In what is normally a time of optimism and celebration for the start of college basketball, Tony Bennett instantly deflated the mood last week.
Bennett’s sudden retirement so close to the start of the season shocked everybody— not just because of the announcement, but also because of the timing. Bailing on the University of Virginia before the season opener next month invites criticism, as it should.
Bennett said, “The game and college athletics are not in a healthy spot. I think I was equipped to do the job the old way.”
That quote is honest but also self-serving. It implies that the old way was better. The old way made coaches like him millionaires while denying fair compensation for exploited labor. If you want to argue that the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction, we can have that conservation. NIL (name, image, and likeness) money and the transfer portal have made the sport unstable. However, coaches were the primary beneficiaries of the old way. So don’t shed a tear for Bennett and his brotherhood.
The larger issue is that Bennett has become the latest star coach to tap out.
Since 2021, six national championship coaches have retired: Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Roy Williams, Jay Wright, Tubby Smith, and now Bennett. That is an unprecedented exodus of coaching brain power. Yes, Krzyzewski, Boeheim, Williams, and Smith were well past retirement age as septuagenarians. They all might have called it quits under the best of circumstances.
Wright retired in April 2022 at 60. Bennett is 55. Wright was coming off a Final Four trip. Bennett won the NCAA title in 2019. These were not coaches at struggling programs. Some have speculated that the rapidly evolving athletics environment played a role in Wright walking away. Bennett came right out and said NIL and the transfer portal were factors in his decision.
What is happening in college sports is no different from what happens in many industries. Things change. You can either adapt or do something different. That happens every day in America. The difference here is that the NCAA has stubbornly refused to acknowledge that this is a business. So, the transition to whatever the future is going to look like has been volatile and will continue to be so as long as the NCAA drags its feet on a fair and just model that works for all parties.
In the meantime, some coaching giants are walking out the door perhaps sooner than expected. So, what can we do? Be patient and wait for the next generation of coaches to grow up fast. Not everybody has been scared off. Dan Hurley is going for a three-peat at UConn after declining an offer to be the Los Angeles Lakers coach. Two coaches with multiple national championships — Bill Self and Rick Pitino — are still in the game.
More veteran coaches should see the new college basketball world as an opportunity. The changes have leveled the playing field because all programs have more access to more talent than ever before. The days of solely relying on unproven high schoolers are gone. You can get established players. And unlike football, you don’t need several great players to compete at the highest level. You just need a few.
You’re never going to replace the brain power this sport has lost in recent years. Bennett will be missed because he’s a terrific basketball mind. College will survive but it’s going to take a while and patience for the new star coaches to emerge.
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