Virginia's Tony Bennett cites state of game for retirement - ESPN

Former Virginia coach Tony Bennett, who officially announced his retirement on Friday morning, pointed to the «current environment» in college sports as one of the driving forces behind his abrupt decision to step down as the Cavaliers' men's basketball coach.

«The hardest thing to say is when I looked at myself and I realized I'm no longer the best coach to lead this program in this current environment,» Bennett said at his retirement press conference. «If you're gonna do it, you gotta be all-in. If you do it half-hearted, it's not fair to the university and those young men. So, in looking at it, that's what made me step down.»

Bennett, 55, has long bemoaned the direction of college athletics and the increased emphasis on the transfer portal and name, image and likeness.

«I think it's right for student-athletes to receive revenue. Please don't mistake me,» he said on Friday. «The game and college athletics is not in a healthy spot. It's not. And there needs to be change and it's not gonna go back. I think I was equipped to do the job here the old way. That's who I am.»

«It's gonna be closer to a professional model,» Bennett continued. «There's gotta be collective bargaining. There has to be a restriction on the salary pool. There has to be transfer regulation restrictions. There has to be some limits on the agent involvement to these young guys… And I worry a lot about the mental health of the student-athletes as all this stuff comes down.»

Bennett said he initially thought about stepping away after the end of the 2023-24 college basketball, but he and his staff immediately began the rebuilding process and Bennett then signed a contract extension in June that would've kept him in Charlottesville until 2030.

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