Cougs approve Bennett-to-Bennett transition
PULLMAN – What has long been assumed at Washington State University is now a certainty.
Over the summer WSU gave associate men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett word – in writing – that he will be the next head coach when his father, Dick, decides to retire.
The language is not included in the younger Bennett’s contract for 2005-06, but Athletic Director Jim Sterk has provided the 36-year-old with a letter outlining his future role, with the support of WSU President V. Lane Rawlins.
“I think he deserves it,” Sterk said. “Dick will be the first one to tell you: Tony is building the program. He’s giving Dick the tools as the head coach to be successful.
”(Tony) showed he has great poise. We’ve had him out with people speaking and he just represents us well on all fronts.”
Current head coach Dick Bennett is entering his third season at WSU and retirement remains a strong possibility at the end of this season, although he said he would not make any decisions until after the season is over. Bennett said he took the job in part because it provided a chance to hand things over to his son and now that personal goal will become a reality.
“I’ve tried to do that for my top assistant wherever I’ve been, but this is even better because it’ll be for my son. I will feel like I’ve finished the job I was called to do in coming here,” Bennett said. “We have a stand-up administration. They do what they say and this is proof of it. It’s what I’ve wanted all along and I’ve said that it takes three years to rebuild a program, and it’s going to take the full three years. So whether I return or not, I think we’ll be ready to take off next year (in 2006-07). If it’s Tony’s group, then I think he’ll have a fighting chance.”
The younger Bennett has been the team’s primary recruiter and has also taken a more vocal role in preseason practices this fall.
“I’m just like the relief pitcher in the bullpen keeping my arm warm until they call on me. That’s the role I take,” Tony Bennett said. “It provides great continuity for recruiting, just for the direction of the program.”
WSU did not originally guarantee that Tony Bennett would be the next head coach, even though the likelihood has been acknowledged publicly. Sterk said the improvement displayed in the two years under Dick Bennett and the work done by his son – promoted from assistant to associate head coach after the 2003-04 season – made the formal decision an easy one.
“It became logical and probably the smartest thing I could do to continue with what’s started,” Sterk said. “I obviously knew Dick and his reputation. I did not know Tony and what his skills were. It became obvious after a year or so that this was the right direction. Tony had the skills himself. I told Dick this summer, I said, ‘I hope you realize I’m telling people Tony could be even better than you.’ And he loved it.”
Both Sterk and Tony Bennett emphasized that the decision to put the succession in writing does not guarantee that this upcoming season will be Dick Bennett’s last. His contract runs through the 2007-08 season and Sterk has essentially rolled out the red carpet for the head coach to stay as long as he wants.
That may be easier now that the head coach knows WSU’s post-retirement plan.
Bennett retired from Wisconsin three games into the 2000-01 season. That shocking departure left things in the hands of top assistant Brad Soderberg, who was named interim head coach but then let go at the end of that season.
“I wasn’t happy with the way I left Wisconsin three games into the season,” Dick Bennett said. “It heaped more pressure on my assistant. It was a group that was more my group than it was our group. This team is more our group, this group of guys.”
Or, as Tony said: “I felt the plan coming in here was to try to improve this program and turn it in a good direction. And the natural progression was, whether it was one, two, three, four or five (years) for him, that I would take over. … There’s a chance it could be next year. But, ehhh, you never know.”