Virginia head coach Tony Bennett retired on his own terms and celebrated the beauty of the game by standing on the pillars he used to build a national title contender.Bennett, in jest jabbing at his preferred well-critiqued methodical style of play, said he won’t miss answering questions about pace of play but smiled through emotions in sharing he felt he was no longer the best coach to lead the Cavaliers’ program.”I am so grateful,” the 55-year-old Bennett said at a press conference Friday. “I think about those pillars. Humility and passion. Humility means know who you are and have sober judgment. Passion means do not be lukewarm. Be wholehearted in all you do. I think those are the ones that caused me at this time to look and have sober judgment about where we’re at. That’s probably the thing that choked me up the most. When I looked at myself and realized I’m no longer the best coach to lead the program in this current environment. If you’re going to do it, you’ve got to be all-in. And if you aren’t it’s not fair to the university. To these young men.”Bennett met with players and coaches to share his decision on Thursday.He said he came close to retiring when the season ended. Throughout the offseason and dealing daily with the toll of the relatively new and exploding business side of college athletics, from open transfer windows and NIL demands, Bennett came to terms with stepping aside. He said he was still equipped to do the job “the old way” and clarified he has no problem with student-athletes receiving revenue.”Please don’t mistake me. But the game and college athletics is not in a healthy spot. It’s not, and there needs to be change,” Bennett said. “… It’s going to be closer to a professional model. There needs to be collective bargaining. There has to be a restriction on the salary pool that teams can spend. There has to be transfer regulation restrictions. There has to be some limits on agent involvement with young guys.”And I worry a lot about the mental health of student-athletes as all this stuff comes down.”National championship-winning college coaches Jay Wright (Villanova) and Nick Saban, a seven-time title winner in college football at Alabama, cited the weight of similar off-field factors in their own retirements.Bennett signed a long-term contract extension in June after bringing in what he said was an exciting class of transfers and recruits.He said he came to the final decision during fall break on a trip with his wife, Laurel, to reflect and analyze the past, present and future. He decided he needed to walk away now to give coaches and players time together in scrimmages and practice before the regular season begins the first week of November.He plans to stay connected to Virginia and will “be around” if the university would like him to be there.
