When the NCAA began allowing skip-free transfers a few years ago, Tony Bennett surveyed his former stars who made it to the NBA.

Bennett took pride in developing players, but it was a process and some guys “had to fight for it.” Some wore red shirts. Most had to wait their turn in some capacity.

If you could transfer without sitting out during your time in Virginia, Bennett asked her, would you have stuck it out?

“It’s funny,” Bennett told me two years ago, when the portal began transforming recruiting and college basketball. “You said to a man, without a doubt, that the best thing for my career and the reason I think I made it and was very successful in the NBA is because I persevered when the going got tough. I fought my way through. I just kept going, even though I had every doubt. People told me you have to get out. And then I came out more mature and tougher. I didn't shortcut the process.

“But ironically, some of them said if that rule was in place, I don’t know if I would have stuck with it. Some said I would definitely do it. Some people said it was close. I could have left and that would have been the biggest mistake I could have made.”

Bennett said goodbye to college basketball on Thursday afternoon, abruptly retiring three weeks before the season, and that makes sense knowing how badly he wanted to win.

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Virginia men's basketball coach Tony Bennett, 55, is retiring at the start of the season

There were rumors about this at the end of last season. I've heard from enough people – coaches, scouts – that it couldn't have been just a guess. It was surprising when Bennett signed an extension through 2030 in June, but contracts hardly play a role in college sports anymore. Most Hall of Famers, and Bennett will be one, have contracts that allow them to practice for as long as they want.

On Thursday night, another top coach who asked me last winter if I had heard the rumor called me and said he wasn't that surprised. “This last recruiting cycle was terrible,” he said. So many lies from players and agents – both transfers and high schoolers. So much posturing for more money. There is fatigue throughout the industry.

The reason I called Bennett two years ago was because of a story about the programs that had done best at developing pros who weren't five-star recruits. Bennett was excited to talk about his success stories. “This one is in our wheelhouse,” he said.

The results showed why he won so many games. By my criteria, Virginia ranked third among schools that produced non-five-star NBA players who had played at least 82 games in the last 15 years.

Bennett was at the end of one of the best decades in sport this century. From 2014 to 2023, Virginia won the ACC six times in addition to winning the 2019 national title. Duke and UNC combined to win four regular season titles during that time.

For Bennett, it was almost a point of pride that he had never received a five-star rating, and he still kicked the butts of Duke and North Carolina in the ACC.

“The narrative was that they were never going to win because they were on par with Duke and Carolina,” Bennett said of the time he took the job. “Just don’t go to Virginia. You won't win. It's too heavy. Well, then we started winning. We have won five regular season championships (now six) and two ACC tournaments in the last 10 years. We won the most and then they said, 'Don't go to Virginia because you really have to defend.' They're going to play a lot of defense. I don't know if you can take your game to the NBA. They might not play quite as fast as all of these teams, so it's going to be really tough. You might win now, but you won’t be able to achieve your dream of making it to the NBA.”

“And to be able to say: Now the proof is obvious.”

Bennett said this with so much pride. In college basketball, development wins. Always. I will always do that. And he was one of the best at recognizing potential and developing guys into winners and professionals. But it was hardly an instant success and it's becoming increasingly difficult to get players to be patient.

In the last five years, Bennett has transferred eleven players. Eleven! This is one of the sport's most likeable, best talent developers and best coaches, still in his prime.

Maybe someday Bennett will tell us it was something else. The timing is strange. But it does allow one of his assistants — probably Ron Sanchez, possibly Jason Williford — to get a chance to keep the job. And given the rumors last season, it's something he's probably been thinking about for some time.

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This isn't the college basketball Tony Bennett fell in love with. You can't blame him for that

At 55, Bennett would likely still be coaching in a different era.

You can still win, train and develop like he did. It's simply more difficult than ever to maintain success without constantly changing the squad. And if you've already won like Bennett won and are financially set for the rest of your life, no one can blame him for wanting to do anything else. Jay Wright certainly seems happy calling games.

In a few years, another coach might step down much sooner than anyone ever imagined. Veteran coaches are calling for more say in how college basketball operates, but the NCAA continues to ignore them.

It's still a fun game to watch. For those still coaching, there is still a lot to appreciate about the job. But this version of college basketball isn't the one Tony Bennett fell in love with.

(Photo: Amber Searls / USA Today)