Bennett at the Barclays Center
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Sport(s) | Basketball |
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Current position | |
Title | Head coach |
Team | Virginia |
Conference | ACC |
Record | 182–77 (.703) |
Annual salary | $2.1 million |
Biographical details | |
Born |
Clintonville, Wisconsin |
June 1, 1969
Playing career | |
1988–1992 | Green Bay |
1992–1995 | Charlotte Hornets |
1996–1997 | North Harbour Vikings |
1997 | Sydney Kings |
Position(s) | Point guard |
Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
1998–1999 | North Harbour Kings |
1999–2003 | Wisconsin (asst.) |
2003–2004 | Washington State (asst.) |
2004–2006 | Washington State (assoc. HC) |
2006–2009 | Washington State |
2009–present | Virginia |
2013 | USA U-19 national team (asst.) |
Head coaching record | |
Overall | 251–110 (.695) |
Tournaments |
NCAA: 9–6 (.600) NIT: 2–2 (.500) |
Accomplishments and honors | |
Championships | |
2× ACC regular season championships (2014, 2015) ACC Tournament championship (2014) |
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Awards | |
2× Henry Iba Award (2007, 2015) Naismith College Coach of the Year (2007) AP National Coach of the Year (2007) 2× ACC Coach of the Year (2014, 2015) Pac-10 Coach of the Year (2007) 2x USBWA District 3 Coach of the Year (2015, 2016) 2× Academic All-American (1991, 1992) Men's Basketball Academic All-American of the Year (1991) Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award (1992) 2× MCC Player of the Year (1991, 1992) |
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Records | |
Tied single-season win records at both Virginia and Washington State | |
Medal record
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Anthony Guy "Tony" Bennett (born June 1, 1969) is the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team since March 31, 2009. Bennett is regarded as the best defensive coach in the NCAA (according to a 2015 CBS Sports survey of opposing coaches) and his motion offense is praised as one of the most efficient and elite. He is a two-time winner of the prestigious Henry Iba Award for the nation's top coach as voted by the USBWA, and has also won the Jim Phelan Award and other National Coach of the Year honors from the AP and Naismith.
Bennett is the only ACC coach to win 16 conference games in consecutive seasons, and one of three in ACC history to enjoy back-to-back 30-win seasons overall. His Cavaliers won ACC regular season titles in 2014 and 2015, won the 2014 ACC Tournament, and reached the Elite Eight of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Bennett shares school records for single-season wins at both Virginia and Washington State, and won six major coaching awards in 2007 to break the Pac-12 record set by legend John Wooden at UCLA in 1972. He was the first coach to defeat all five Hall of Fame coaches active as of the 2014–15 season.
As a player, Bennett ranks first in college basketball history for career three-point field goal accuracy, at 49.7%, peaking at 53.3% in 1990–91. He was awarded the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award in 1992 as the nation's top player under six feet tall, and was simultaneously honored as the nation's Academic All-American of the Year for his academic achievements. Bennett left college as his conference's all-time leader in both points and assists before being drafted 35th overall in the 1992 NBA draft (after briefly being projected as a lottery pick) and playing three years for the Charlotte Hornets and several more in Australia and New Zealand, where he started coaching.