Tony Bennett has been called for just two technical fouls during his tenure as the head basketball coach at Virginia. They were assessed approximately 14 years apart.
The second took place on Saturday as the 21st-ranked Hoos hosted Wake Forest in Charlottesville.
Tony Bennett, perhaps the most mild-mannered personality in college basketball, is famous for his cool, calm and collected demeanor on and off of the court. He rarely loses his cool. He rarely shows his anger.
However, the ACC officiating crew was on the wrong end of one of Bennett’s most passionate moments. They were allowing the Demon Deacon big men to be bullies and lacked consistency in terms of where they drew the line in regard to contact. A lot of ticky-tacky contact was called on one end while many more physical exchanges were allowed to continue without a whistle on the other.
Bennett used an early timeout to dress down each individual official one by one. Play went on.
The 54-year-old’s frustration only continued to boil as the inconsistencies continued. They reached their peak after Virginia was called for something that was not called on Wake Forest. It was not wrong to call a foul on the Cavaliers, but a foul also should have been called on the Demon Deacons.
Bennett did not appreciate the discrepancy.
Even though he was upset, it would be a stretch to call his reaction a “tirade.” The 54-year-old barely left the coaching box and never left the sideline.
COACH CLASSY LOSES HIS COOL IN CHARLOTTESVILLE pic.twitter.com/C6FtOQwsa4
— Crazie Talk (@crazietalker) February 17, 2024
Despite the fairly tame nature of the exchange, Bennett received a technical foul.
It was the second technical foul of his 15 years with Virginia.
His las technical foul took place in March of 2010. Tony Bennett threw his jacket onto the floor while berating officials during the (almost) 14-year-old incident. He did not throw his jacket on Saturday but got T’d up anyway!