Tony Bennett’s retirement illustrates new age in college athletics

Virginia basketball coach Tony Bennett retired on Thursday, just 20 days before the Cavaliers tip off the 2024-25 campaign. At 55 years old, Bennett could have continued coaching for another decade or two, but this is not college basketball as Bennett had previously enjoyed.

His early retirement, like that of Villanova’s Jay Wright before him, speaks volumes. This is a new age of college athletics — one with annual roster turnover, agents, NIL deals and legalized gambling. It’s a far cry from what the sport was a decade ago when the NCAA ran ad campaigns during March Madness telling fans, “Don’t Bet On It.” We’re also far removed from “improper benefits” to players forcing schools to take down championship banners.

Times have changed. It’s not that coaches like Bennett or Wright aren’t capable of adapting, but perhaps it’s that they simply don’t want to. That’s okay. It is no longer the job Bennett signed up for.

“I realized I’m no longer the best coach to lead this program in the current environment,” said Bennett at a Friday news conference. “If you’re going to do it, you’ve got to be all-in. You have to give everything. If you do it half-hearted, it’s not fair to the university and those young men. That’s what made me step away.”