Virginia head men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett added two more National Coach of the Year awards Sunday (April 1).
The National Association of Basketball Coaches selected Bennett as its Division 1 Coach of the Year last night. Earlier Sunday, Bennett was announced as the 2018 Werner Ladder Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year. Bennett won the latter award once previously, when he was head coach at Washington State.
The Cavaliers’ head man previously received two other National Coach of the Year honors this season, from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and the Associated Press.
Coach Bennett guided the Hoos to a 31-3 overall record in 2017/2018, a campaign that included a 17-1 Atlantic Coast Conference regular season record as well as ACC regular season and postseason tournament championships. Virginia earned the No. 1 overall ranking in the 2018 NCAA Tournament and reached No. 1 overall in the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since 1982.
In nine seasons at Virginia, Bennett has led the Cavaliers to three outright ACC regular season championships, two ACC postseason tournament championships, and six NCAA Tournament appearances. UVA, which has now gone to the NCAA Tournament five straight seasons, reached the Sweet 16 in 2014 and the Elite Eight in 2016.
UVA has won 20 games or more in seven straight seasons under Bennett. The Cavaliers, who began 2017/2018 unranked and picked to finish sixth in the ACC, have won 30 or more games in three out of the past five years. The 31 victories this year is a school record.
