Bennett has called it quits at UVA.
Tony Bennett abruptly announced his retirement from coaching at UVA this morning and was frank about his reasons why. You don’t see admissions like this very often:
“I’m no longer the best coach to lead this program. … And if you’re going to do it, you better be all in.”
“There’s still a way in this environment. … But it’s complicated. To admit that I’m not equipped to do this is humbling.”
Two sobering and emotional tidbits from TB.
— Conor O’Neill (@ConorONeill_DI) October 18, 2024
There’s no denying that his program has slipped in the NIL/portal era and he’s clearly realized he doesn’t have the interest or the energy to adjust. And that’s fair. There are a lot of new headaches for coaches to handle.
He could still be successful if he wanted to continue on because he’s a good coach, but I think the portal makes his job more difficult than most, considering how he likes to do things. His system requires a specific mindset and roster continuity to work well—I’m mainly talking about the defense here—and it’s gotten a lot tougher to operate within those constraints.
Say what you will about the appeal of that process, but it did work. Just not so much anymore.