Plenty of college coaches around the country nodded and silently agreed with some of Tony Bennett‘s comments after a stunning decision to step away from the Virginia program just weeks before the 2024-25 season-opening contest against Campbell. Bennett, simply, had enough of everything.
In his own words, he was “not equipped” to lead Virginia in the current climate of college basketball. NIL and the transfer portal drive the sport. There is no salary cap in college basketball yet. There is no such thing as time off after a long, grueling regular season. The 2024 transfer portal cycle opened a day after Selection Sunday with no guardrails or regulations in place.
It is a free-for-all, so Bennett opted to wash his hands of it.
“Until there’s parameters, I know I can’t do it, and that’s the whole deal here,” Bennett told CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander.
Two aisles are forming in the world of college basketball coaching. One is filled with coaches of the old guard who grew up in this business doing things a certain way and now are being asked to change, well, almost everything. The other is filled with coaches who were born into this life of fundraising, collectives, free agency, the transfer portal, high school recruiting and international scouting. It’s nothing new. It’s just the way of life.
Programs like Purdue and Marquette, built on internal development and retention, feel like mirages in the desert compared to many high-major programs that have any inclination of winning big.
Change isn’t necessarily required to win – Purdue advanced to the National Championship game without changing its DNA – but for most, it might be required to survive.
“Maybe I have to evolve or I’ll dissolve with that, but that’s just my overall gut feeling on (the portal),” Georgetown coach Ed Cooley told reporters last week. “Grind through it. This system’s not allowing for the grind.”
Bennett was a proud member of the old guard and the most recent of many legendary, all-time coaches stepping away from the game. Sure, UNC’s Roy Williams, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim’s age had a factor, but the changing landscape of college basketball certainly played a role in their decisions to retire.
Bennett, just 55, is more in line with Jay Wright who stepped away from his post at Villanova after leading the Wildcats to the Final Four in 2022 at the age of 60. Wright and Bennett were stars in the college coaching world and looked at as rightful pillars of the sport for years to come. Bennett said last week that he expected to stay in the game longer, but knew in his heart it was time to step away. He was no longer all-in.
So what’s coming next in a coaching world that looks much different than it did just five years ago when Bennett won the 2019 National Championship?
Let’s dive into 16 high-profile coaches and how they fit in this new era of college basketball. Who are the new-school coaches who embrace and thrive in the current complicated landscape and who are part of the old guard who could be next in line to leave the sport?
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