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    • Tony Bennett's resignation from UVA is a red flag for the dysfunctional NCAA
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    Tony Bennett's resignation from UVA is a red flag for the dysfunctional NCAA

    Kathleen William Posted on

    There is no point in shedding crocodile tears for a man who had the luxury of retiring at age 55 because he earned more than $40 million as a coach in college basketball and concluded is that the effort is no longer worth it.

    Likewise, it is pointless to throw coins into the jukebox every time something like this happens – and that will happen more often in the future than you think – and keep playing the same lament about the good old days when the scholarship and the promise of a distant future was still missing. Countless days were enough to convert an athlete to a Hall of Fame coach.

    Tony Bennett is done with college basketball and everyone involved will be fine. Bennett will find something else to fulfill his life, Virginia's program will enter a new era and the NCAA Tournament will continue to bring in billions. By March, Bennett will be of significance only as a television commentator, which isn't much different than it has been since Virginia won the national championships more than five years ago.

    While it's unusual and frankly rude to end a career of this magnitude a few weeks before the season starts, it's no surprise. Bennett wasn't built for this new reality, where money is often the deciding factor in recruiting and college athletes can change programs as often as they see fit. As Virginia's years of excellence in the NIL era faded, whispers among Bennett's colleagues that he wouldn't choose college basketball turned into shouts.

    “As I looked at myself, I realized that I was no longer the best coach to lead this program in the current environment,” Bennett admitted Friday in a serious and sometimes tearful press conference that left no doubt why he goes. “There is still a way to do this and hold on to our values, but it is complicated. And honestly admitting that I'm not equipped for it is humbling. It’s still fine for student-athletes to receive revenue, but the game and college athletics are not doing well.”

    While the greatness of the sport will definitely endure and the allure of March Madness is as strong as ever, Bennett has much merit in his concerns about where college basketball is headed.

    However, it's all too easy to say that it's just a group of grumpy middle-aged men who have made ridiculous amounts of money and whine about the balance of power suddenly shifting to the athletes who haven't had enough of it for too long.

    Over the last few years, I've watched basketball coaches I've known for more than a decade – mostly progressive people who have always advocated for players get more – become embittered about the transactional nature of everything that's happening in their sport now happened.

    That's not even talking about the recruiting battles, most of which were dirty and murderous anyway. Then, as now, everyone had to decide how far they could go to get a player. In a way, making everything legal was liberating.

    What has changed are the relationships. Coaches at the lower levels know that any good player they recruit will likely leave at the first opportunity. And at the higher levels, the threat of a player stepping in and leaving hangs like a guillotine over almost every interaction.

    Nobody denies that the problem is that players are making money. The problem is that the current system of free market chaos has turned college coaching into a profession where authenticity in interactions with a player is no longer possible.

    It may be unfashionable to say this today, but 18-22 year olds still need to be coached, developed and disciplined to fulfill their individual and team potential. This is where a program like Virginia, run the way Bennett knew how, inevitably ran up against current reality.

    De'Andre Hunter, the best player on Virginia's 2019 national championship team, redshirted his first year on campus because he likely wouldn't get much playing time. He ended up being the No. 4 pick in the NBA draft. Malcolm Brogdon was a five-year college project who earned more than $110 million as a professional. Joe Harris bought into Bennett's system before Virginia had even won anything and won an ACC title as a senior.

    All coaches, especially in basketball, are aware that stories like this are unlikely to happen again. They're handled by playing time requirements and outlandish financial expectations — and by an entire generation of zero-agents who aren't qualified to negotiate the price of a soda, let alone a six-figure contract.

    “Nick Nurse and I are pretty close,” Wake Forest’s Steve Forbes said, referring to the Philadelphia 76ers coach. “And he asks, 'How do you do that?' The hardest part for me isn't recruiting, it's retaining. Because I know my players and they have a number in mind. And I'm like, 'Are you crazy?' That's why there's a (general manager) in the NBA, because you don't have to coach them. The business model is wrong.”

    If anything, it's a surprise that so many coaches still have the personal ambition to stay in the game at this point. More and more often, I'm hearing from coaches in their 40s who are overloaded all year long, have become cynical about the players' expectations of their programs, and are actively planning an exit strategy once they've reached their desired level of financial security.

    These sentiments are easy to mock and dismiss in a profession of salespeople who have made fortunes from the work of young people and whose career choices have also followed money at the expense of loyalty.

    But they are learning in real time what many of us have been saying for years: The only way for the NCAA to comply with antitrust law while maintaining order is to collectively negotiate a new system that includes salary caps, contracts and restrictions on player movement.

    It's astonishing – and frankly insulting – that college presidents still refuse to consider this path while hoping that NCAA president and former Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker will convince his friends on Capitol Hill can lead to the adoption of consensual laws.

    A few years ago, pretty much every coach and athletics director would have been behind this plan. Now cracks are starting to form.

    In fact, I recently heard from a highly respected athletic director at a prestigious school who criticized Baker for not acting significantly differently, tactically or rhetorically, than his predecessor, Mark Emmert, even though he had a reputation as a nonpartisan and pragmatic reformer when he took office Conservative successfully ruled a liberal state.

    And just last week at ACC basketball media days, coaches spoke openly about how much they would prefer a system in which players signed contracts like professionals.

    “Everyone says, 'Well, coaches can leave,'” Forbes said. “No, we can't.” I mean, we can leave, but there's a takeover. These guys can transfer unlimitedly and without penalty. It's hard to maintain this model. I would feel much more comfortable dealing with players via a business model like this.”

    It's not just about how much sleep college basketball coaches get at night. If Bennett or someone like him no longer wants to do the job, there are thousands of others who are happy to take on the problems in addition to the huge salary.

    But it feels like we are reaching a tipping point for the entire American development system.

    Through its own poor legal strategy and inflexibility, the NCAA went almost overnight from being unable to set the rules to the point of unfairness to having no rules at all. Today, a generation of unproven athletes come to college with the mentality of getting as much as they can, from whoever they can, whenever they can, at the expense of other factors – like development from good coaches – who play a big role in what they ultimately become.

    To think that this won't have a negative impact on the way some players transition to the NBA or NFL would be extremely naive. In fact, those responsible for both leagues have already recognized this and must account for it.

    These are not the world's biggest problems, but it would be a mistake to dismiss them. Bennett's retirement is just another data point in a flawed system that's flashing red and in need of fixing. No one really cares if a rich coach doesn't like his job anymore, but whose interests are served when a 55-year-old all-time star in good health gives up his life's work?

    If the NCAA doesn't acknowledge reality – and soon – many more will follow Bennett out.

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    Kathleen William
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