RICHMOND, Va. -- Many of the Virginia basketball fans who spoke with CBS 6 on Friday said they were still in shock over the sudden retirement of head coach Tony Bennett.
That shock, however, turned to gratitude for what they all called the character and class that Bennett brought during his 15 years in Charlottesville.
They also said that because even at 55 years old, Bennett seemed so young, they assumed the team could expect many more years under his guidance.
"He's leaving it in a good spot, right? He's built this program for 15 years on a system where he can bring kids in, develop them, and, you know, his heart wasn't in it. And it takes a big person like Tony Bennett, who could coach anywhere in the country, to say this team was on loan, and now I have to give it back, because I'm not the right fit for it," Virginia fan Gray Burnette said.
Austin Ford traveled to Minnesota in 2019 with his family and saw Bennett and the Cavaliers win the national title.
"Based on how young I am, I can't remember UVA basketball before Tony Bennett," he said. "This news is pretty shocking to me, and I'm going to have to come to grips that, you know, someone else is going to be the head coach of UVA basketball."
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