Tony Bennett: Virginia’s Dream Come True

By Jerry Ratcliffe

In a time when college basketball has dominated the headlines for all the wrong reasons — shoe company scandals and coaches buying players — Tony Bennett is a breath of fresh air.

The Virginia coach has proven that a national championship can be attained without cheating, without taking shortcuts. College basketball fans should celebrate his achievement of winning and even losing with class.

If Bennett hadn’t already gained most everyone’s respect, along came news Monday — three days after he watched the national championship banner raised in John Paul Jones Arena — that he turned down a significant pay raise for his deeds.

It wasn’t the first time.

After leading UVA to the ACC Tournament championship in 2014 (the program’s first since 1976), Bennett also declined a large pay hike when approached by the school’s administration. I’ll never forget what then-associate AD Jon Oliver said.

“Tony is unreal. We tried to give him more money and he said, ‘No thanks, I have enough,’” Oliver said.

Fast forward to this year and AD Carla Williams met with Bennett after the natty, and with UVA president Jim Ryan’s blessings, attempted to revamp his deal. She heard the same message from her coach.

“I have more than I need,” Bennett said in a press release from the school. “I’m blessed beyond what I deserve.”

Most of the college basketball world couldn’t believe what it was reading.

Even Bennett’s daughter, Anna, was blown away when she learned that her parents, Tony and Laurel, had not only turned down a pay raise, but decided to contribute $500,000 toward a career-development program for present and former Cavaliers players.

Anna tweeted: “holy crap I love my parents,” in reply to a Virginia men’s basketball tweet breaking the news about the Bennetts investing in the program’s future. 

Not only did Bennett reject the raise and contribute, but he requested Williams to take the money and provide more salary for his staff and improvements to the basketball program. Oh, he did agree to the automatic, one-year rollover that extended his contract to seven years into the future.

“This just does not happen in our industry,” Williams said.

It does when your basketball coach is Tony Bennett, who has now done it twice in six years.

On bypassing the money, the coach had this to say.

“Laurel and I are in a great spot, and in the past I’ve had increases in my contract,” Bennett said (it should be noted here that Oliver and then-AD Craig Littlepage made Bennett accept a raise after reaching the ACC title game in 2016).

“We just feel a great peace about where we’re at, all that’s taken place, and how we feel about this athletic department and this community and this school,” Bennett said. “I love being at UVA.”

That’s why I smugly scoff after most every basketball season when high-profile coaching jobs open up around the country and fan bases automatically jump to the conclusion that Tony Bennett is coming to their towns.

Dream on UCLA, Wisconsin, Indiana and others. Dream on ‘cause it ain’t happening.

I’ll tell you why. I remember early on that Oliver told me that if Tony Bennett ever leaves Virginia, it won’t be because of money. One, he’s not about money. He’s not opposed to it, he’s just not greedy and truly lives out his Five Pillars of life. Two, Oliver said, is that as long as Bennett was allowed to do things his way, he was a happy camper.

No truer words were ever said.

“When you find a place that fits you and hopefully you fit, and it aligns with everything that matters, and you’re freed up as a coach to run your program in the way you deem best, to have success, and the administration allows that opportunity, and the fans support you, that’s a special combination,” Bennett said.

“As the saying goes: Don’t mess with happiness. Certainly there have been other opportunities, but I love the college game (Oh yeah, he has been lured by more than a couple of NBA clubs including the New York Knicks). I love what this university stands for, I love how as a staff we’ve been allowed to try to work towards it. It’s a journey. It’s hard. I love being here and continuing to try to build.”

Bennett said that Ryan and Williams graciously made him an offer on a potential contract, but that he already had a good contract. If they could use that money to help the athletic department, other sports programs and coaches, that would be his wish.

Recently, when speaking to the Virginia Basketball Club at the DoubleTree Hotel here in town, Bennett revealed his and Laurel’s plan to pledge the half-million dollar gift to the career-development program, but wasn’t ready to release the information to the general public until this week.

“That’s where our heart is,” Bennett said. “Our donation is all about career development.

“Whether your players play professionally for 15 years, five years or zero years after college, they can still be working on the things that are going to help them out. For a lot of players, when their careers are done, they’re starting over and they say, ‘Coach, can you help us?’ This is a way, without monopolizing a lot of their time, to be actively working on figuring out what it is they want to do and preparing them, giving them opportunities.”

Bennett said that this program may be more significant than what championships and winning might do for the players.

“Whether they know it or not, two-thirds, three-quarters of their life is going to be outside the game,” Bennett said. “It’s going to be in work and providing for their families.”

Yes, Tony Bennett is a breath of fresh air that perhaps will erase some of the stain on the college game until the NCAA can clean things up.

As Carla Williams said, this just does not happen in our industry.

Well, it does if the address is Charlottesville, where Bennett’s Five Pillars are more than just words.