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AUFC

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Heard rumors of this realignment but this is a real bombshell news drop. Happy for Washington State and Oregon State but you kind of hate this for the WCC which has now lost BYU and Gonzaga. You'd expect Saint Mary's to potentially join the Pac 12 now as well, if they are taking schools without football teams. Pac 12 is about to remain a power conference in basketball.

Looks like Grand Canyon is also in talks w/ the Pac 12 even though they just committed to the WCC 5 months ago.
 
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AUFC

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Folks are speculating CTB is stepping down at this particular time because players are tethered to the program for this season at this point, plus it means his staff probably gets a shot as interim.
 
kg01

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bucknellbison31 said:
So sad. I really hate to see all of the legendary coaches we've lost from the sport recently. Roy, K, Jay Wright, Boeheim, and now Bennett. Feels like they've all retired in the blink of an eye.
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Well ..... call me jaded but I'm on record calling them dudes out. When they benefited from paying dudes, all was well. Now that they don't control the money, they're bolting right when the game needs them most.

Bennett I feel for. Not so much them other dudes.
 

MtnWasp

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I don't like for the ACC to lose a top coach.

Hopefully it is not due to personal crisis but only a professional one.

There have been dramatic changes to the sport in the last few years and that change will only naturally benefit some coaches and alienate others. It is peak recruiting season and it wouldn't surprise me if Bennett lost a key recruit over money. I remember Bob Staak of Wake Forest retired when Tom Hammonds committed to Bobby Cremins and GT. Gary Williams of Maryland burnt out over the changing recruiting (AAU) landscape also.

Another possibility is that since practices have recently begun, Bennett is fed-up with the cultural landscape of young people and can no longer coach the way he used to, or get the results that he used to.

All guesses, of course.
 

YlJacket

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No one is pushing him out. This is his idea for whatever reason. I do have some thirdhand knowledge that he was not happy about the way the college basketball world has morphed into and is heading. IMH Speculation this smells to me that something in today's structure/NIL affected this year's players and his team in a way he wasn't expecting or happy with. I can't think of anything short of a personal or family medical issue that would send him to the sidelines at this time of the season.
 

g0lftime

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mstranahan said:
NIL and the portal claim another victim
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His press conference is on YouTube if interested. I got the impression that he was not willing to sacrifice his principles with NIL and the transfer portal totally changing college basketball. We also don't know a lot of the dark unethical behavior that programs must endure. He specifically mentioned agents as a problem. He says changes are needed. Reminds me of Saban's interview after he resigned. These are national championship coaches leaving the business guys. I have a lot more respect for him now.
 
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g0lftime said:
His press conference is on YouTube if interested. I got the impression that he was not willing to sacrifice his principles with NIL and the transfer portal totally changing college basketball. We also don't know a lot of the dark unethical behavior that programs must endure. He specifically mentioned agents as a problem. He says changes are needed. Reminds me of Saban's interview after he resigned. These are national championship coaches leaving the business guys. I have a lot more respect for him now.
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Tony Bennett has always done things the right way. Probably the classiest head coach in the ACC...loved Pastner too. It's a big loss for college basketball way too soon, considering he's only 55. Aside from winning, Tony Bennett was the kind of coach who took satisfaction from turning 17 year olds into young men who would leave lasting impacts on their communities. At least in the revenue sports, you don't get to life coach these days. And sometimes the players you think you'll get to help grow into young adults jump elsewhere - we saw CDS express frustration recently over Tafara Gapare going this route. Anyway, I never felt like coaching for CTB was just about winning and a paycheck.
 

bucknellbison31

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kg01 said:
Well ..... call me jaded but I'm on record calling them dudes out. When they benefited from paying dudes, all was well. Now that they don't control the money, they're bolting right when the game needs them most.

Bennett I feel for. Not so much them other dudes.
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I respectfully disagree that they left because they don't control the money anymore — they retired because the things that college sports used to be about (getting an education, creating long-term value for yourself, character development) are no longer present. It's just like Saban said after he stepped down; the recruits' mothers don't ask "are you going to care for my son" and "how are you going to help him grow" anymore, they say,"How much are you going to pay him". We would be naive to think that money in college hoops is new (case in point, the suspicious things around Duke and Zion) but it's also true that the sport has done a 180 in the past few years. College basketball is a wildly different sport than it was 15, 10, heck maybe even 5 years ago.

I don't blame those guys for wanting out. After all those years of hard work and winning, now they're relegated to negotiating with a bunch of 18 and 19-year-olds to keep them from entering the portal? Roy and K have earned the right to say no to that.
 
kg01

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bucknellbison31 said:
I respectfully disagree that they left because they don't control the money anymore — they retired because the things that college sports used to be about (getting an education, creating long-term value for yourself, character development) are no longer present. It's just like Saban said after he stepped down; the recruits' mothers don't ask "are you going to care for my son" and "how are you going to help him grow" anymore, they say,"How much are you going to pay him". We would be naive to think that money in college hoops is new (case in point, the suspicious things around Duke and Zion) but it's also true that the sport has done a 180 in the past few years. College basketball is a wildly different sport than it was 15, 10, heck maybe even 5 years ago.

I don't blame those guys for wanting out. After all those years of hard work and winning, now they're relegated to negotiating with a bunch of 18 and 19-year-olds to keep them from entering the portal? Roy and K have earned the right to say no to that.
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I respect your position as well. We just disagree on this one.

Those guys, Saban included, gamed the system for decades. To cry about the sport losing integrity or however they frame it, is disingenuous at best IMHO.

Roy, K, name anyone else. All dirty as the day is long for literal decades. It's amazing how many people bought their choir boy act. And, as I said, now that they don't control the money it's a problem for them.

On Bennett, I feel sorry for him. He seemed to be one of the good ones.
 
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