Huckleberries Online

WSU’s Tony Bennett Going To Virginia

Posted by DFO

March 30, 2009 2:33 p.m. • 21 comments

Tony Bennett, who led Washington State to its first appearance in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament in 2008, will be named head coach at Virginia. Washington State director of athletics Jim Sterk confirmed that Bennett has accepted the head-coaching position at Virginia on Tuesday. “Dick and Tony Bennett have elevated the men’s basketball program at Washington State to an unprecedented level of success,” Sterk said in a statement released by the university. “We will begin a national search for a coach immediately with the goal of finding someone with the integrity, experience, and values that Dick and Tony brought to the program”/ESPN. More here.

Question: Are you surprised that successful WSU basketball coach Tony Bennett is moving on?

21 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Leo_Z on March 30 at 2:39 p.m.
A bit. He said he wanted to raise his kids here.
BrandonHansen on March 30 at 2:44 p.m.
Should of waited a little bit longer… the Memphis job would have been open.

Brandon Hansen
Just South of North
www.justsouthofnorth.com
Cabbage Boy on March 30 at 2:58 p.m.
To me it is more of an indication of how average a coach Mark Few is. The zags get by on good recruiting and talent, but fail miserably when they need a game plan.
Cabbage Boy on March 30 at 2:59 p.m.
And to tie in the thread, my thought was why hasn’t Few gotten offers “he couldn’t refuse”?
ECoug01 on March 30 at 3:21 p.m.
Tony has A-rodded us..

I am so pissed. Don’t tell us how much you love pullman, want to build a program, raise kids and have no desire to leave, sign an extension for 1 million bucks in pullman (which is equivalent to 2 mill in seattle at least) and then drop us a year later. If you are going to hit the road do it last year when I was prepared you would probably use WSU as a stepping stone to bigger schools. No more WSU legend in the works, no more hall of fame.

Someone tell him to call Mike Price! I know what his advice will be. Thats why guys like price and walden are true cougs..

Virgina? I could understand for a big time school but come on.

He will be killed in the ACC.

I will say thank you for the great job with the program. Won’t take that away from you but will not love you like we could have.
hmoffsuite on March 30 at 3:29 p.m.
I’m rather surprised by this but can fully understand a guy wanting a career move. Thought like Coug01 that the big decision year was last year. Thought he had made a longer term commitment to the Cougs. One good thing, tho. He increased the interest level in the Coug program considerably and sort of put the school on the map. Also, he will be leaving great young kids that he had attracted. Now, lets hope he doesn’t take the best to Virginia with him. :~)
jazzyvandal on March 30 at 4:44 p.m.
I am kinda surprised. I thought he’d stick around longer. I thought Mark Few would be the first of the two to leave the area.
DFO on March 30 at 4:52 p.m.
I don’t agree with Coug01. Tony Bennett and his father resurrected Cougar basketball in the five or so years they were at WSU. I was pleasantly surprised when Bennett Jr. didn’t take the money and run last year. By staying an extra year, he helped the Cougars through a transitional down-year period and even produced another postseason appearance. He leaves behind a young but talented team that the right coach will be able to produce more wins. It’s simply unreasonable for fans to believe that Bennett would continue to pass up prime openings in NCAA basketball.
Nick_Adams on March 30 at 5:50 p.m.
Good for Tony. It’s too bad to see him leave WSU, but I wish him the best at Virginia. His success has made it much easier (hopefully) for WSU to find another solid coach who can continue to strengthen the program.

As for CB’s weird criticism of Few, last I checked, Gonzaga made it to the Sweet 16 this year with a team that was fairly inconsistent. What “game plan” could’ve Few put together that would’ve stopped UNC? Sometimes, no matter what the game plan, you need some breaks against superior teams (and coaching). Gonzaga just didn’t get any against UNC.

Also, UVA, while certainly in a much higher-profile “power” conference, wouldn’t be as much a step up for Few as it is for Bennett. Gonzaga is a consistent top 15 team, Virginia is nowhere close to that level of performance—at least recently.
JamesBond on March 30 at 9:46 p.m.
I’m always puzzled when people wonder why a good head coach won’t stay for very long in the Palouse.
JohnA on March 30 at 10:33 p.m.
Tony Bennett is the next in the line of father-son combos to fail (see Bob Knight and son). His father recruited and built the program. Tony failed to bring in new talent and saw the cupboard was bare. So, he left while the leaving was good.

Not surprising. If he makes it four years at Virginia before being fired, that will be surprising.

« Back to Huckleberries Online

You must be logged in to post comments.
Please create a profile or log in here.

About this blog

D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.