix to an NCAA Tournament berth and two appearances in the NIT. During his time there, the Green Bay Phoenix had a record of 87–34 (.719) en route to Bennett being twice named as the conference's Player of the Year. He was awarded the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award given to the nation's most outstanding senior under six feet tall and was named the 1992 GTE Academic All-American of the year. He also started for a bronze-medal winning 1991 Pan-American Games team led by Gene Keady. He finished his collegiate career as the Mid-Continent Conference's all-time leader in points (2,285) and assists (601), and still ranks as the entire NCAA's all-time leader in 3-point field goal accuracy.[18] He made 80 of 150 (53.3%) three-point field goal attempts in his junior season and repeated the feat of hitting over half of his three-point attempts during his senior season, making 95 of 186 (51.1%).[20] He was also incredibly accurate on two-point field goal attempts for a guard, connecting on 502 of 917 (54.7%) two-point attempts for his college career.[20]

Bennett went on to be selected in the 1992 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets. He spent three seasons (1992–1995) with the Hornets as the backup point guard to Muggsy Bogues (the Hornets' all-time leader in assists and steals) before a foot injury ended Bennett's NBA career. With an eye toward returning to the NBA, Bennett left for Australia in 1996 to play for the Sydney Kings of Australia's National Basketball League but the contract fell through[21] within ten days[22] of arriving and Bennett soon moved to New Zealand to briefly play for a team called the "Burger King Kings" in Auckland.[23] Bennett has joked that the team was paid in Whoppers.[23] He then joined the North Harbour Vikings, became its star player, and in his second year there he became a dual-role player and head coach.[24] He completed his playing career as a two-time New Zealand NBL All-Star Five honoree and a two-time Keith Carr Trophy winner for being the league's Most Outstanding Guard both years.[25]

In 1998, Bennett continued as head coach of the North Harbour Vikings but retired early as a player. His time there taught him he was able to coach without the anxiety he had seen his father experience coaching back in Wisconsin, and convinced him that he could undertake the stressful life of a coach while maintaining his integrity and peace of mind.[19] After the 1999 season, he returned to the U.S. to become his father's team manager so that they could spend time together.[24] Tony Bennett was then able to get a firsthand experience of Wisconsin's run to the 2000 Final Four as a part of the staff under Dick Bennett.

After his father retired, Bo Ryan retained Bennett on his staff and there he remained until 2003, when Dick Bennett came out of retirement to coach Washington State. After one season as assistant coach, Bennett was designated as his father's successor and promoted to associate head coach.[29]

Bennett coaching Washington State

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[30] set by the team that reached the Championship Game of the 1941 NCAA Tournament.

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.[31] 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[32] and the Naismith College Coach of the Year. He was also named the Rivals.com Coach of the Year.[33]

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.[35] 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.[36][37] 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.[38] Bennett decided to remain loyal to WSU.

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.

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 (held ten years and two days prior to the 2019 Final Four which would be won by a Bennett team) 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.[39]

Bennett then accepted the Virginia offer on March 29 exactly one year, to the day, after turning down the Indiana job.[40]

Bennett was named head coach at Virginia on March 31, 2009.[41] Ritchie McKay, head coach of the Liberty Flames, stepped down to become Bennett's associate head coach before returning to the Flames in 2015.[42] 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 1967–68 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).[43]

Bennett worked from Day 1 to build "a program that lasts" at Virginia.[14] He has found in Charlottesville a knowledgeable fanbase that has really "bought in" on his defense-first mentality and tempo control, and John Paul Jones Arena is regarded as one of the toughest places to play for opposing teams of the ACC.[44][45][46] 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.[47]

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 and current DePaul coach Dave Leitao).[48] 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.[49] It was soon announced that Landesberg and the program mutually parted ways, and he turned pro but went undrafted.[50]

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.

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.

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.[51] 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.

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,[52] as well as runner-up for AP Coach of the Year.[53] 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.[54] Part of his contract negotiations included long-term contract renewals for his staff.[55]

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 still undefeated throughout much of December and January (Kentucky, Virginia, and Duke) the Cavaliers had zero McDonald's All-Americans, whereas the Wildcats and Blue Devils had nine each.[57][58] Other 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); displays of unprecedented dominance for ACC play from any program in the past 50 years.[59] 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.[60] 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.[61]

UVA started the season with impressive wins against eventual national champions Villanova, West Virginia, and California.[62] The number of home-and-away series with programs from other power conferences such as these was virtually unprecedented in the ACC.[62] Bennett was recognized for having one of the most elite offenses in the nation as well as one of the best defenses once more,[63][64] 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."[65] 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.

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.[66] 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.[67] 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.[68] 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.

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.[70] UVA was ranked after winning the NIT Season Tip-Off.[71] They defeated No. 12 North Carolina 61–49 to continue a home streak of 5–0 against the Heels since 2013.[72] 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.[73] 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."[74] UVA attained its first AP No. 1 ranking since 1982.[75] With a 66–37 victory at Pitt, Virginia won its third outright regular season title in five years.[76] 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.[77] The New York Daily News changed their pick from Virginia winning the national title to losing in the Sweet Sixteen after the injury.[78] 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.[79][80] Bennett's even-keeled reaction was featured in Inc. magazine as a lesson in emotional intelligence and leadership.[16] For defying rebuilding expectations to finish 31–3, Bennett won a third Henry Iba Award.[81]

Also see 2019: National Champions 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.[83] Virginia started the season 16–0 before falling at No. 1 Duke, 72–70.[84] 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.[85][84] After a 16–2 ACC record, Virginia won a share of their fourth ACC regular season title in the past six years.[86] 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.[lower-alpha 2][87] 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.[88][89] 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.[90][91] 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.[92] 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."[93] 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.[94] 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.[47] In light of the previous year's loss to UMBC, ESPN called Virginia's championship run "the most redemptive season in the history of college basketball," and NBC Sports took it a step further by calling it "the greatest redemption story in the history of sports."[82][95] 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.[96] 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.[15]

The Athletic named Bennett their College Basketball Person of the Year for 2019 in an article titled "Tony Bennett: Humility and Grace made him a most deserving Champion." The article lauded Coach Bennett's principles of humility (know who we are); passion (do not be lukewarm); unity (do not divide our house); servanthood (make teammates better); and thankfulness (learn from each circumstance).[97] Bennett declined a raise when extending his contract before the season, leading UVA President James Ryan to call him "one of the most selfless people I've ever met."[98] In CBS Sports' pre-season ranking, Matt Norlander wrote that Virginia has arguably "the best coach going in the sport" despite losing the core of the NCAA Championship team to the NBA and "until UVA shows it can take a big step back" … he'll "be ranking the Wahoos in the Top 10 every season."[99] The Cavaliers won the Hall of Fame Tip Off after 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 top ten teams 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 and 11 of their final 12, and had earned the No. 2 seed in the cancelled ACC Tournament. With the NCAA Tournament also being cancelled due to COVID-19, the Cavaliers remained the defending National Champions through 2021. In the last game of their 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.[100] 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.[101] Mamadi Diakite and Braxton Key graduated on an 8-game ACC winning streak without the chance to defend their NCAA title or to play in the unfinished 2020 ACC Tournament.

The only NCAA championship program in history without the opportunity to defend its title the following year (because of COVID-19 cancellations) Bennett's next Virginia team coincidentally opened as an early favorite to win another NCAA title two years out.[102] However, Virginia was surprised 61–60 by unranked San Francisco in their second game,[103] and the vaunted Cavalier defense broke down against No. 1 Gonzaga in a special nationally televised early season game held in Fort Worth, Texas, allowing 60% shooting and 50% three-point shooting in the 98–75 loss.[104] The program faced postponed and cancelled early season games against Wake Forest, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, and NC State due to COVID-19 outbreaks within the UVA and other basketball programs.[105] The team began to live up to the program's defensive heritage by mid-January, when the No. 18 Cavaliers shut down No. 12 Clemson 85–50 on the road, Virginia's largest margin of victory in an ACC game since 2015.[106]

Malcolm Brogdon is the 8th member of the 50–40–90 club (the ultimate standard for shooters[109]) in NBA history. He was named NBA Rookie of the Year in 2017.

Eleven of Bennett's players at Virginia and Washington State have been drafted into the NBA. Three of them have become widely known for their shooting prowess. Malcolm Brogdon is a member of the NBA's exclusive 50–40–90 club for extreme shooters, and Klay Thompson is one of the Splash Brothers of the three-time NBA champion Golden State Warriors. Brooklyn Net Joe Harris led the NBA in three-point shooting between 2017 and 2020, making 44% which was the highest among NBA players with more than 1,000 three-point attempts during that multiyear span; Harris also led the league in 2018–19 and won the Three-Point Contest over Stephen Curry at the 2019 NBA All-Star Game.[110]

⭒ Shayok developed three years under Bennett and then two more under Steve Prohm; Thompson developed one season under Bennett and then two more under Ken Bone.

Undrafted Bennett players to play full-time in the NBA include Aron Baynes of the San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Pistons, and Boston Celtics.

Other Bennett players to play in professional basketball leagues around the globe include Darion Atkins, Marcus Capers, Mustapha Farrakhan Jr., Anthony Gill, Sylven Landesberg, Abe Lodwick, Laurynas Mikalauskas, Jerome Meyinsse, Akil Mitchell, Austin Nichols, London Perrantes, Taylor Rochestie, Jack Salt, Mike Tobey, and Sammy Zeglinski.

Six Virginia Cavaliers have developed under Bennett into winning NCAA All-America honors and/or nationwide defensive player of the year awards.

NABC Defensive Player of the Year

• Malcolm Brogdon, 2016
• De'Andre Hunter, 2019

Lefty Driesell Award

• Darion Atkins, 2015

First Team All-American

• Malcolm Brogdon, 2016

Second Team All-American

• Malcolm Brogdon, 2015

Third Team All-American

• Mike Scott, 2012
• Justin Anderson, 2015
• Kyle Guy, 2018, 2019
• De'Andre Hunter, 2019

The Bennett family has pledged $500,000 to fund a career development program specifically for current and former members of the Virginia basketball program who are beginning or advancing careers away from basketball.[111]

Bennett has a winning record against each of the team's ACC rivals and has drawn praise from rival coaches. Hall of Famer Rick Pitino (1–5 against Bennett) of home-and-away conference rival Louisville said, "there is no such thing as post-play against Virginia"; similarly former Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams (3–7 against Bennett) called Virginia's system "offensively and defensively elite."[28][114]

Bennett is 47–20 in UVA's rivalry games versus Virginia Tech, Louisville, Maryland, and North Carolina.