Virginia’s Tony Bennett got his start in college coaching working under his father, Dick, at Wisconsin more than a decade ago. Next season, Bennett will finally have a homecoming of sorts.

The Cavaliers will travel to Madison, Wis., on Nov. 28 to play the Badgers as part of the 2012 ACC/Big Ten Challenge, Virginia announced Monday. It will be the first time Tony Bennett has faced Wisconsin since leaving Coach Bo Ryan’s staff in 2003 to join his father at Washington State.

The two programs haven’t met since Wisconsin defeated the Cavaliers in 1999 as part of the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska. A year later, the Badgers made a run to the Final Four during Tony Bennett’s first season as an assistant coach.

After leading Virginia to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007, Virginia Coach Tony Bennett got a reward last month. According to contract terms obtained by The Post through an open-records request, Bennett recently signed a five-year extension that will keep him in Charlottesville through the 2019 season.

The terms of the deal are largely the same from when Bennett inked a five-year contract upon arriving at Virginia from Washington State back in 2009. Bennett did not receive a raise and will continue to make $1.7 million per year. If he is still the Cavaliers coach following the 2014 season, Bennett is also due a $500,000 bonus.

The buyout clause in his contract has also been reset to its original level. If Bennett leaves before 2014, he would owe Virginia $1 million, but that figure would decrease by 15 percent every year after that.

Last season, Bennett led the Cavaliers to a 22-10 record despite a wave of injuries and transfers that left Virginia with just seven scholarship players by the end of the season. The Cavaliers earned a No. 9 seed in the NCAA tournament before losing to Florida in the round of 64.

In recent weeks, Bennett has buttressed the roster by adding South Carolina transfer Anthony Gill, who will have to sit out next season because of NCAA transfer rules. Virginia also picked up a commitment last weekend from Lexington, Ky., shooting guard Taylor Barnette, who became the fifth member of Virginia’s 2012 recruiting class.

Phillip Sims (14) participated in the spring game at Alabama last month. (Michelle Lepianka Carter - Associated Press) This time last year, Virginia Coach Mike London didn’t even know if he had a viable quarterback on the roster. But after the addition of a high profile transfer Wednesday, the Cavaliers might have more quality signal callers than they can handle.

London announced that redshirt freshman quarterback Phillip Sims, a member of Alabama’s national championship team last season, has decided to transfer to Virginia. Considered the No. 2 pro style quarterback in the country by Rivals.com when he came out of Chesapeake, Va., in 2010, Sims never could grab hold of the starting job during his two years under Crimson Tide Coach Nick Saban.

It’s unclear at this point when Sims will become eligible to play for Virginia, but there is a chance he could be available as early as next season. When Sims announced he would be transferring from Alabama, he told reporters it was to be closer to his family, which allows him to apply for a waiver from the NCAA that would give him immediate eligibility.

One of the more compelling story lines associated with Virginia’s late-season surge in 2011 was Coach Mike London’s decision to hand the reins of the offense over to quarterback Michael Rocco and scrap the team’s plans of working in freshman David Watford under center for a set number of plays each game.

Rocco excelled once he became the full-time starter, leading the Cavaliers to four-straight wins that put them in position to win the ACC’s Coastal Division heading into the final week of the regular season and an appearance in a bowl game for the first time since 2007.

But since Rocco and Watford are just one year apart — Rocco is a rising junior; Watford will be a sophomore next year — a nagging question since Virginia lost to Auburn in the Chick-fil-A bowl has been whether London will redshirt Watford this season to allow some more breathing room between the two quarterbacks’ eligibility.

Virginia Coach Mike London has made it known throughout spring practice that he’d like to see the Cavaliers connect on more downfield throws next season.

So it should come as no surprise that the position battles that have been most entertaining for him to watch these past two weeks involve the team’s wide receivers and secondary. It seems whenever the football has been in the air, London can’t help but take heed of the end result.

“I guess everybody sees it because when the ball is thrown down the field, you see wide receivers, DBs going after it,” London said Wednesday during a teleconference. “Sometimes inside, you don’t always see the stuff going on inside, but definitely you’re attention is drawn to the deep balls and the one-on-ones that we have every day with those guys.”

It’s partly because some of Virginia’s most exciting young playmakers also happen to litter the depth chart at those two spots.