Tony Bennett’s Friday retirement announcement was both sudden and shocking, as the college basketball world started spinning as word began to leak out about his decision on Thursday afternoon. Bennett, who led Virginia to the 2019 national title, will leave a massive legacy behind at the UVA program he turned into a powerhouse.
Today, Rivals.com’s Rob Cassidy takes a look forward. Below, Cassidy explores five people that will be massively impacted by Bennett’s decision to step away.
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A four-star center in the 2026 class. Allmond has roughly a year before he makes his college decision, but Bennett’s retirement will still set UVA back in its pursuit of the in-state standout. Bennett and company have already started to court the Richmond-based big man and managed to lay the groundwork for a strong bond before Bennett made the decision to call it quits. Allmond may still end up in Charlottesville when all is said and done, but the program’s new head coach – whether it’s Sanchez or an outsider – will have some ground to make up. Other programs involved with Allmond in the early stages of his process include Tennessee, NC State, Georgetown, Rutgers and Texas A&M.
Mallory is yet to make an official decision on what he’ll do in the wake of Bennett’s sudden retirement, but sources confirmed that there were conversations about that topic taking place as quickly as 9 p.m. on Thursday evening. If the in-state point guard is to back off his pledge to UVA and survey his options, teams such as Virginia Tech, Miami, Clemson and Tennessee could become re-involved, seeing as though each made a play for him before he chose the Cavaliers on Sept. 20.
RON SANCHEZ
Welcome to the show, Ron Sanchez. The coaching veteran left a head coaching position at Charlotte last season to return to UVA, where reprised his previous, 11-year role as a Bennett assistant. He’ll now get a season-long tryout as a high-major head coach and have every opportunity to land the gig on a long-term basis should the program meet or exceed expectations. Virginia was picked to finish fifth in the ACC by the league’s coaches this preseason, and that number suddenly feels like an extremely important bar for Sanchez to meet or clear.
Virginia wasn’t especially likely to land Ward even with Bennett leading the charge, as Michigan State looks like the clear front-runner. Still, the four-star forward is set to announce on Oct. 30 and currently lists UVA as one of his four finalists. With the ‘Hoos now seemingly out of the running, it leaves Michigan State, Kansas State and Maryland as the three programs left standing in his process. The Spartans are the best positioned as things stand, but having one finalist suddenly drop out of the race certainly isn’t bad news for any of the teams involved.
KEVIN WILLARD
The third-year Maryland head coach won't be too sad to see Bennett go, as the Terrapins oftentimes find themselves locked in recruiting battles with UVA based, in part, because the two programs are separated by just 126 miles and wade in similar waters. The most important thing for Willard’s recruiting future is obviously bouncing back from last year’s 16-17 record, but having the championship-winning coach down the road suddenly step away and create uncertainty certainly won’t hurt his cause, especially when it comes to recruiting talent in the hyper-fertile DMV footprint.
