Tony Bennett (basketball)

Tony Bennett
Bennett (center) confers with assistant coaches during a Cal-WSU game on February 7, 2009
Sport(s)	Basketball
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Virginia
Biographical details
Born	June 1, 1969 (1969-06-01)
Place of birth	Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
Playing career
1988-1992 1992–1995	Wisconsin–Green Bay Charlotte Hornets
Position(s)	Point guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1999–2003 2003–2006 2006–2009 2009–present	Wisconsin (asst.) Washington State (asst.) Washington State Virginia
Accomplishments and honors
Awards
Naismith College Coach of the Year (2007) Henry Iba Award (2007) AP Men's Basketball Coach of the Year (2007) Rivals.com National Coach of the Year (2007)

Medal record
Men's basketball
Competitor for United States
Pan American Games
Bronze	1991 Havana	Team competition

Anthony "Tony" Guy Bennett (born June 1, 1969 in Green Bay, Wisconsin) is an American college basketball coach and current head coach for the University of Virginia Cavaliers men's team. Previously, he played professionally for the NBA's Charlotte Hornets and was later head coach at Washington State University. As a player, he ranks first all-time in NCAA career three-point field goal accuracy, at 49.7%. He is the son of former coach Dick Bennett and brother of women's head coach Kathi Bennett.

As a coach, he was awarded the Henry Iba Award and was honored as AP National Coach of the Year and Naismith College Coach of the Year in 2007. As a player, he won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award in 1992.

Biography

Playing career

College

Bennett's retired UWGB jersey

Bennett, a point guard, played for his father Dick Bennett at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay (UWGB) following his high school career at Preble High School. While there, the Bennetts led the Phoenix to an NCAA Tournament berth and two appearances in the NIT. During his time there, the Phoenix had record of 87–34 (.719) en route to Bennett being named conference player of the year twice. He won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award given to the nation's most outstanding senior under six feet tall and was named the 1992 GTE Academic All-American of the year. He also started for a bronze-medal winning 1991 Pan-American Games team led by Gene Keady. He finished his collegiate career as the Mid-Continent Conference's all-time leader in points (2,285) and assists (601). He still ranks as the NCAA's all-time leader in 3-point percentage (.497).

Professional

Bennett went on to be picked 35th overall in the 1992 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets. He spent three seasons (1992–1995) with the Hornets before a foot injury abruptly ended his NBA career. He briefly attempted a comeback and played 10 games for the Sydney Kings in Australia's National Basketball League season in 1997.

Coaching career

Washington State

Bennett began his college coaching career at the University of Wisconsin as a member of his father's staff. After his father retired, Bo Ryan retained Bennett on his staff. Bennett would remain with the Badgers until 2003, when his father came out of retirement to coach Washington State. Bennett was designated as his father's successor, and he inherited the position of head coach at Washington State University when his father retired after the 2005–06 NCAA season.

His 26 wins in both the 2006–07 and 2007–08 seasons each tied the Washington State school record set by the 1940–41 team that lost in the championship game of that year's NCAA tournament.

2006–07 season

Tony Bennett led the 2006–07 Cougar basketball team to a 26–8 (13–5 Pac-10, second place) record and the second round of the NCAA tournament. The Cougars earned a #3 seed and defeated Oral Roberts in the opening round before falling to Vanderbilt in double overtime in the 2nd round. Bennett tied the WSU school record for wins. The NCAA tournament appearance was the first for the Cougars since 1994.

After the 2006–07 season, Bennett was named the AP college basketball Coach of the Year and the Naismith College Coach of the Year. He also won the Henry Iba Award by vote of the United States Basketball Writers Association, and was named the Rivals.com Coach of the Year.

2007–08 season

During the 2007–08 basketball season, Tony Bennett finished with a 26–9 record (11–7 in the Pac-10). He also went on to lead the Cougars to the Sweet Sixteen after beating Winthrop in the first round and Notre Dame in the second. After losing to North Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen, Bennett's team had tied the school record for wins, with 26, for the second consecutive season.

2008–09 season

Having lost several key players to graduation the year before, Tony Bennett finished the 2008-09 basketball season with a 17-16 record (8-10 in the Pac-10). His team missed the NCAA Tournament, but qualified for the NIT as a #7 seed, losing to #2 seed St. Mary's in the first round.

Virginia

Bennett was named head coach at Virginia on March 31, 2009. His team began coming together later the same day, as Ritchie McKay, then head coach of the Liberty Flames, stepped down from his position to become Bennett's associate head coach. The Cavaliers got off to a 5–2 start in Atlantic Coast Conference play, and 12–3 overall, but dropped their next 11 conference games and finished the season 15–16 (5–11 in the ACC).

Head coaching record

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Washington State (Pacific-10 Conference) (2006–2009)
2006–2007	Washington State	26–8	13–5	2nd	NCAA 2nd Round
2007–2008	Washington State	26–9	11–7	3rd	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2008–2009	Washington State	17–16	8–10	7th	NIT 1st Round
Washington State:		69–33	32–22
Virginia (Atlantic Coast Conference) (2009–present)
2009–2010	Virginia	15–16	5–11	T–9th
2010–2011	Virginia	16–15	7–9	T–7th
2011–2012	Virginia	17–3	4–2
Virginia:		48–34	16–22
Total:		117–67
National champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference tournament champion       Conference regular season & conference tournament champion       Conference division champion

External links

• Tony Bennett's Biography VirginiaSports.com
• Tony Bennett's Biography WSUCougars.com
• NBA/College career playing stats [1]