CHARLOTTESVILLE – Tony Bennett’s contract as Virginia’s basketball coach expires after the 2025-26 season, but school officials don’t believe his landmark tenure will end anytime soon.
A university source confirmed the school is hopeful it will have a new, long-term extension in place with Bennett in short order.
While fringe media in recent months has made much ado about Bennett’s contract status, multiple sources told the Richmond Times-Dispatch, it’s much ado about nothing.
Virginia is beyond satisfied with the performance of the coach who led it to the 2019 national championship, while Bennett is happy in Charlottesville and not someone who spends much if any time thinking about his contract, according to sources close to both.
When asked about his contract at ACC spring meetings in Amelia Island last month, Bennett told Times-Dispatch columnist David Teel he had no concerns, has an extension offer and was very engaged talking about the program’s future.
In fact, Bennett said he wasn’t even aware when his current deal expires.
Bennett’s current contract ends after the 2025-26 season, following an extension he signed in 2019, shortly after winning the national championship. That deal ran through 2024-25 with an automatic one-year extension in 2020. At that point, Bennett declined a pay raise in favor of getting additional funding for his assistant coaches.
Bennett has built one of the ACC’s most consistent winners since taking over in Charlottesville in 2009. After finishing one game under .500 in his first season, he’s posted 14 straight winning records, 13 straight winning years in conference play and 12 20-win campaigns. Four times he’s guided UVa to 30-win seasons.
In all, Bennett – who coached Washington State for three seasons before taking the UVa job in 2009 – is 364-136 in his 15 seasons leading the Cavaliers, with 10 NCAA tournament appearances.
Virginia finished third in the ACC this past season, but lost in the First Four of the NCAA tournament in Dayton, Ohio to Colorado State. The Cavaliers haven’t won an NCAA tournament game since the 2019 championship. They lost in the first round in 2021 and 2023 and played in the NIT in 2022.
This offseason, Virginia has added another transfer portal haul that will be leaned on heavily in the coming year, including Duke forward T.J. Power, Kansas State point guard Dai Dai Adams, Florida State combo guard Jalen Warley and San Diego State wing Elijah Saunders, and Vanderbilt forward Carter Lang, who will be a walk-on.
That group must replace senior point guard Reece Beekman and sophomore forward Ryan Dunn, who both declared for the NBA draft, and forwards Jordan Minor and Jake Groves, graduate transfers who expended their college eligibility.
