NCAA Basketball: Best head coaching hire from each of last 25 seasons
By Joey Loose
2009: Tony Bennett (Virginia)
We’ve reached another tough one, and it’s so tough that we aren’t even considering Chris Mack (Xavier), Sean Miller (Arizona), or Shaka Smart (VCU), who all made great strides at their schools in the coming years. The highest profile hire back in 2009 was John Calipari ditching Memphis for Kentucky and leading the Wildcats to the national title just three years later, but its Bennett who gets our attention this time around.
A Wisconsin native who played in college for his father, Bennett’s coaching career began as an assistant under his dad at Wisconsin and Washington State before taking the top job for the Cougars himself in 2006. In his second year in Pullman, he led Washington State to the Sweet Sixteen in what remains their most recent trip to the NCAA Tournament, departing one season later for the Virginia job.
Bennett’s work these last fourteen years at Virginia has been nothing short of incredible. While the Cavaliers might not have the consistent postseason success, he led the program to its first national championship in 2019. Virginia has won six ACC regular season titles, which is pretty nuts considering the programs in this conference these days while winning a boatload of games over the past decade. Virginia isn’t supposed to win this many games, but don’t tell Bennett that.