That felt like the longest 5.9 seconds ever. The fact they got the ball back like 3/4 court and he made a perfect pass to the only guy with a legit shot is crazy and he made it.
Making 3.6M a year. At a school where he was basically untouchable.
Anybody on that roster worth calling to walk on? What about TJ Power, he have any upside?
I still think he can coach the pro game if interested.
Exactly. He knew this back in March when he could have hung it up right after their season was over and given them time to plan and hire a new coach.
Is it just me, or, do some of you think dealing with NIL/Collectives is becoming a headache that some just don't want to deal with??
I had hoped UK would get involved with Power after heleft Duke.
And among those 6, I would say two of them are unlikely to be in contention to win again (Izzo and RP), I have my doubts about Cal, and if Drew stays at Baylor the rest of his career maybe he gets another but I wouldn't count on it. Pretty wide open CBB landscape right now, especially considering all the other changes.
Not to speak ill of the dead, but he was becoming unhinged long before this and it would have made him go even further off the rails.
Yeah I have a feeling you won't see many people call Bennett out for this bc he's so well liked, but if it were almost any other coach at a middling P4 school I believe this would be criticized.
Kind of a crappy move, just dumped all over those kids who came to play for him, plus screwed the University. What will his appointed replacement do if all those kids pack their bags and leave right before the season.
I lived in Charlottesville for a decade. He's about as well loved by his people than just about any person in sports. I've met him a couple times. Dude is an absolute first class human. I never heard even the slightest negative thing about him. He wouldn't do this without a good reason.
Agree with you 100%. That being said. Why did he sign the extension? Why did he not just quit after his latest flameout due to being offensively challenged as a coach and failing to adapt? He shouldn't have had his staff go out and get transfers or recruits either. He admitted this morning that he was lying since he knew he was thinking of this last year. So he's a liar on top of being selfish? Cool. Glad we got to see the real version come out.
This was my personal experience, as well as every person I knew that met him.
After just watching the press conference, I fully believe #1 is the answer on timing. And I truly believe he just didn't want to deal with it anymore, the NIL and "changing landscape". I know it's cool to crap on his style of play, but that dude made UVA really, really good over the course of his 15 yrs there. And he's one of those that I believe is truly a good guy. Not a fake like Coach K or Roy. He seems to be a really good guy who is doing this for all of the right reasons.
Almost any coach would tbh. I'll never understand the rush to defend multimillionaires when they whine. I get everyone has their struggles, but my goodness, he's able to walk away at 55 and will never have to want for much ever again and will never have to work another day if he so chooses. He can go coach youth squads or find a high school team to coach and stay involved.
Completely disagree. Any program worth going to has a roster set and they aren't going to try to integrate some new guy 20 days before their first game. Cal might be the only one to even consider that. Move just screams desperation. Tony Bennett has been doing this a LONG time too, I can't imagine that wasn't discussed and covered. I bet they don't lose a single player that is in the rotation. The dude is just rock solid. People here are too accustomed to dealing with turds like Cal to understand this move is pure.
He never said he didn't like players getting paid. There's a difference between that and having to raise the money and manage a roster with money. He said he had assistants doing a great job at all of it, but he was withdrawn from it and didn't see that going well moving forward.
There's a difference between defending the guy and just being able to understand he's a human being who seemingly made a decision for pure reasons. Not everything has to be a damned conspiracy. I swear, Cal poisoned so many of you. Everyone thinks when a coach opens their mouth it's just BS being spewed from it. That's true a lot of the times, but this doesn't feel like it to me. I think he tried to navigate the new way, failed at it in his mind, and walked knowing one of his staff members would have a shot. He even said that in the presser, that an assistant getting to take over was always his goal.
