Virginia HC Tony Bennett Retiring
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Jeff Borzello: I asked Tony Bennett literally last week why so many people thought he could be the next Jay Wright and suddenly retire out of nowhere.His response, verbatim:
"I gotta call Jay Wright and see what he says, right? I always have said, when you're doing this, you're in this profession, whether you agree how it's going or not, you have to be true to yourself and really look at it and say, who am I? Can I operate how I want and can it be successful enough? And you get to choose if you wanna be a part of it or not.
And when you feel it's time, like Jay did, like Coach K, maybe Saban, it's their choice. And you can sit here and complain and gripe. Or you have a decision to make. Either you try to do it in your way or you get to make that decision.
So I think Jay Wright probably foresaw the where this is going ... It'll be better whenever there's regulations. Is that three to five years away? Who knows? But if it's not -- those are decisions that every man has to make when it's his time."
"I gotta call Jay Wright and see what he says, right? I always have said, when you're doing this, you're in this profession, whether you agree how it's going or not, you have to be true to yourself and really look at it and say, who am I? Can I operate how I want and can it be successful enough? And you get to choose if you wanna be a part of it or not.
And when you feel it's time, like Jay did, like Coach K, maybe Saban, it's their choice. And you can sit here and complain and gripe. Or you have a decision to make. Either you try to do it in your way or you get to make that decision.
So I think Jay Wright probably foresaw the where this is going ... It'll be better whenever there's regulations. Is that three to five years away? Who knows? But if it's not -- those are decisions that every man has to make when it's his time."
Kelsey has gotten real lucky. Don't have to face the machine of elite players of (Cal)no Bennett frustrating style.
All the best coaches are moving on npbody wants to deal with a bunch of teenagers telling you how much money they demand.
All the best coaches are moving on npbody wants to deal with a bunch of teenagers telling you how much money they demand.
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Kelsey is lucky to have a job paying millions.
He's not all that lucky to be inheriting 0 players and a fanbase that's morale is to the floor.
Those top shelf coaches would have just gone to the NBA if they wanted to deal with salaries and egos. They liked toiling at this level having control. Now they are just uber drivers.
Wonder where this will be 10 years from now. Probably pretty much where it is now.
It's gonna be much worse. Part of the proposal for schools paying players is it will be basede on their preceived value. Doesn't take Ray Charles to see how that's gonna turn out...Agents will be having these kids holding out watch and see.
You have it backwards. It's no coincidence that both Calipari and Bennett left. It's because they didn't want to face Pat "MF'n" Kelsey!
The free market will decide their value. Nothing wrong with that. Fans can walk away, they aren’t forced to fan.
Back in the day you might get away with that comment about Ray Charles but c'mon one of his nicknames was "The Genius"
Basically he doesn't like this new NIL and portal era of college basketball. He didn't want to deal with it anymore and lost his passion for it all. Said he's more of an old school coach not cut out for this.
Tony Bennett now talking about the potential need for the collective bargaining, salary cap, transfer regulations, limitations on agent involvement. Mentions mental health concerns for student-athletes. "Maybe I can be an advocate for student-athletes and the coaches."
Well, the NIL and portal era didn't begin during fall break, so me thinks Tony is not being 100% forthcoming.
Any guess is good.
Maybe he wants to be sure his assistant got first crack and held out for that to be the only option. Maybe that works out how he wants if that's it. Or maybe they lose transfers and his assistant struggles and then the job is open.
Or maybe he is just a turd that thinks only of himself. Could be.
Or a scandal cover up.
Or a sick relative not wanting to disclose.
Yep, could be anything. Just probably not what he said it is.
The sports pundits are saying he quit this late to ensure his assistant coach got the job. They said Bennett's dad did something similar back in the day. Also because it was very late for his players to transfer thus giving his assistant a shot to compete even though the players now have a 30 day portal to transfer if they want to or are able to.
Some are saying what Bennett did is "classy" looking out for his AC that way, while other are saying its "selfish" because it puts UVA fans and players in a tough spot.
The opinions do seem to be evenly divided. I'm leaning toward condemning him for leaving his players hanging. They technically have the ability to transfer immediately, but where would they go? I don't keep track of every team, but I doubt there's many open roster spots right now, if any.
This is kind of like a throwback situation to the abuse of power that coaches used to have over players.
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