College coaches don't miss many opportunities to complain about the current state of college athletics, especially when a great in their profession is leaving, and that's exactly what Tony Bennett was – a champion and a person so universally respected and liked will be like all other men's basketball.

Bennett's retirement from Virginia on Thursday at age 55 was a shock and a source of even more anger. Now let's list the other coaching giants who recently retired and, like Bennett, left little doubt that Etch A Sketch's roster was depleted – Mike Krzyzewski, Jay Wright, Nick Saban and so on. Let's say it together: Things can't go on like this.

But can we also remember that things are the way they are because of decades of college athletes being screwed over, to the point of a bipartisan agreement on NCAA misconduct and the courtroom carnage to back it up? Can we think for a moment about the current Virginia men's basketball players and how poorly they seem to be doing?

They just found out their coach was leaving 20 days before the start of the 2024-25 season. You are in the middle of the academic semester. Yes, the 30-day transfer portal window is open. But anyone on this Virginia roster who is a non-college graduate and enrolls elsewhere would sit out the entire season.

With the retirement of Tony Bennett, only six active men's college basketball coaches have won a national title:
◽️️Dan Hurley (2)
◽️ Rick Pitino (2)
◽️ Bill Self (2)
◽️Tom Izzo
◽️ Scott Drew
◽️ John Calipari pic.twitter.com/KVuHslDZes

– The Athlete (@TheAthletic) October 17, 2024

They're stuck if they want to take even a single meaningful dribble before November 2025. Which makes the circumstances of Bennett's resignation more surprising than the resignation itself. The idea of ​​a Bennett, Tony or his father and basketball mentor Dick, wronging or deceiving someone is about as far-fetched as a Bennett rushing Basketball practiced. It is not calculated.

Thoughtfulness is one of Tony Bennett's many admirable qualities, as seen in the way he handled his basketball slump – Virginia lost to UMBC in 2018, the first No. 1 seed dropped to No. 16. That made it all the easier for him. The sports world rejoiced a year later at its highlight, the only national championship in Virginia men's basketball history.

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

And I wonder if Bennett will explain during his farewell press conference on Friday that he actually spoke to all of these players in advance of his decision to make sure they enjoyed playing for Ron Sanchez this season. That would be strange. Pretty irregular. But again, the alternative is that Bennett lets his players down.

This retirement, which several media outlets have reported has nothing to do with health, which was speculated to be a real possibility at the end of last season, suggests that Bennett is bringing tremendous success to Sánchez. If Sanchez is named interim coach as expected, he will have a full squad and a full season to prove he should get the full-time job.

That would be quite an endorsement of Sanchez's decision to step down as Charlotte's head coach in 2023 and return to UVA as associate head coach, wouldn't it?

Dean Smith comes to mind, creating the conditions for Bill Guthridge to get a chance. This is reminiscent of Bo Ryan – who followed Dick Bennett at Wisconsin and did the same for Greg Gard.

The difference is that players in those eras had no immediate recourse anyway. This has been fixed, with unintended consequences that unfortunately force some of the best trainers out of the game early. But it was fixed. Therefore, the departure of Guthridge/Ryan at this time of year violates the rights of the players in a way that was not possible at the time.

Some will argue that these players chose Virginia, they already played for Sanchez and, by the way, Bennett reluctantly chose NIL. That's all fine. But it seems that playing for a coach who won the national championship and was a three-time national coach of the year is a big part of a player's decision to play for Virginia.

And it would be a huge disappointment if it were torn down just before the start of the season.

The university is also an interesting question. I could see UVA not wanting to sign on for a program that hasn't had an NCAA Tournament win since the 2019 championship game against Texas Tech, especially after the rug was pulled out. It has declined.

But there was something special about Bennett's 15 years in Virginia and his entire career. His coaching and his class, his contributions to the game were exceptional. His ending should have been a little more ordinary.

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

(Photo: Brett Davis / Imagn Images)