Why Sanchez? Bennett says he’s faithful, servant-oriented

By Jerry Ratcliffe

So, why Ron Sanchez?

It was obvious to some of us when Sanchez walked away from Charlotte after his best season there, that there was more to it than just returning to the Tony Bennett nest.

When we suggested that perhaps Sanchez made the curious move to possibly become Bennett’s hand-picked successor at Virginia, we were ridiculed by some of the message-board clowns who thought it a preposterous notion.

They even called out myself, Chris Graham, Scott German and Jerry Miller as delusional, that we were absurd for making such a suggestion. It even got dirtier and personal when they questioned our professionalism, suggested that yours truly was “washed up,” should retire and go away.

I speak for all of us when I borrow a phrase from my late friend Jim Valvano and say: “Va fa Napoli, buddy.”

Anyways, back to the point.

Carla Williams revealed after Friday’s press conference that she and Bennett had been discussing a possible exit strategy for three years, and that she completely trusted Bennett’s judgment on naming Sanchez as the program’s interim head coach for 2024-25.

She indicated she will conduct a national search at season’s end, but should Sanchez meet all expectations, all bets are off on that search taking place. Bennett clearly stated it was important to him that one of his assistants replace him, and seemingly the timing of his announcement suggested that he guaranteed this happening by delaying his decision to step down three weeks before the opening game.

Had he announced his retirement at the end of last season, as he noted that he thought about doing, Williams would have most certainly been forced to open up the job nationally and Sanchez could have been left twisting in the wind.

I made it a point to ask Bennett during Friday’s press conference what it was that he liked about Sanchez, and Bennett relished providing the background of their relationship.

For those unknowing, Sanchez served Bennett for three seasons at Washington State and accompanied Bennett to Virginia. This will be Sanchez’ 11th season at UVA, having taken the head-coaching job at Charlotte from 2018-2023.

While with the 49ers, Sanchez won 16 or more games three times, including his best season of 22-14 in 2022-23. When he left at that juncture, it raised suspicion. Why would a guy leave a good program after his most successful season to return as an associate head coach?

Unless the seed had been planted that he would be given an opportunity to replace Bennett when the time came, which is exactly what happened.

I asked Bennett what he liked about Ron Sanchez.

“Ron’s wife, Tara, played for my sister Kathi at Indiana and my sister said, ‘If you ever become a head coach, I got a guy for you. He’s dating one of my players. He’s special,’” Bennett shared.

“So when my father took the Washington State job and Ron came and that relationship was founded, and then Ron got to go away and get head-coaching experience at UNC Charlotte.”

It was clear that Bennett was pushing hard for Sanchez to take over the reins of the program and the Charlotte experiment was to enhance the prospects for his longtime assistant.

“He’s as faithful and a servant-oriented man that I’ve seen,” Bennett said. “I’ve seen him grow in his knowledge of the game. But what I like is he and J-Willy (associate head coach Jason Williford), the whole staff, they carried me through this transition. I think it’s been like three years, is when it started. I like the way they think. They’re younger than me – not that much (Bennett is 55).

“How they relate, how their minds are in this landscape is what’s needed. I just want it to go so well for these guys. I’ll stop there because I’ll probably get choked up.”

Sanchez attended the press conference but left toward the end. He will meet with media via a Zoom press conference sometime next week and then again on Virginia basketball media day prior to the opening of the season.