UVA hires Tony Bennett

The ones who were trying to boot Herb Sendek before he ever got settled in Raleigh? The same ones who celebrated his departure?

Yeah ... no surprise there. Too many fans want both wins and a team that resembled And1. Too freaking bad.

 

Exactly. I'm pissed at Bennett, but fuck Cavs fans if they are mad. This guy is a legit, up-and-coming coach who turned around a dogshit basketball program and took them to the Tournament back to back years and then to the NIT this year.

Virginia fans should get over themselves and be happy they got someone as skilled as Bennett. He is a very, very good coach.

 

Ain't that the truth? WSU should have a way to legally enforce contracts.

 

Virginia's people wanted a ridiculous splash hire, a la Rick Barnes or Tubby Smith. Bennett is a great hire, better even than Anthony Grant would have been. Bennett has experience turning around a moribund program in a power conference. Grant has plenty of experience in the SEC, but as an assistant. My only question is in regards to Bennett's recruiting base on this side of the country. But a lot of people said the same thing when Ben Howland went from Northern Arizona to Pittsburgh. Howland was a West Coast guy with West Coast recruiting connections. Then Howland hired an assistant (name escapes me, Ernie something) with great NYC ties and bam, Pitt was on its way to being a power.

As for Ken Bone, he's reached the pinnacle at Portland State. The Vikings play in a 2,000-seat gym (other than a game or two in the Rose Garden) and has made the tournament twice in a league that rarely makes any NCAA noise (Harold Arceneaux ain't walkin' through that door ...). If Wazzu calls, Bone needs to jump.

 

There's no excuse for UVa to be as shitty as they've been the last decade. As others have detailed that place as way too much going for it. The right guy can be very, very successful there for a long time.

 

You gotta know Bennett. He doesn't want to deal with idiot fringe fans like those at Indiana. Virginia makes a ton of sense for him in that it's a sleeping giant but expectations have been driven down and his family gets to live in a great setting in Charlottesville. Very hard to fault him. This is a home run hire for Virginia, and as much as it pains me to say it, the job is big enough for Bennett to make it a long-term destination. Washington State was never going to let him really see what he was capable of. I'm a Coug and it kills me to say it, but most of us knew it was only a matter of time and that it probably would not be long.

On Ken Bone, I'll be interested to see if any nonsense about him having been an assistant at Washington comes up and, along with it, the fear he might blow Pullman for Seattle if LoRo beats it out of town. Romar is entrenched enough in Seattle that I would not expect it to be a legit concern, but Cougar fans are kind of psychotic when it comes to the Huskies.

 

How long are they going to leave up the typo in the second paragraph?

 

Barry Rohrssen was the name of the assistant at Pitt. He's now the head coach at Manhattan.

 

There's something about UVa and Charlottesville that you almost have to experience to appreciate. I think it would be a great place to land.

 

The snotty, popped-collar, very fuckable, college boys? Or the undeserved sense of entitlement almost every white person in that town has?

 

Anybody else find it odd that the only person to go on the record announcing the hiring is Washington State's AD? Or that UVa hasn't said shit on the record, though certainly folks' anonymous sources there have confirmed it?

 

Bennett (St. Mary's version) interviewed and could have had the job but didn't want to come to Corvallis without a guarantee he'd be hired. OSU's AD said no way that's happening, so he didn't come up.

Bone interviewed at the Final Four but didn't get a followup once the Parker Search Group matched up Craig Robinson and OSU. And judging by what's happened - OSU defeated UTEP tonight and leads the CBI championship series 1-0, and has won 17 games after winnin gonly six last year - Robinson has been a brilliant hire.

And any Wahoo who thinks Tony Bennett isn't a slam-dunk hire needs to have their head examined. But as has been said, the arrogance and sense of entitlement at UVa is amazing, eszpecially considering how little any Cav team except lacrosse or men's soccer has accomplished in the last 100 years.

UVa probably has to get the hire Oked through the obligatgory affirmativer afction channels on campus before it can announce the hire. No way Wazzu announces it if it ain't happening. They're bumming at the Coug and the Sports Page tonight, I'll bet.