Now that the roster of Virginia has been examined, it is time to take a look at the Cavaliers’ head coach, Tony Bennett, as Texas Tech and head coach Chris Beard get set to face him and his team tomorrow at 8:20 p.m. with the whole country watching.

Bennett has been with Virginia since the 2009-10 season but started off his coaching career with Washington State for the 2006-07 season. That year, Washington State went 26-8 and finished its season in the NCAA Tournament. Bennett’s team got into the tournament a second time in the 2007-08 season but Bennett’s run with Washington State ended after a 17-16 2008-09 season.

Thus, Bennett went to Virginia the following year. For his first two years, the Cavaliers were a quiet team going 15-16 in 2009-10 and 16-15 in 2010-11 with no NCAA Tournament appearances. That streak broke in the 2011-12 season when Virginia went 22-10 that year but lost to Florida, 71-45, in the first round. Virginia would not return to the tournament until the 2013-14 season when they were also crowned the ACC regular season and conference tournament champions. The Cavaliers also finished in the top three in the Associated Press poll after starting at No. 24. That year, Virginia was 30-7. Virginia went to the Sweet 16 but lost to Michigan State, 61-59.

Since then, Bennett’s Cavaliers have been in every NCAA Tournament. For the 2014-15 season, Virginia was again crowned the ACC regular season champions, and went to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament but was again kicked out by Michigan State. Virginia’s 2015-16 tournament run fared better, however, as they went all the way to the Elite Eight before falling to Syracuse, 68-62. The following year, Virginia had another run-in with Florida in the tournament and the Gators were able to keep the Cavaliers from scoring 40 in that game with a hard loss.

However, it was the 2017-18 NCAA Tournament where Virginia made headlines for all the wrong reasons as Bennett’s team was defeated by 16-seeded Maryland-Baltimore County, the first time in history that a 16-seeded team defeated a 1-seeded team.

In this year’s tournament, Bennett’s Virginia team went on a revenge path, knocking out Gardner-Webb, Oklahoma, Oregon, Purdue and Auburn to get to the National Championship making it a 34-3 season so far.

For Bennett, he currently holds a 322-122 career record with a 69-33 record at Washington State and a 253-89 record at Virginia. Bennett is 15-8 in the NCAA Tournament and this year marked the first time he has been to the Final Four and also the National Championship. He also received three National Coach of the Year awards (U.S. Basketball Writers Association Henry Iba National Coach of the Year, ACC Coach of the Year and USBWA National Coach of the Year again).

It is no secret that Virginia has a good defense, and it has not been the first time. In the 2014-18 seasons, Bennett’s Virginia team has had the best scoring defense in the country.

Before coaching, Bennett was a player himself as he played for Green Bay from 1988-1992. He received two Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Year awards. Over his career, he had a 52.8 field goal percentage, a 49.7 three-point percentage and an 84 free throw percentage. He also averaged 19.4 points per game over his career and 5.1 assists. Bennett played in the 1990-91 NCAA Tournament as a player but his team lost to Michigan State. In that game, he had a 25 field goal percentage and a 42.9 three-point percentage while scoring nine points. He finished the game with 10 assists and one steal.

Bennett was then drafted by Charlotte Hornets in the 1992 NBA Draft as the 35th overall pick. He then spent three seasons with the Hornets.