Tony his own man, but still in father’s debt

You’ve been promised a job, a good one. OK, well, a good one if you thrive on challenge and adrenaline. The pay is handsome, too. And there’s only one thing that has to happen before you get it.

Your father has to give it up.

Now, because it’s your profession, you have come to appreciate and value those who practice it well and with passion. With precision. With gravitas. The ones who elevate the calling just with their participation. You rue their departure because this thing you do is poorer for it.

That’s a pretty faithful limning of your father. Who has to give up his job for you to get it.

Tony Bennett inherited the family store of coaching basketball at Washington State University on Tuesday, an inevitability – no matter what the athletic director says – once his father, Dick, was fitted for a hair shirt in crimson and gray three years ago. The lack of suspense has done nothing to dampen the thrill of the mere opportunity for the younger Bennett, but the mixed emotions were no less predictable.

Not just that Bennett and Son would no longer be doing business in a couple of weeks, but that the profession will take a hit in the decency and devotion departments because of it.

“I just think it’s going to be sad to see him go,” Tony said.

The illustrating anecdote here is not necessarily the stewing Dick Bennett may have done over the proper time to leave Wazzu, but what roped him back into this rodeo to begin with.

You’ll remember he retired three games into the 2001 season at Wisconsin, emotionally fried after a trip to the previous Final Four and all that it took – over the course of eight years – to get there.

“But he was never fully comfortable with how he finished there,” Tony recalled. “He was going to retire at the end (of the 2000 season) and I knew his tank was on ‘E’ at the time, but he kind of got caught up in the Final Four and all the kids that were returning so he came back. And then when he realized he needed to step away, the timing and how it felt bothered him. He cares about the right thing.

“Now, that’s not the only reason he took the job here. He wanted to take a long-suffering program and make it competitive again and I think he’s done that.”

That is Dick Bennett’s cigarette habit. Well-chronicled stops at the three Wisconsin schools – Stevens Point, Green Bay and Madison – established the pattern. It will be fun to discover Tony’s vices in due time.

“I don’t think I’ll go with the sweater vest and stool,” he laughed.

He did get a suggestion from WSU women’s coach Sherri Murrell.

“Invest in some anti-aging lotion,” she offered, “because, man, being a head coach at Wazzu, it puts lines on your face.”

Well, yes. The biggest favor Dick Bennett may have done his son isn’t necessarily taking the Cougars job and greasing this succession, but hanging around for this season, when the mission has suffered its hardest knocks.

Or maybe the biggest favor is simply the example set.

Yes, Tony was within earshot when Dad bemoaned after a game that it may have been “time I be put out to pasture,” which is not the grim resolve we come to expect from our coaches but surely a more human kind.

“Anyway, he used to say the same kinds of things when I played for him,” Tony said, “and that was 15 years ago.

“But one of the greatest things I’ll take from my dad is that when he felt he made a mistake or stepped over a line or went after a kid too hard, he was the first to call the kid and say, ‘Forgive me,’ to say he made an error. For all his credentials and his stature in the game, he could say, ‘I made a mistake.’ And people see that as genuine.

“I certainly don’t think the game has passed him by.”

But probably the required emotional investment has. Dad pronounced himself “starved” to experience the excitement again of college basketball’s postseason – even if it was only the NIT – but couldn’t reconcile the down payment of another year of struggle that a younger voice can.

And speaking of that, a question from the gallery Tuesday – from a wiseacre current Coug – demanded of Tony Bennett, “Are you gong to be as mean as your dad?”

It got a laugh, but no definitive answer. Comparisons will be inevitable, and just as pointless.

“I look at it this way,” Tony said. “If they criticize my coaching, they’re complimenting the family name. Sure, it’s a little daunting, but it’s not an issue – being better than him, or different. It’s about making the program better, taking it another step. There are no guarantees about that, but I’m not going to worry about what people will say.

“And I’m certainly not going to deny the influence.”

Few do. In his book, Pat Riley acknowledges a debt to Bennett, and others have echoed it.

“I didn’t realize the impact he’s had on the game and people,” Tony said.

So his son won’t refrain from soliciting advice and counsel. Dick and his wife Anne will likely remain in Pullman for a year, much to Tony’s pleasure – though the seating arrangements at games have yet to be determined.

“I know he’s not going to clear his throat every time we give up a basket,” Tony said. “He’ll be a silent partner.”

Family businesses do have those, right?