Tony Bennett retires

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I encourage anyone to leave a situation that is not good for their mental health. They don’t owe me anything and are definitely not “wrong”. Others are allowed to be disappointed but it is not some character flaw. If Scheyer did the same thing I would be disappointed but also know it was for the best- both his and the team’s.
 
Edouble said:
Coach Bennett is not a robot, and honestly, he is cut from a different cloth.

Did the people commenting on this thread actually listen to the press conference?

He felt like he owed it to his team to have one of his staff take over. That he was not the right man for the job... that someone on his staff was the right man for the job.

He went right into the recruiting period, following the end of the 2023-24 season. Again, yeah, he gets paid a lot of money, but he's human. The timing isn't perfect but he didn't know until recently that he is no longer the right coach to lead the program.

Resigning now is in accordance with the culture he has built for Virginia basketball. This is not Duke basketball.
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I would describe all of the above as “loyal” actions to your team, your staff, your employer, and yourself.

I also don’t think those actions are the norm and especially rare for an individual that is involved in big time athletics and has achieved success at the level that Tony Bennett did.

I will reiterate my statement from earlier in the thread that college sports are better when people like Tony Bennett are involved and invested in them. The fact that he (as well as Coach K, Nick Saban, Jay Wright, and Roy Williams, etc.) doesn’t think he is the right person to succeed in the current environment is problematic and should be a warming sign to everyone involved and interested in college sports.
 
DangerDevil said:
I assume that you think we would all be upset and calling Jon a quitter.
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I assumed nothing. Just posing the question to see if bringing today's retirement to our front step would have any impact on how people feel about it.

Personally, I find this discussion interesting in that it's happening to another team's coach and not ours. How does that change the conversation, if at all.

I do have a very vivid memory when Elko left here and the discussion was pretty much about betrayal in some form or another and not much understanding about his desire to fulfill a lifelong goal. I bet the tone of other teams' boards were different than here when he left.
 
NYBri said:
I assumed nothing. Just posing the question to see if bringing today's retirement to our front step to see if that would had any impact on how people feel about it.

Personally, I find this discussion interesting in that it's happening to another team's coach and not ours. How does that change the conversation, if at all.

I do have a very vivid memory when Elko left here and the discussion was pretty much about betrayal in some form or another and not much understanding about his desire to fulfill a lifelong goal. I bet the tone of other teams' boards were different than here when he left.
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I won’t rehash my thoughts on Elko leaving but I think retiring/stepping away is different than leaving for greener pastures in the same field.

With it happening to a different team/fanbase, I think that should make it easier for us to be less emotional and objective about the situation, circumstances, and ramifications.
 
DavidBenAkiva said:
It's a "boss move" in the way a boss would skip out of town after telling his employees to ride out the hurricane and keep the lights on in the shop while you're at it.
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You seem to be the lone person who thinks the worst of him, post after post. Maybe give him a little grace. He realized his heart wasn't in it and there was no point in wasting a whole season with a half-hearted effort. Would it be better to reverse earlier, sure. But I think it would have been worse if he has stuck around but wasn't into it. Many of us sometimes felt pressure to commit to something and then realize you just really didn't want it.

Anyways I have seen nothing bad from Tony, and probably he wanted to stick around to see it through but realized he wasn't being honest to himself.
 
I didn't like Handsome Tony's style of play, or his teams, but I had 100% respect for his accomplishments, the way he went about his business, etc. Some of this is because I found their style boring and brutish. It's mostly because he came in and shortly started to dominate.

He was a major credit to the conference, and it's a major blow to the conference that he's gone.

Is he a Naismith Hall of Famer?
 
Phredd3 said:
I don't recall too many celebrations when Jalen Johnson quit on his team. I also don't seem to recall too many celebrations when half the F$U football team quit on their team before the bowl game last year. Heck, I'm essentially saying that I'd be happy if Bennett literally just respected the transfer window. Doesn't seem like too big an ask.
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The reason matters. When Andre Dawkins left the team, did anyone accuse him of “quitting” on his team?

I think the divide here is not between those who are bothered by his coaching style and those who aren’t. It’s those who empathize with his reason and those who don’t . Those who aren’t bothered by the current NCAACB landscape and those who are.
 
Ian said:
The reason matters. When Andre Dawkins left the team, did anyone accuse him of “quitting” on his team?

I think the divide here is not between those who are bothered by his coaching style and those who aren’t. It’s those who empathize with his reason and those who don’t . Those who aren’t bothered by the current NCAACB landscape and those who are.
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As one of the major critics of this decision, I'll reiterate that it wasn't about the reasons for me. It was about the timing. I'd have supported the decision if he announced he will retire effective April. To do it now has rubbed me the wrong way.
 
bluedevilwildcats said:
Yeah, not the right thing to do in this situation. I imagine most of us have had jobs where our heart wasn't in it but we sucked it up until the situation changed or we could leave in a way that didn't massively disrupt the organization and betray the trust our teams had in us.

Sorry to see him go but disappointed and surprised in how he (apparently) handled this.
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I would quit a company I. A heart beat if a better situation came up for me, maybe even retiring. I didn't think like this in myn20s and 30s but seeing companies lay off with no notice and no care changed my mind.

And I still think it is much better he left now than waste a year of young people's life with his heart not into it. And it's not like the system will crumble with the long time assistants being there.

Not to you, but I think we should respect someone who made a very hard decision which IMHO ultimately is better for the team and players.

And it must be really hard to live up to some of the people's morality here. One person can do everything right for 15 years and because he left 3 weeks and not 4 weeks before, he is a horrible person?

Instead of attacking a great coach, we should be upset at the Incompetence of NCAA and legislature who messed up college athletics and pushed our coach and many other great coaches to retire.
 
arnie said:
Can DBR institute a new rule? Any reference to one’s SAT scores or grades requires a scanned copy of the record or transcript along with the post. Kind of like requiring a link on recruiting updates.

Otherwise, I made a 1601 on my combined math and verbal way back in the day.
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Gee, I made 1602 on verbal alone.
 
Matches said:
Sure. And people are allowed to quit their jobs, nothing wrong with that. If you’ve recruited people to come to your school specifically to play for you, though, bailing right before the season starts isn’t great.
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Managers who recruit / hire people to a company quit all the time. And I have been at a job where my heart wasn't into it and it showed. I am glad he left as a new coach will give 100% with a new energy.
 
DavidBenAkiva said:
As one of the major critics of this decision, I'll reiterate that it wasn't about the reasons for me. It was about the timing. I'd have supported the decision if he announced he will retire effective April. To do it now has rubbed me the wrong way.
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I hear what you are saying but the reasons are a factor in the timing.
 
DavidBenAkiva said:
As one of the major critics of this decision, I'll reiterate that it wasn't about the reasons for me. It was about the timing. I'd have supported the decision if he announced he will retire effective April. To do it now has rubbed me the wrong way.
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Yeah, if the issue was the "changing landscape" (portal, NIL, etc.) and not his ability or passion for core coaching functions (practice, scouting, in-game coaching), it's unclear what necessitated an immediate resignation a couple weeks out from the season and not some kind of more organized transition.

That said, none of this is my problem, and I don't feel the need to feel offended on TJ Powers' behalf or defend Bennett's honor. Presumably the people the resignation actually affects are in better position to know how angry at Bennett they should be.
 
DavidBenAkiva said:
As one of the major critics of this decision, I'll reiterate that it wasn't about the reasons for me. It was about the timing. I'd have supported the decision if he announced he will retire effective April. To do it now has rubbed me the wrong way.
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The reasons and the timing are not independent factors. That you don’t see this means you don’t really understand his reasons.
 
azzefkram said:
I hear what you are saying but the reasons are a factor in the timing.
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But he could have addressed those factors by handing off portal stuff, recruiting, NIL, etc to his coaching staff while he got to focus on what he said he loved, coaching, for this final season. And now his staff, who have been extremely loyal to him, have to win this season or else they are all gone next summer. There is a self-centered core to the timing that stinks.
 
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