When coaches have to keep recruiting guys the whole time they are in school and also hope your alumni can come up with truckloads of cash in order to buy a team every year, I can see how a guy would throw his hands up and say, I’ve had enough.
As for the mercenaries on the court, I don’t have pity on them losing their coach anymore than I have when a pro coach is fired mid season. It’s the true amateur sports fans that I feel for; you know, guys like me.
I’m still thinking this turns out to be health-related, the protestations notwithstanding. He’s just not the kind of dude to put his program in a bind like this.
I’ve seen some theories that he pretty much knew he was done before he signed the extension earlier this year, and that he waited until late in the game to ensure one of his assistants got the job, but I’m not really buying that.
I suppose it’s also possible that he got crosswise with the AD or administration and it was enough to push him to quit.
UVA will get through this but Bennett might get muddied. This sounds like …scandal coming…later…
They are now reporting that it’s not health related.
Maybe, just maybe, it was a combination of things. Maybe one or some of the players were demanding more NIL or they would transfer while some BMDs were threating to withhold donations if he didn’t do this or he did that. Maybe everything just piled up and something clicked in his mind and just decided to quit. That happened to me on a conference call.
Exactly. Coaches move for money All. The. Time. and then clutch pearls when a player moves, even if it’s for more playing time.
Coaches accumulating hundreds of million dollars over their career is fine.
A player trying trying to maximize their earning potential during their prime years since everyone ages out of sport at best where other careers are still mid-career are greedy.
So… basically UVA was going to suck this year so he retired?
I’ll never forget Reggie’s dunk at UVA when we were both top 5!
Neither will the Hoos sitting around me in the arena… 
This means that the players have a 30-day window to transfer and the season starts in 20 days. That’s nuts.
Makes you appreciate Sampson all the more.
Sorry, but I don’t care about Bennett or his reasons for leaving. Dude is like the rest of these old coaches who don’t like the idea that players now have the power to determine their own fates.
The idea that an 18 year old should be held hostage to a four year “contract” when coaches can pull their scholarships at any time is so hypocritical and outrageous that it is honestly a little infuriating. The most infuriating part is the way the coaches react to players transferring or requesting more money.
When coaches coach for free, then players can play for free. Until then, shut up.
yes, but they aren’t held to a 4 year contract, nor are coaches free to move whenever they want as they are under ACTUAL contracts.
for a coach to leave before their contract, they are either fired and paid the balance of the contract or they are hired elsewhere and that school has to pay the balance of their contract. or, they quit and are paid nothing as in this situation.
STUDENT athletes have been able to transfer for quite a while now as well.
remember when high school kids used to get excited and feel lucky to get a scholarship to a major university? thats the world I want to live in again.
Apparently you DO care. 
No, a coach can quit his job whenever he wants; he just want get paid for the rest of the agreement. No one can force you to work, no matter what contract you sign. Most performance contracts have clauses which basically operate like a year by year contract with a liquidated damages clause (which is usually the buyout provision).
However, from a practical perspective, you would not want to make someone stay at a job that they don’t want to be at. Their performance will suffer and so will the school. At that point, they are just stealing. You are better off just cutting the cord and letting them leave.
ok.
didnt hear his full press conference but caught a few snippets on the way home from the talking heads. he just doesnt like the direction college athletics is going and acknowledged he’s no longer the man for the job. he was the man for the job the “old school way” but not how it is today or where its heading.
I respect him for admitting that and stepping out when you know no longer have the passion, you could tell he’s a very genuine guy. but what a real sh!tty time to do it.
I think this article by Dan Wolken really sums it up nicely. Not a shock, for him the fault lies with the NCAA.
While I definitely do agree with the overall sentiment of the article, I do think he is also being somewhat naive and/or disingenuous in one respect: the issue of player development and coaching.
Fact is, almost any NBA scout/GM will tell you that the college game is not the same as the NBA game; that is why so many pro teams don’t like drafting upperclassmen. In addition, many of these players know that they will not make the pros. So in most cases, these players know that this might be their one chance to make some real money.
I will say that the statement by Nick Nurse about GM’s is ironic; I believe that Bama has a GM now and someone on this board proposed we do the same. I think that is exactly what these schools need.
Finally, I have been pushing for federal regulation for college athletics for some time; my problem is that everything coming out of Congress just regulates players and not college programs. If that is the case, I can guarantee you that it will not stand, as the courts will strike it down as anti-competitive. The NCAA doesn’t want negotiations because they don’t want players to be employees, when everyone knows that is exactly what they are. The reasons are several, but the main one that no one wants to say out loud is that if the players are employees, then the money they receive could not be used to fund/supplement Olympic sports, which assist schools in meeting Title IX requirements. My solution is to get rid of Title IX as it has outlived its usefulness.
Sorry to get off on a tangent, but to me, everything happening in college sports is a microcosm for what is going on in society in general.
I agree 100%, there has to be some rules and regulations involved. it’s the Wild West, free agency every year.
He should’ve coached this season since he’s already up against it…
Players must’ve been complaining in practice or something along those lines…
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