As Tony Bennett’s way strayed further from the norm, change pushed him away

A few years ago when the NCAA started letting transfers play without sitting out, Tony Bennett polled his former stars who made it in the NBA.

Bennett prided himself on developing players, but it was a process and some guys “had to fight it for it.” Some redshirted. Most had to wait their turn, in some capacity.

If you could transfer without sitting out when you were at Virginia, Bennett asked them, would you have stuck it out?

“It’s funny,” Bennett told me two years ago, as the portal began to change recruiting and college basketball. “They said, to a man, without a doubt, the best thing for my career and why I believe I’ve made it and been very successful in the NBA is when it got tough, I stuck it out. I battled through it. I just kept going hard, even though I had all the doubts. People were telling me you’ve got to get out. And then I came out as more mature, tougher minded. I didn’t shortcut the process.

“But ironically, some of them have said, if this rule were in place, I don’t know if I would have stuck it out. Some said I would have no matter what. Some guys said that would have been a close call. I might have left and that would have been the biggest mistake I could have made.”

Bennett said goodbye to college basketball on Thursday afternoon, abruptly retiring three weeks before the season, and it makes sense when you know how he wanted to win.

There were rumors of this late last season. I had it from enough people — coaches, scouts — that it couldn’t have just been conjecture. It was surprising when Bennett signed an extension through 2030 in June, but contracts hardly matter anymore in college sports. Most Hall of Famers, and Bennett will be one, have deals that allow them to coach as long as they want.

Another high-major coach called me on Thursday night, one who asked last winter if I’d heard the rumor, and said he wasn’t that surprised. “This last recruiting cycle was awful,” he said. So much lying from players and agents — both transfers and high schoolers. So much posturing for more money. There’s fatigue throughout the industry.

The reason I called Bennett two years ago was for a story on the programs that had done the best in developing pros who weren’t five-star recruits. Bennett was excited to talk about his success stories. “This one is in our wheelhouse,” he said.

The results showed why he won so many games. Under my criteria, Virginia was tied for third among the schools that developed non-five-star NBA players who played at least 82 games in the previous 15 years.

Bennett was right at the tail end of one of the best decades in the sport this century. From 2014 to 2023, in addition to winning the 2019 national title, Virginia won the ACC six times. Duke and UNC combined to win four regular season titles in that stretch.

It was almost a point of pride for Bennett that he’d never landed a five-star, and he was still kicking Duke and North Carolina’s butt in the ACC.

“The narrative was they’ll never win because they’re in a league with Duke and Carolina,” Bennett said of when he took the job. “Just don’t go to Virginia. They won’t win. It’s too hard. Well, then we started winning. We won five regular season championships (now six) and two ACC tournaments in the last 10 years. We’ve won the most, and then they said, ‘Well, don’t go to Virginia because you’re gonna really have to defend. They’re gonna play a lot of defense. I don’t know if you’ll be able to get your game to the NBA; they might not play quite as fast as all those teams, so it’s gonna be really hard. You might win now, but you’re not gonna be able to advance your dream of making it to the NBA.’

“And so being able to say: Now, the proof is in the pudding.”

Bennett said this with so much pride. Development is what wins in college basketball. Always has. Always will. And he was one of the best at identifying potential and developing guys into winners and pros. But hardly was it ever immediate success, and it’s getting harder and harder to convince players to be patient.

In the last five years, Bennett had 11 players transfer. Eleven! This is one of the most likable, best talent developers, best coaches in the sport, still operating in his prime.

Maybe Bennett will eventually tell us it was something else. The timing is odd. But it allows for one of his assistants — likely Ron Sanchez, possibly Jason Williford — to get a shot to retain the job. And considering the whispers last season, this is something he’s likely been mulling for a while now.

At 55, Bennett would probably still be coaching in another era.

You can still win and coach and develop like he did. It’s just harder than ever to sustain success without turning over the roster constantly. And when you’ve already won like Bennett won, and you’re financially set for the rest of your life, no one can blame him for wanting to do something else. Jay Wright certainly seems happy calling games.

In a couple of years, we may see another coach step away much sooner than anyone would have ever thought. Veteran coaches have been asking for more of a voice in how college basketball operates, but the NCAA continues to ignore them.

It’s still a fun game to watch. There’s still a lot to love about the job for those still coaching. But this version of college basketball isn’t the one Tony Bennett fell in love with.

(Photo: Amber Searls / USA Today)