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When Tony Bennett does it, you know it’s real.
It’s a little like politics. Much of the country is wondering if Donald Trump is really as dangerous as he seems to be.
The college sports world is wondering if NIL, the transfer portal and having to pay players to get them is going to ruin what we’ve loved to watch for decades.
But some famous college coaches have likely factored the direction of their games into decisions to retire.
Nick Saban said as much when he stepped down from Alabama when it appeared he wasn’t really ready to stop coaching.
Roy Williams said that he just wasn’t the right guy to coach the Tar Heels anymore. We all wondered whether part of that was code for the changes he did not want to go along with.
They speculate even more about former Villanova Coach Jay Wright, who was in his prime with two national championships in the last ten years and more seemingly within his grasp.
For Coach K, it was health and 43 years at Duke more than anything else, but he has since gone public with his opinion that the game and players have changed from what he fell in love with coming out of West Point.
In that context, it’s not shocking that 55-year-old Tony Bennett has suddenly retired at Virginia with his 16th season there about the start. UVa has already confirmed that his decision is not health related. Bennett, whose Cavaliers won the 2019 NCAA championship, has a career record of 433-169.
At the ACC basketball media day recently in Charlotte, he gave a long answer to a question about the state of the game by saying coaches have to decide if they want to keep doing it under the circumstances.
“When you’re in this profession, whether you agree with how it’s going or not, you have to be true to yourself and really look at it and say, who am I?” Bennett told ESPN. “And when you feel it’s time, like Jay did, like Coach K, maybe Saban, it’s their choice. You can sit here and complain or 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 where this is going. It’ll be better when there are regulations. Is that three to five years away? Who knows? Those are decisions every man has to make when it’s his time.”
When Bennett, who became an iconic role model at his school, turns in his whistle and clipboard, he is making a statement that personal relationships with your players aren’t the priority anymore. It is whether the best players want enough money to come more than anything else.
The players deserve to be paid. Coaches have to decide if they still want to be paid.
Featured photo via AP Photo/Chris Carlson.
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Trump is not dangerous, stop with your input in politics
agree!!
You have been making DA, nonpertinent comments for many years. I suppose it’s too late now for you to learn to refrain from saying things that infuriate half of your readership!
It to sad Coach was good
there was no place for your political opinion in this article….you are what’s wrong with our country