Emotional Tony Bennett chokes up while revealing the real reason for leaving Virginia HC job: “The hardest thing to say”

Tony Bennett left the college basketball world in shock after the sudden announcement of his retirement as Virginia's men's basketball head coach. Since reports of his decision surfaced last evening, several theories have been floated on the exact reason why he would suddenly retire from college basketball.

During his official announcement in a press conference at John Paul Jones Arena earlier today, Bennett revealed the real reason why he chose to retire with immediate effect.

He mentioned how he used the two key pillars that athletic director Carla Williams mentioned to him — humility and passion — to evaluate himself before making his ultimate decision. (Start at 4:28)

"Humility means know who you are and have sober judgment," said Bennett. "And passion means do not be lukewarm. Be wholehearted in all you do.

"And I think those are the ones that caused me, at this time, to look and have sober judgment about where I was at, and that's probably the thing that choked me up the most. The hardest thing to say is when I looked at myself and I realized I'm no longer the best coach to lead this program in this current environment."

Bennett discussed the absolute level of commitment needed for the job, and that factored into his decision.

"If you're going to do it, you got to be all in. You got to have everything, and if you do it half-hearted, it's not fair to the university and those young men. So, you know, in looking at it, that's what made me step down."

During the press conference, the Cavaliers' athletic director, Carla Williams announced that Associate Head Coach Ron Sanchez will be promoted to Interim Head Coach of the program for the 2024-25 season.

Tony Bennett leaves Virginia as the program's winningest coach

Tony Bennett leaves a lasting legacy at Charlottesville, achieving immense success in his 15-year tenure. He retires as the men's basketball program's winningest coach, tallying a 364-136 record with a winning percentage of 72.8%. His overall career record and winning percentage stand at 433-169 and 71.9% respectively.

Tony Bennett is arguably one of the most decorated coaches in Virginia Cavaliers history.

Bennett led the Cavaliers to its most special moment in program history when they won their only national championship in 2019. He also led them to six ACC regular season titles and two ACC tournaments, along with 10 NCAA Tournament appearances.

Bennett also earned several individual accolades during his tenure, winning the National Coach of the Year thrice and the Naismith College Coach of the Year twice.