Ron Sanchez is a college basketball coach who is the interim head coach for the Cavaliers men's basketball team at the University of Virginia. He was appointed interim head coach in October 2024 following Tony Bennett's surprise retirement.[1]
| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Interim head coach |
| Team | Virginia |
| Conference | ACC |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic |
| Playing career | |
| 1993–1996 | SUNY Oneonta |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1996–1999 | SUNY Oneonta (asst.) |
| 1999–2001 | SUNY Delhi (asst.) |
| 2001–2003 | Indiana (asst.) |
| 2003–2009 | Washington State (asst.) |
| 2009–2018 | Virginia (asst.) |
| 2018–2023 | Charlotte |
| 2023–2024 | Virginia (associate HC) |
| 2024–present | Virginia (interim HC) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 75–78 (.490) |
| Tournaments | 4–0 (CBI) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| CBI (2023) | |
He previously served as the head coach of the men's basketball team at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte from 2018 until he resigned following a 22-14 season to rejoin the University of Virginia as assistant head coach on June 6, 2023.[2][3][4]
Playing career
editSanchez played collegiately at SUNY Oneonta where he was a two-time SUNYAC all-conference selection, and SUNYAC Player of the Year for the 1995-96 season. He was inducted into the Red Dragons' athletic hall of fame in 2007.[5]
Coaching career
editAfter graduation, Sanchez assisted his alma mater for three seasons, before taking an assistant coaching position at SUNY Delhi from 1999 to 2001. While completing his master's degree studies, Sanchez served as a volunteer assistant coach at Indiana under Mike Davis and was on staff during the Hoosiers' national runner-up season in 2002.[6][7]
After Indiana, Sanchez joined Dick Bennett's staff at Washington State as director of basketball operations, and was elevated to assistant coach when Tony Bennett took over the helm of the Cougars, where he was a part of the team's 2007-08 Sweet 16 squad. Sanchez followed Bennett to Virginia, served as assistant coach from 2009 to 2018, and was part of three ACC regular season championship seasons, two ACC tournament championships, and six NCAA tournament teams including an Elite Eight run in the 2016 NCAA tournament.
On March 19, 2018, Sanchez was named the 11th head coach in Charlotte men's basketball history.[2] On June 6, 2023, he resigned after winning the CBI Championship in a 22–14 season and rejoined Bennett's staff at Virginia as associate head coach.[8]
On October 18, 2024, Bennett unexpectedly announced his retirement from UVA and Sanchez was elevated to interim head coach for the season.[1]
Head coaching record
edit| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte 49ers (Conference USA) (2018–2023) | |||||||||
| 2018–19 | Charlotte | 8–21 | 5–13 | 13th | |||||
| 2019–20 | Charlotte | 16–13 | 10–8 | 4th | |||||
| 2020–21 | Charlotte | 9–16 | 5–11 | 11th | |||||
| 2021–22 | Charlotte | 17–14 | 10–8 | 8th | |||||
| 2022–23 | Charlotte | 22–14 | 9–11 | 5th | CBI Champion | ||||
| Charlotte: | 72–78 (.480) | 39–51 (.433) | |||||||
| Virginia Cavaliers[9] (Atlantic Coast Conference) (2024–present) | |||||||||
| 2024–25 | Virginia | 3–0 | 0–0 | ||||||
| Virginia: | 3–0 (1.000) | 0–0 (–) | |||||||
| Total: | 75–78 (.490) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
References
edit- ^ a b Boone, Kyle (October 18, 2024). "Virginia coaching candidates: Ron Sanchez named interim coach for 2024-25, search begins to replace Bennett". cbssports.com. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
- ^ a b "49ers Announce Ron Sanchez as Men's Basketball Coach - Charlotte". Charlotte. 19 March 2018.
- ^ "Charlotte 49ers find next basketball coach on bench of No. 1 NCAA seed".
- ^ "Sanchez resigns at Charlotte to rejoin UVA staff". ESPN.com. 2023-06-06. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
- ^ "Ron Sanchez (2007) - Hall of Fame - SUNY Oneonta". www.oneontaathletics.com.
- ^ "Ron Sanchez Profile - The Washington State University Official Athletic Site". wsucougars.com.
- ^ "Ron Sanchez Bio - VirginiaSports.com - University of Virginia Official Athletics Website - UVA Cavaliers Men's Basketball".
- ^ "Sanchez Returning to Virginia as Associate Head Coach". 6 June 2023.
- ^ "2012–13 Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball media guide, page 43" (PDF). Virginia Athletics. 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2012.