F the NCAA

[BiggDick]

in the latest edition of "I just think I can only imagine," Goodman going full Goodman with full "likely other reasons but lemme make this about my own axe to grind anyway"



so with my health theory out, let's entertain some others:

- Scandal!
- he just kinda felt like it
- his name about to drop in the Diddy allegations
- aliens

[DeletedUser]

No offense, but the changing landscape being a factor isn't exactly a hot take.

Numerous high level coaches have retired and spoke to the impact of NIL and transfer portal in their decisions.

[pdub]

It really isn't.
Occam's razor.

[DeletedUser]

Virginia, for example, does not have the NIL backing of the schools they're trying to compete against for national titles, nor will they be competitive under the revenue sharing plan that may start in 2025....per this data...

https://nil-ncaa.com/acc/

Bennett has been a top coach for a while, and now he probably sees that it's going to be increasingly hard for him to be competitive in the new environment. At age 55, he's decided he's had enough, for whatever reason.

[TDub]

wtf. out of hand

[pdub]

The poor athletes!
Why doesn’t anyone think of them!?

[jfish26]

In the multiple things can be true at once file:

We can thank Tony Bennett for his class and career without scolding college hoops for precipitating his retirement

https://www.sportingnews.com/ca/ncaa-ba ... 43ced9f119

While it certainly is unusual for a coach to walk away from the sport at such a young age (55) and so close to the start of another college basketball season, the wrong way to process Bennett’s departure is to present another screed about the state of the sport — how awful it is that Name/Image/Likeness payments have become so impactful in the recruiting process, and how the immediate-eligibility transfer rule has granted too much leverage to athletes.

To catalog the retirements of legends Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, and Nick Saban and ascribe them to these changes may or may not be accurate, but it also falls into the category of gilding the argument. Coach K was 75 in his final season, Saban 72, and Williams 70. When might they have retired if the rules still were the same as in 1985?

It’s worth noting, as well, that the three exceptional coaches quoted at the start of this discussion are, on average, 70.

Let’s be at least a little honest about this.

The changes in college athletics have made coaching more demanding, more draining, more consuming — and, often, more exasperating — than at any point since James Naismith hung up a peach basket. The other changes in college athletics, though, the ones that almost never are discussed when these occasions arise, have made it almost preposterously rewarding.

The highest salary among college football coaches has exploded from the $3 million neighborhood in 2009 to Kirby Smart’s $13 million salary this season at Georgia. That’s a 333 percent increase in 15 years.

According to USA Today’s database, Bennett has earned more than $38 million over the past 13 seasons as UVa’s head coach, an average of nearly $3 million per year. At 55, he can decide no longer to expend the energy necessary to excel in the sport as it exists currently — and waiting around for the colleges to ascertain whether they can bring order to this circumstance might be just as exhausting.

Bennett has been a wonderful leader for his players, a phenomenal teacher of the game, and a marvelous example for everyone in sports to follow if they wish. Now, he can be whatever he wants. He can afford it.

That, as well, is a significant part of how college athletics has changed.

I think this is a clear-eyed view of things: the very same root cause of the changes that are making Bennett’s job less desirable for him to do, is making it possible for him to walk away from it.

I won’t put words in people’s mouths (even where favorable to them!), but I do recognize that several folks around here who are strongly anti-NIL have correctly identified that NIL itself is not the trunk of the tree, but a branch.

[pdub]

No doubt, the money ruined it, all of it, the whole goddamn tree.
It's generally the problem with our hyper fueled capitalistic society -- we can't be good with something that is already good and keep it good even if it is both good AND making good money - we have to find a way to make more money off of it.

[BiggDick]

whoa.

I don't disagree!

Now, if I may say so, when the rant about NIL gets so big and broad that we're ranting about our "hyper fueled capitalistic society," that's prob at least approaching material that belongs on the pols bored.

and while there's inevitable overlap, and while there is a lot of the NIL discussion that does appropriately belong on the sports boards, most of it can prob stay in this thread, at least...or yea, pols.

let me conclude this post by also just adding, while NIL no doubt affects so much of the game, and of the fan experience, I dunno if it's necessarily necessary to bring up NIL every chance we get as some catch-all grievance refrain.

anywho, I'm tempted to start this weekend early, find a good bar stool, and sit at the sat shack. Or shack up at the sat for a sit? Or whatever.

I heard they remodeled the patio fence so it looks just like Allen Fieldhouse now!

[DeletedUser]

In the multiple things can be true at once file:

We can thank Tony Bennett for his class and career without scolding college hoops for precipitating his retirement

https://www.sportingnews.com/ca/ncaa-ba ... 43ced9f119

While it certainly is unusual for a coach to walk away from the sport at such a young age (55) and so close to the start of another college basketball season, the wrong way to process Bennett’s departure is to present another screed about the state of the sport — how awful it is that Name/Image/Likeness payments have become so impactful in the recruiting process, and how the immediate-eligibility transfer rule has granted too much leverage to athletes.

To catalog the retirements of legends Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, and Nick Saban and ascribe them to these changes may or may not be accurate, but it also falls into the category of gilding the argument. Coach K was 75 in his final season, Saban 72, and Williams 70. When might they have retired if the rules still were the same as in 1985?

It’s worth noting, as well, that the three exceptional coaches quoted at the start of this discussion are, on average, 70.

Let’s be at least a little honest about this.

The changes in college athletics have made coaching more demanding, more draining, more consuming — and, often, more exasperating — than at any point since James Naismith hung up a peach basket. The other changes in college athletics, though, the ones that almost never are discussed when these occasions arise, have made it almost preposterously rewarding.

The highest salary among college football coaches has exploded from the $3 million neighborhood in 2009 to Kirby Smart’s $13 million salary this season at Georgia. That’s a 333 percent increase in 15 years.

According to USA Today’s database, Bennett has earned more than $38 million over the past 13 seasons as UVa’s head coach, an average of nearly $3 million per year. At 55, he can decide no longer to expend the energy necessary to excel in the sport as it exists currently — and waiting around for the colleges to ascertain whether they can bring order to this circumstance might be just as exhausting.

Bennett has been a wonderful leader for his players, a phenomenal teacher of the game, and a marvelous example for everyone in sports to follow if they wish. Now, he can be whatever he wants. He can afford it.

That, as well, is a significant part of how college athletics has changed.

I think this is a clear-eyed view of things: the very same root cause of the changes that are making Bennett’s job less desirable for him to do, is making it possible for him to walk away from it.

I won’t put words in people’s mouths (even where favorable to them!), but I do recognize that several folks around here who are strongly anti-NIL have correctly identified that NIL itself is not the trunk of the tree, but a branch.

I'm not anti NIL.

I don't know why Bennett decided to retire.

I agree, K and Roy were likely retiring regardless in short order.

Saban has said it was a factor. I'll take his word for it.

Jay Wright, who they left out (intentionally?), also said the changing environment was a factor, was 60 or 61 when he retired.

To me, based on nothing other than the above, the Bennett situation seemed more comparable to a Wright thing than a Coach K thing. Again, just a wild guess. And based on Virginia's lack of NIL support and/or projected revenue sharing pool.

[KUTradition]

…Virginia's lack of NIL support and/or projected revenue sharing pool.

i wonder if this might’ve really been the deciding factor

[jfish26]

In the multiple things can be true at once file:

We can thank Tony Bennett for his class and career without scolding college hoops for precipitating his retirement

https://www.sportingnews.com/ca/ncaa-ba ... 43ced9f119

While it certainly is unusual for a coach to walk away from the sport at such a young age (55) and so close to the start of another college basketball season, the wrong way to process Bennett’s departure is to present another screed about the state of the sport — how awful it is that Name/Image/Likeness payments have become so impactful in the recruiting process, and how the immediate-eligibility transfer rule has granted too much leverage to athletes.

To catalog the retirements of legends Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, and Nick Saban and ascribe them to these changes may or may not be accurate, but it also falls into the category of gilding the argument. Coach K was 75 in his final season, Saban 72, and Williams 70. When might they have retired if the rules still were the same as in 1985?

It’s worth noting, as well, that the three exceptional coaches quoted at the start of this discussion are, on average, 70.

Let’s be at least a little honest about this.

The changes in college athletics have made coaching more demanding, more draining, more consuming — and, often, more exasperating — than at any point since James Naismith hung up a peach basket. The other changes in college athletics, though, the ones that almost never are discussed when these occasions arise, have made it almost preposterously rewarding.

The highest salary among college football coaches has exploded from the $3 million neighborhood in 2009 to Kirby Smart’s $13 million salary this season at Georgia. That’s a 333 percent increase in 15 years.

According to USA Today’s database, Bennett has earned more than $38 million over the past 13 seasons as UVa’s head coach, an average of nearly $3 million per year. At 55, he can decide no longer to expend the energy necessary to excel in the sport as it exists currently — and waiting around for the colleges to ascertain whether they can bring order to this circumstance might be just as exhausting.

Bennett has been a wonderful leader for his players, a phenomenal teacher of the game, and a marvelous example for everyone in sports to follow if they wish. Now, he can be whatever he wants. He can afford it.

That, as well, is a significant part of how college athletics has changed.

I think this is a clear-eyed view of things: the very same root cause of the changes that are making Bennett’s job less desirable for him to do, is making it possible for him to walk away from it.

I won’t put words in people’s mouths (even where favorable to them!), but I do recognize that several folks around here who are strongly anti-NIL have correctly identified that NIL itself is not the trunk of the tree, but a branch.

I'm not anti NIL.

I don't know why Bennett decided to retire.

I agree, K and Roy were likely retiring regardless in short order.

Saban has said it was a factor. I'll take his word for it.

Jay Wright, who they left out (intentionally?), also said the changing environment was a factor, was 60 or 61 when he retired.

To me, based on nothing other than the above, the Bennett situation seemed more comparable to a Wright thing than a Coach K thing. Again, just a wild guess. And based on Virginia's lack of NIL support and/or projected revenue sharing pool.

I one billion percent think NIL was a factor in all of these.

To me, the story I linked does a good job in highlighting an aspect of this that goes overlooked, though: the boom in coaching salaries (which arose from the boom in TV rights and sponsor money) means that guys can walk away earlier with WAY more money than they would have under prevailing coaching salaries of the 90s and early 2000s.

We will all have opinions about the good and bads, rights and wrongs, of that. But I don't think the fair analysis stops at, "this isn't the game I love anymore." Because, as thorny as it is to unpack, the personal rewards to the coaches of the game becoming something they don't love anymore, is part of which is giving them comfort in leaving.

I don't know how to quickly look up Bennett's history, but when Bill came to KU his guarantied compensation (from a variety of sources) was $1,129,380/year.

Per the US government's cost of living calculator, in today's buying power that is equivalent to $1,937,402.

And yet Bill's annual comp hasn't gone up by 1.71x, but by something like 8.5x.

I'm not at ALL here to argue that Bill's income, had it simply rose with inflation, would have forced him into working until he died.

But I think most people - even most super-rich people! - factor financial matters into their decision of when to retire. And when you're talking about a job that was ALREADY enormously stressful, and then you add layers of new things to figure out...it probably makes the beach more appealing to have had your income rise many many many times faster than the cost of living.

[pdub]

It really isn't.
Occam's razor.

Bennett, 55, has long bemoaned the direction of college athletics and increased emphasis on the transfer portal and name, image and likeness.

"I think it's right for student-athletes to receive revenue. Please don't mistake me," he said Friday. "The game and college athletics is not in a healthy spot. It's not. And there needs to be change, and it's not going to go back. I think I was equipped to do the job here the old way. That's who I am.

"It's going to be closer to a professional model. There's got to be collective bargaining. There has to be a restriction on the salary pool. There has to be transfer regulation restrictions. There has to be some limits on the agent involvement to these young guys. ... And I worry a lot about the mental health of the student-athletes as all this stuff comes down."

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... retirement

[BiggDick]

dunno if that quote is the smoking gun you want it to be. He also says he thinks it’s right for student-athletes to receive revenue.

And I wonder if any student-athletes’s mental health will be affected by their coach jumping ship like two weeks before the season opener.

[BiggDick]

…Virginia's lack of NIL support and/or projected revenue sharing pool.

i wonder if this might’ve really been the deciding factor

Another angle to look at it is, this might be quite an indictment of the Virginia fan base.

[DeletedUser]

dunno if that quote is the smoking gun you want it to be. He also says he thinks it’s right for student-athletes to receive revenue.

And I wonder if any student-athletes’s mental health will be affected by their coach jumping ship like two weeks before the season opener.

1. Nobody is saying the student athletes shouldn't receive compensation. The only point was that several very successful CBB coaches have retired at least in part due to the new landscape of CBB. Jay Wright and now it also appears Tony Bennett.

2. I can't tell if your mental health statement is serious or sarcastic. They all get a free pass into the portal to help their "mental health", among other things.

[TDub]

mental health,?! booo hooo , they can wipe away their tears with $100s. I hate everything.

[pdub]

dunno if that quote is the smoking gun you want it to be. He also says he thinks it’s right for student-athletes to receive revenue.

And I wonder if any student-athletes’s mental health will be affected by their coach jumping ship like two weeks before the season opener.

lol.
He has to say that to keep the JFish’s from pointing out the hypocrisies.

He literally told you the reason why he’s leaving was what Illy and I guessed.
Come on dude.

[pdub]

The only point was that several very successful CBB coaches have retired at least in part due to the new landscape of CBB. Jay Wright and now it also appears Tony Bennett.

It “appears”?
What are you, a NYT journalist?

[BiggDick]

Come on dude?

What hypocrisies, exactly?

What did he literally tell me, exactly?

again, it really does appear (see what I did there) that this may not be the smoking gun you so desperately want it to be.