Never heard of him. Seems a little disappointing to me. Would have liked for them to have made a move for Anthony Grant (the VCU coach that took the Alabama job). Grant apparently is a very good recruiter and has served under Billy Donovan. He seems like a young, sharp guy that will have success.
Who knows maybe Bennett will be decent. He had some success at Washington State. However, he is moving to the ACC and it's whole new ball game in that conference. He also will have to adjust to the culture of the east coast. I'd like to see UVA improve and I'm not sure this is the right guy but he deserves a chance.
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My initial reaction was, "Who?"
I don't find anything about the guy's resume that makes me say "Wow!" He seems to be a solid recruiter and a good coach, but this is the ACC and I'll have to see it to believe it.
I would have preferred that they make a run at Capel - I'm sure they must have tried.
I didn't really want Grant - I wish him well at Alabama, but I do think he greatly benefitted from having Eric Maynor at the point guard position. Now that he is gone, VCU would have struggled anyway.
I wasn't really for Tubby either. It's an OK pick from what I can tell, we'll see in two years how things progress.
I don't know the guy either. I think it will be a wake up call to come to the ACC. Also, you can't minimize the cultural difference from the west coast to the east coast. I know B-ball is B-ball but the kids are different on their respective coasts. Still, as we both mentioned, now that he has been selected, he deserves a fair chance to succeed.
As far as Grant, I like the guy. From ESPN, "Grant has been an instant success -- and hot commodity -- as a head coach. After helping Billy Donovan win a national championship with the Gators during a 10-season stay at Florida, he guided VCU to three straight Colonial Athletic Association regular-season titles. His first season was highlighted by a victory over Duke in the NCAA tournament.
The Rams nearly pulled off a second-round encore before losing to Pittsburgh in overtime. Grant was targeted by Florida to return after that debut season when Donovan left for the NBA's Orlando Magic, but Donovan changed his mind and came back."
He may have benefitted from some of the work Capel had done and left for him when he left for OK. However, there is no question that Grant left his mark at VCU. Grant was also an asst. on the U18 national team and apparently left an impression on some of the team members who said he was a tough coach that stayed on top of the players. By all accounts, he is a strong coach, a family man with strong morals, and a good recruiter. I think having served as an asst. for a strong program for so long is a huge plus for any program that gets him has a coach. I believe he is more confident in himself and his abilities compared to a younger guy trying to figure things out on the job. At the same time, he is not so old that he can't relate to student athletes. Also, I like how he said that he sat down with his oldest son and told him that even though Florida wanted him (when Donovan was thinking about going to the NBA AND when there was talk of Donovan going to Kentucky this year), Alabama was his first choice because he liked the opportunity to blaze his own trail.
I know I am sounding like Anthony Grant fan #1. I don't know that much about him but I do think he is a quality coach that will have success and I really thought UVA could have benefitted from bringing him in.
Before I got to your last paragraph I was really wondering how deep your man crush for the guy was. He may or may not be a great coach. I wish him well, but he was coaching VCU. If you think going from the Pac-10 to the ACC is tough, then you have to agree that going from VCU to the ACC is even tougher.
I am not really impressed by the hire, but I am not really against the hire either. We'll see how good the guy is. If he fails, I can almost guarantee that UVA's Athletic Director, Craig Littlepage, may be out.
Sure Grant was coaching in the CAA but he had 10 years experience as an assistant at Florida and was an assistant on the U18 national squad. The guy knows what it takes to coach/run a big time program. I don't think Florida would have handed him the job (if Donovan had left) unless they were confident in his abilities
UVA has a new arena and plays in arguably the toughest conference in the NCAA. They had a chance to make a big splash and it would have been many coaches dream job. Instead, they threw up and air ball. Actually, the guy may end up being decent but I just liked the metaphor.
Whatever, we'll see how both these guys do.
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