Bennett seems perfect fit for UVa

When Virginia athletics director Craig Littlepage began his homework on Tony Bennett, he was amazed by the feedback from every corner of the basketball world.
Littlepage has a network of people from his extensive background as a coach, an administrator, and from his service on the NCAA Tournament committee, which he also chaired. Everyone that Littlepage asked kept telling him he couldn’t do any better.
“I had somebody that I called first [about Bennett], and as we talked, and I mentioned Tony’s name, there was kind of a silence,” Littlepage said. “Then, I was taken aback because the response was ‘You gotta be kidding me.’”
Good news?
The Virginia AD was momentarily speechless because he took that response as a negative reply. However, the pregnant pause turned out to be a false alarm.
“Actually, after [the source] said ‘you gotta be kidding me,’ he said to me, ‘If you can get this guy, it would be exactly what you need.”
The guy Virginia needed showed up for his introduction to Wahoo Nation at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, his family by his side in his new home away from home, John Paul Jones Arena.
Dressed conservatively with All-American good looks (the coeds at Washington State nicknamed him ‘Coach Dreamboat’), it didn’t take long for Bennett to win the crowd, a mix of UVa officials and faculty, members of the Board of Visitors, boosters, media and fans for a lengthy press conference.
Clear charisma
Bennett said all the right things, displayed vision, an openness that has been missing from the program, plenty of charisma and a good sense of humor.
Pointed out that all the photos of him coaching his previous Washington State University teams, showed him without a tie, Bennett was asked about whether he would wear one at Virginia.
His dark suit, adorned by a brilliant orange and blue tie supplied by Trent Thurston of Eljo’s, Bennett quickly deferred to his boss, Littlepage.
“You know this is a coach’s son,” Littlepage quipped. “He’s coachable.”
Bennett said that at Washington State, the AD told him it was OK to coach tieless, but said he’s good with wearing one here.
“These colors look good,” Bennett said, pleasing the crowd.
“He tied it himself,” Littlepage jabbed.
“I did,” Bennett came back. “That’s why it’s messed up.”
Having grown up a coach’s son, as Littlepage aptly pointed out, Tony Bennett also grew up with a basketball in his hands. There was never any doubt
he would become a player, and he did, for his dad, Dick Bennett, at Wisconsin-Green Bay, then on to the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets.
During all those years there was no sign that he was destined to follow in his father’s footsteps. Quite the contrary.
“Actually, I said that’s the last thing I want to do,” Bennett said. “I watched my dad ride the rollercoaster and I said I have no interest [in coaching]. I thought I would have a long career in the NBA, but injuries cut that short.”
He traveled to New Zealand, playing for a pro league there while attempting to get healthy enough to return to the NBA. Alas, he became reinjured and evolved into a player-coach role with that team.
“When I did that, I was bit,” Bennett said.
“I realized the best thing is playing, but the next-best thing is coaching. I really enjoyed working with young men. It’s such an opportunity to influence them. You’re with them in the great highs and the great lows.”
No doubt the same ones that he referenced in terms of his dad riding the rollercoaster.
Bennett gave insightful and sincere answers to every question tossed his way, covering everything about recruiting, style of play, philosophy, family, his faith.
A West Coast story on Tuesday noted that Dick Bennett had told his son that he was in a 60-58 game scenario, that things could fall either way, but that Tony was in a win-win situation before finally deciding to move east.
What swayed a coach who had shunned more traditional, more high profile, more relevant basketball programs than Virginia (he turned down advances from Indiana, Marquette and LSU in the past)?
“After my wife (Laurel) and I came here and toured the Grounds and were at this facility, we were ready from an impulsive standpoint,” Bennett said. “This is it. We were so certain. We went back and just waited.”
While back in Pullman, Wash., an isolated part of the state, the Bennetts thought about the difficult part that such a move would present. They thought about telling the Cougars’ team goodbye, the kids they recruited. They thought about telling the people at Washington State, the folks that had given them their first chance, farewell.
“That was the hardest part,” he confessed. “As we stripped everything away from the process, we really felt right in this direction. There really was a peace of mind.”
Bennett said he wouldn’t leave Washington State for just anywhere and he had proven that. Littlepage and Oliver knew that if Bennett could recruit and win at Washington State, he could recruit and win anywhere.
Oliver, who once worked at WSU, knew that better than most.
Once Virginia made the offer, Bennett was on board so quickly that he didn’t even have time to reach his father.
Dick Bennett found out after a round of golf.
“He said he was with 15 of his buddies and he was sitting at the [golf club’s] bar when the news came across ESPN and he let out a big yell,” Tony Bennett said. “He said, ‘you cost me a round of 15 guy’s drinks.’ But he was so excited, that the opportunity is there.”
Tony Bennett was just as excited on Wednesday when he compared all the hoopla to a marriage.
Certainly he will get a lengthy honeymoon with the Virginia crowd. They have been thirsting for a consistent winner after having enjoyed only two NCAA appearances 12 years. Bennett reached the NCAAs twice in three years as WSU’s coach in his first head coaching experience.
Yesterday was fun and games, meet and greets. Today and from that point forward, the expectations will begin to mount.
Littlepage couldn’t answer questions about when he expects the program to return to the NCAAs, nor could its new coach. Bennett said he wants to build something that lasts and thusly it will require three or four years to collect the kind of players that best fit his system — a more deliberate offense and a smothering defense.
That’s what Pete Gillen and Dave Leitao must have thought as well.
Time will tell if Tony Bennett’s basketball philosophy is a better fit for Virginia.
Wahoo Nation has its collective fingers crossed.