The Associated Press announced that Virginia’s Tony Bennett was named the AP Coach of the Year after leading the Cavaliers to a 31-3 record and the ACC regular season and tournament titles.
Voting took place before the start of the NCAA tournament, so Virginia’s historic loss to UMBC was not factored in. Fifty of 65 voters put Bennett atop their ballots, followed by Tennessee’s Rick Barnes in second place with five votes. Ohio State’s Chris Holtmann earned four votes, Xavier’s (now Louisville’s) Chris Mack had two, and Chris Beard (Texas Tech), Eric Musselman (Nevada), Nate Oats (Buffalo), and Bruce Pearl (Auburn) each received one vote.