By Jerry Ratcliffe

Photos by Jon Golden

When Virginia decided to recognize legendary Coach Tony Bennett by naming the court at John Paul Jones in his honor, his successor had some decisions to make.

The Cavaliers were hosting Miami in a game that would at least temporarily decide second place in the ACC standings, a huge game in that respect. With the Bennett ceremony set to take place 15 minutes before game time, would Coach Ryan Odom participate or keep his team in the locker room?

Should he decide on participating, what tribute could Ryan present to Bennett to celebrate the moment?

Even though it was a huge game and participating in the pre-game ceremony could have been viewed as a distraction to the task at hand, Odom wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

Against advice from Bennett, who suggested Odom keep his team in the locker room to focus on the game, Virginia’s present-day coach was all in. Odom delivered a beautiful oration to a sellout crowd, which included 31 of Bennett’s former players from his 15-year career at UVA.

A lot of thought went into what special gift Odom could present to Bennett other than a win over Miami. 

Odom figured that Bennett likely already had plenty of keepsakes from Virginia’s national championship in 2019, obviously the highlight of his career. Probably had collected photos from that Final Four, the title, clinching the championship net, hugging players, all that stuff.

Then Odom realized he had a bond with Bennett other than the fact that both were Virginia coaches.

“[Bennett] and I share a very common bond,” Odom said after the game. “We were both raised in a coaching family.”

His dad, Dave Odom, had been a longtime assistant at Virginia for Terry Holland and then went on to become a successful head coach at Wake Forest and South Carolina. Bennett’s dad, Dick Bennett, was a successful head coach at some mid-majors before taking Wisconsin to a Final Four, prior to Tony becoming an assistant to Dick at Washington State.

Odom’s brother coached. Bennett’s sister coached. The wives of Dave Odom and Dick Bennett endured.

“Sitting around the dinner table, that’s all you talk about, right?” Ryan Odom said. “When’s the next game? So we certainly share that bond. Now, our fathers have to watch us [coach] and go crazy. I can’t imagine what my dad was doing out there in that game today with all the twists and turns.”

Dave and Lynn Odom attended the game. Tony’s sister, Kathy, was there along with Tony’s wife, Laurel and their children.

“We’re very blessed to have been raised in a basketball family,” Ryan Odom said. “The ball has done tremendous things for our families. At its core, it comes down to this being about a coach and his son, and then it was a coach and his father in that photo.”

Odom had a photo of Dick and Tony Bennett converted into a brilliant painting, presented to the day’s honoree.

“I wanted [Tony] to have that, and hopefully he gives that to his dad and his dad can appreciate that,” Odom said. “And I know his mom will appreciate that because it was a moment [Dick and Tony] shared together.”

Prior to the game, Bennett was joined by 31 of his former players, including the likes of Malcolm Brogdon, Jay Huff, London Perrantes, Joe Harris, Anthony Gill and others, plus family members as Bennett’s signature was revealed in Virginia blue on the court.

Typical of Bennett, a most modest man, he requested that somehow UVA added the names of all his former players, assistant coaches and managers to be embedded upon his signature on the court.

Done.

A beautiful gesture on Bennett’s part and typical Bennett, who never considered any of this about him (see our four videos of the ceremony to hear Bennett’s acceptance speech).

“I was honored to be on the court with [Bennett] at that moment,” Odom said. “He’s what college basketball is all about from a coaching perspective. He was about all the right things. He proved that you could win at the ultimate level and do it with dignity and class and integrity and a ferociousness.”

While 12 of UVA’s present-day players were not here during Bennett’s final season (2023-24), they were appreciative of the moment and had a clear understanding of the coach’s contributions.

“It’s something Coach (Odom) emphasized with us this past summer, to honor the guys that came before us and that we should play for Virginia, not just ourselves,” said Jacari White, one of the heroes of Virginia’s win over Miami after the ceremony. “We want to honor that every day we come to practice and play games. We had a bunch of guys from [the past] that came in this summer and they talked to us.”

Freshman Chance Mallory, who was actually recruited by Bennett and who grew up in Charlottesville, had a clear understanding of what Bennett meant to the city, the university and its fan base.

“It was a blessing to be recruited by him and being a part of all of what he’s done,” Mallory said. “It was cool to look at the court and see all the names written down on there, so it was a great way to end the day.”

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