UVA Basketball: Mixed Feelings As Crowd Favorite Exit Staff For NBA’s High Profile Elite

UVA Basketball coach Tony Bennett is looking to fill an opening on his staff, as assistant coach Johnny Carpenter is leaving to join the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies.

“Not an easy goodbye to make … Thank You UVA!” Carpenter shared in an Instagram post on Friday.

A 2013 graduate of UVA, Carpenter was a student manager for Bennett during his undergraduate years and served as a graduate assistant for the women’s basketball team in the 2013-2014 season while pursuing his master’s degree.

He then spent a year as an assistant video coordinator with the Dallas Mavericks under UVA alum Rick Carlisle before returning to UVA in 2015.

Carpenter also had a brief stint in the NBA as a training-camp coach for the Indiana Pacers with Carlisle in the summer of 2022.

He completed his second season as one of Bennett’s five lead assistants this past spring, having previously held the roles of director of player personnel for five years and basketball technology assistant for two. On top of all this, he managed to earn an MBA from the Darden School at UVA, finishing in 2023.