There’s more than one way to stay on top of your profession. One of the best ways is to take what you do best and meld it with the new trends, making your operation germane and important, now and going forward.
For the better part of eight decades, Anthony Dominick Benedetto, better known as Tony Bennett, was a musical force, a singer’s singer, who began as a nightclub crooner, singing the standards of the day.
By the time of his passing last year, Bennett was working with current favorites Lady Gaga and Carrie Underwood, staying relevant while retaining his old school charm.
This past week, another Tony Bennett, this one a college basketball coach, took another path, electing to get out of the game rather than evolve with the times.
The basketball Bennett, abruptly retired from coaching at the relatively young age of 55 and three weeks from the start of a new season.
Bennett led the University of Virginia’s men’s team to its first national title five years ago and his Cavaliers would likely have been a force to be reckoned with in their conference and nationally.
Indeed, Bennett recently signed a lucrative contract extension to stay at UVA for years to come.
But Bennett told a hastily assembled press conference last week that he’d had enough of the game that had been a part of his life for over 35 years, counting playing and coaching,
Bennett effectively came to the conclusion that he didn’t leave the game, but rather, basketball has left him.
Specifically, Bennett balked at coaching in the new paradigm of college athletics where power has shifted from the people who run it to those who play.
Bennett said quote “The game and college athletics is not in a healthy spot,” And there needs to be change. I think I was equipped to do the job here the old way. That’s who I am and that’s how it was. My staff has buoyed me along to get to this point, but there needs to be change unquote.
Waves of change have crashed over college sports in recent years. From the unholy alliances of schools in new conferences to the indirect and soon to be direct payment of athletes by boosters and schools and the transfer portal, the world that Tony Bennett entered years ago has evolved.
Some coaches have embraced the change and tried to make the most of it. But for some like Bennett and contemporaries like Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams of North Carolina and
Jay Wright of Villanova, college basketball has morphed into something they don’t want to be associated with any more.
And so each of those men, all national championship coaches and current, if not future Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinees, have called it a career, rather than try to make a go of it.
The singer Tony Bennett is, of course, best known for the haunting song “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”
His namesake, the basketball coach, may come to be known for leaving his nerve and a chance to challenge the system in Charlottesville. It’s not nearly as catchy, but a whole lot more heartbreaking.
And that’s how I see it for this week. You can reach us via email with your questions and comments at Sports at Large at gmail.com. And follow me on Threads and X at Sports at Large.
Until next week, for all of us here and for producer Spencer Bryant, I’m Milton Kent. Thanks for listening and enjoy the games.