Athletic Director Carla Williams announced Wednesday that Virginia men’s basketball Interim Coach Ron Sanchez will not be returning as head coach next season.
The announcement came roughly three hours after the team’s season-ending loss to Georgia Tech in the second round of the ACC Tournament.
“Ron and the staff provided great stability, guidance and support for the young men on the team and we are thankful for his commitment to U.Va. and the values that are foundational to Virginia men’s basketball,” Williams said in the release.
Sanchez led Virginia to a 15-17 record this year, including an 8-12 mark in ACC play. He began his brief tenure as interim coach Oct. 18, following the abrupt retirement of former Coach Tony Bennett.
Sanchez previously served as an assistant coach under Bennett from 2009-2014 and then as associate head coach from 2015-2018 before departing for Charlotte to serve as its head coach from 2018-2023. He returned to Virginia in 2023, spending one season as an associate head coach prior to Bennett’s retirement.
The Cavaliers finished this season with a losing record for the first time since 2009-10 — and they broke a streak of 13 consecutive winning records in conference play, dating back to 2010-11, among other historic lows. The season-ending loss to Georgia Tech was Virginia’s first loss to the Yellow Jackets in 14 matchups.
Virginia will continue its national search for a next head coach. The Virginian-Pilot reported in February that the athletic department had retained Parker Executive Search to help conduct the search.
Michael Liebermann is a senior associate on the sports desk and formerly served as a sports editor for the 136th term of The Cavalier Daily. He is a fourth-year College student, majoring in English in the literary prose concentration. Michael is from Westfield, N.J., and enjoys writing about men’s soccer, basketball and lacrosse. Outside of The Cavalier Daily, Michael is involved in Men’s Club Soccer and the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity.
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