Baylor men’s basketball completed its 2025-26 coaching staff, announcing the addition of Ron Sanchez as associate head coach on Friday morning.
The 29-year coaching veteran joins Scott Drew‘s staff after serving the last two seasons with the Virginia Cavaliers, most recently as interim head coach for the 2024-25 season. Sanchez is the third assistant on Drew’s staff with head-coaching experience, bringing another unique perspective to the bench next season.
“Ron is a tremendous fit for our program, and we are excited to welcome him to Waco,” Drew said. “He has built and coached champions throughout his career in a variety of roles, doing it alongside legendary names like Dick and Tony Bennett. Spending nearly three decades pouring into athletes and helping them reach their dreams, Ron will be a great steward of our Culture of JOY.”
Prior to his season as the interim head coach at Virginia, he spent 11 years with the Hoos as an assistant under the younger Bennett, including four seasons as associate head coach. His first stint ran from 2009-18, as assistant coach from 2009-15, before a promotion to associate head coach prior to the 2015-16 season. He returned as associate head coach in 2023-24, before being named interim head coach prior to the 2024-25 season.
Sanchez has helped coach a top-10 defense in 11 of his 16 seasons as an assistant coach, including six years as a top-5 defense and twice the nation’s top-ranked defensive unit, dating back to 2003-04 at Washington State. UVA had a top-10 nationally-ranked defense in each of his last six seasons as an assistant, including the nation’s No. 1 defense in 2017-18, the final year of his first stint with the Hoos. The first No. 1-ranked defense came in Sanchez’s second year as an assistant at Washington State under Dick Bennett in 2004-05.
From 2018-23, Sanchez served as the head coach at Charlotte, taking the 49ers from 11 wins to 22 wins and a CBI Championship in his final year in the Queen City. The CBI win was Charlotte’s first postseason tournament title and capped one of three seasons with 16-plus wins.
In his first stint at Virginia, he helped the Cavaliers to 212 wins, three ACC regular-season championships, two ACC tournament titles and six NCAA tournament appearances, where the Cavaliers were a No. 1 seed on three occasions. During his final season in Charlottesville, Virginia reached No. 1 for the first time in 35 years en route to a 31-3 record, helping lay the foundation for the program’s first NCAA title the following year in 2019.
Prior to his arrival in Central Virginia, he spent six seasons on the Palouse working for Bennett and his father, Dick, at Washington State. During his stint in the Pacific Northwest, the Cougs made a pair of NCAA appearances, highlighted by a run to the Sweet Sixteen in 2008, part of back-to-back 26-win seasons in 2007 and 2008, which established the school record for wins.
Sanchez began his Division I coaching journey as a volunteer assistant under Mike Davis at Indiana for two seasons. While earning his master’s degree in Bloomington, he helped the Hoosiers make the 2002 Final Four, falling to Maryland in the national championship game.
He began his coaching career in 1998 as an assistant coach at his alma mater, SUNY Oneonta, where he was named State University of New York Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 1996. After two seasons on the bench with the Red Dragons, he became the associate head coach at Delhi College (N.Y.) from 1999-02. Sanchez helped guide Delhi to the Region III championship and a fourth-place finish in the National Junior College Athletic Association Championship Tournament.
Sanchez also brings international experience, serving as an assistant coach for the Dominican Republic National Team, which finished fourth at the FIBA Americas Championship to qualify for the 2014 FIBA World Championships for the first time since 1978.
Sanchez named Associate Head Basketball Coach at Baylor
