Tony Bennett Retirement
- Thread starter PURPLE Book Cat
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they'll probably have an interim this season that's an assistant coach. Hope all is well with Tony Bennett and his family. Never good to retire just weeks before the first game
Yea. Why the hell would he want that job? He has got a good thing going in the southern subarbs of Lake Forest.
Tony Bennett retired weeks before the season was to begin (at age 55) after signing a contract extension in June that had him at UVA thru June of 2030.
He went to some lengths to explain that his decision was based PURELY on the lack of rules and regulations with the NCAA - recruiting and NIL. Essentially "This is going the wrong direction fast and I don't want to be a part of it."
We'll see if thats just his parting shot or if it is really his reasoning.
My guess is that there was an issue related to a player or recruiting where the university didn't have his back (perhaps a disciplinary move for a player that UVA undercut him on, perhaps UVA undercutting him on NIL for a player.. maybe even Tre Singleton.)
It seems like it has to be something pretty significant.
He went to some lengths to explain that his decision was based PURELY on the lack of rules and regulations with the NCAA - recruiting and NIL. Essentially "This is going the wrong direction fast and I don't want to be a part of it."
We'll see if thats just his parting shot or if it is really his reasoning.
My guess is that there was an issue related to a player or recruiting where the university didn't have his back (perhaps a disciplinary move for a player that UVA undercut him on, perhaps UVA undercutting him on NIL for a player.. maybe even Tre Singleton.)
It seems like it has to be something pretty significant.
I had seen speculation that he wanted to ensure an assistant got the job/had a season on his record as opposed to going through a full interview process without a record to give him a shot.
Otherwise doing this weeks before the season makes no sense unless a scandal is brewing, which would seem to be unlikely.
If this really is his reasoning I lost some respect for the man! You don’t bail on kids you recruited, 2 weeks before the season starts. Lame! Wait under the season ends. This sounds like cover for something else.
Meh. Collins is a local kid and is in a good spot now. Hard to see him jumping ship right now especially with Ggarg out of the way.
Didn't Bo Ryan do this to get Gard the job at Wisky?
This is an interesting set of coincidences:
Bennett's retirement follows a similar pattern to two of his mentors. Bennett's father retired from Wisconsin three games into the 2000-01 season, replaced on an interim basis by assistant coach Brad Soderberg, who had been on Bennett's staff at Virginia. Wisconsin ultimately hired Ryan instead of giving Soderberg the job. When Ryan retired from the Badgers, he did it 12 games into the 2015-16 campaign.
And I give him credit for outlining what influenced his decision:
"It's going to be closer to a professional model. There's got to be collective bargaining. There has to be a restriction on the salary pool. There has to be transfer regulation restrictions. There has to be some limits on the agent involvement to these young guys. ... And I worry a lot about the mental health of the student-athletes as all this stuff comes down."
Bennett's retirement follows a similar pattern to two of his mentors. Bennett's father retired from Wisconsin three games into the 2000-01 season, replaced on an interim basis by assistant coach Brad Soderberg, who had been on Bennett's staff at Virginia. Wisconsin ultimately hired Ryan instead of giving Soderberg the job. When Ryan retired from the Badgers, he did it 12 games into the 2015-16 campaign.
And I give him credit for outlining what influenced his decision:
"It's going to be closer to a professional model. There's got to be collective bargaining. There has to be a restriction on the salary pool. There has to be transfer regulation restrictions. There has to be some limits on the agent involvement to these young guys. ... And I worry a lot about the mental health of the student-athletes as all this stuff comes down."
UVA's Bennett cites state of game for retirement
Tony Bennett cited the current environment in college basketball as a reason for his abrupt retirement as Virginia coach.
www.espn.com
Bennett's absolutely right about the state of the game right now, and I'm sure the street agents are having a field day signing up young high school players (and likely some guys already in college). Guys transferring multiple times (Education, LOL, just take a class or two to stay eligible). Basketball is even more susceptible to this than football because of all the off season teams these guys play on.
Yet college basketball and college football is at an all time high in popularity!
Didn't Knight do the same thing at A & M to get his son the job? Or am I remembering wrong?
a) I'm surprised there haven't been more coaches who have jumped due to the current climate. It's the Kevin O'Neill thing. Why do you want to put up with the year-round rigors of the college gig when you can get an NBA job and start working your way up the ladder - especially if you're on the young side and not at a P6 job.
b) I'm also surprised more college programs haven't adopted the GM position to take some of the load off their head coaches. Virginia ... no GM.
c) In my memory, the first head coach to conveniently retire at a time it gives the institution no option except the head coach's choice was Dean Smith. He wanted his longtime guy, Bill Guthridge.
I think Jim Calhoun did the same thing for Kevin Ollie.
b) I'm also surprised more college programs haven't adopted the GM position to take some of the load off their head coaches. Virginia ... no GM.
c) In my memory, the first head coach to conveniently retire at a time it gives the institution no option except the head coach's choice was Dean Smith. He wanted his longtime guy, Bill Guthridge.
I think Jim Calhoun did the same thing for Kevin Ollie.
Yes, I think CC might have had a different view if Gragg was still the AD and engaged in discussions with UVA.
Another reason to be super pleased that Jackson is now our AD. Can’t hurt that Jackson had national championship BB teams on his watch.
They are still great games to watch, and I hope the things that have gotten out of hand can be fixed. Are you okay with all this multiple transferring and paying raw recruits?
Yes. I am all for the players getting whatever they can and being able to move around like any other student. I suspect at some point these raw recruits will be contractually obligated to fulfill stated requirements in order to receive full compensation. There eventually will be some guardrails like most employment agreements.
Would any of these BE ACADEMIC?
In this short paragraph you referred to the same group of individuals as "recruits", "students", "employees" and "players."
In the military, the "recruits" all get paid the same (substandard) wage.
In academia, the "students" pay varying amounts to get educated.
In the working world, "employees" get paid different amounts, but almost always less than the value they generate for their employer.
In the vast majority of the sports world, "players" engage in an activity for fun.
The only way you can merge all these concepts for college sports is to pay all participants equally in something like a "work/study" job.
Since the subject is sort of broached here in this thread re players NIL etc.
How is that NIL money is taxed but scholarship isn’t.
If we get to that point. All out of state kids at places like Michigan cal ucla etc are screwed.
Northwestern. Duke. Stanford won’t be able to compete.
The kid would have to file on their own. Parents would lose an exemption.
The entire system is wacko.
How is that NIL money is taxed but scholarship isn’t.
If we get to that point. All out of state kids at places like Michigan cal ucla etc are screwed.
Northwestern. Duke. Stanford won’t be able to compete.
The kid would have to file on their own. Parents would lose an exemption.
The entire system is wacko.
I doubt that a scandal will be uncovered. TB was disillusioned by NIL and portal issues . He believed he was not the person that UVA needed to succeed in the new environment. One article said it was a decision made jointly by TB and his wife
If you were sitting with multiple millions in the bank at fifty five, faced with a job description completely different from the one you signed up for, loved and were excellent at, why would you feel any great need to work at the new job? Why not take a step back, perhaps coach at a lower Division school or, alternatively, do something completely different like tending bar in the Bahamas?
Maybe he is angling for Secretary of Defense with the next administration.
Seriously, though, there had to be some sort of trigger to cause him to just say "I'm done with this."
Guessing it was a recruiting thing - demands being made by some kid's agent - or maybe just scumbag behavior - that broke Bennett's will to continue.
This makes sense, but bailing on the kids you recruited, and presumably made promises to, two weeks before the season starts is still a low-rent move.
UVA's Bennett cites state of game for retirement
Tony Bennett cited the current environment in college basketball as a reason for his abrupt retirement as Virginia coach.
www.espn.com
Collins’s dad and family and network are all in Chicago.
He will leave for Duke, the NBA, or nothing else. He loves Chicago. Unlike Fitz.
Chris gave a nice half hour talk after the practice yesterday. Talked about the trajectory of the program. Said he is getting a lot of kids to answer his recruiting calls now given the NCAA appearances and the atmosphere in the new arena. Said that the impending deal to give colleges more control over NIL will be good for NU (probably in fighting off the poachers?), but mentioned his use of the transfer portal will be limited. Loss of the covid year may affect ability to get grad transfers so we will see where that takes us next year. I don't think he's looking for another gig, but he acknowledged how tough the challenge of the "New Big Ten" will be. He mentioned that besides Illini and Purdue, NU has the third best record in the Big Ten games the last two years. That is a remarkable achievement to this long time fan.
What is the impending deal to give colleges more control over NIL?
And was the "better for NU" part relative to the current chaos, which is pretty clearly not good for NU.
In other words, are we looking at "The current NIL situation is bad for NU, but there should be a deal that makes it less bad."
I was interested in how emotionally invested he is in the program. Between introducing the players and then later talking and doing the Q&A, he was visibly moved and reigning it in three or four times.
Settlement of the House suit with the NCAA which Chris indicated should be in place by next April.
