I dunno. Zion was a pretty big deal for a while.
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Big deal for basketball fans. Didnt transcend. Was very very close Iâll admit. But in a one and done world even if he did hes gone and the eyeballs went with him to Nola.
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Boosters dropping money on the transfer portal year after year is reminiscent of gambling addicts pulling on slots machines at the casino.
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College basketball has a unique pull. Itâs not just people who attend a school. Huge numbers of fans grow up as âcollege basketball fans.â My godparents were Kentucky people so I learned to hate Duke in the early 90s. My Dad grew up in NY cheering for Syracuse just because. I rooted for them to win the tourney in 2003.
I think the big wigs are massively underrating how fandom is not just developed when kids go to a school but also a homegrown thing that hooks people while they are young. You need some continuity and tradition to keep that going. Going to see a lot of chipping away at that between conference realignment and transfer portal killing continuity of rosters year oover year.
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Alright guys Iâve come around to an optimistic view of things. Let me explainâŚ
Tony Bennett was a legend. Best coach weâll ever have. Period. I will miss him beyond measure, but what he said in his presser about not being the ârightâ coach for this day and age is right. Frustrations with the current state of NIL and college athletics aside, we need a coach that can succeed in this new world. And while Iâll miss the high floor and ACC dominance that TB could provide even in his âdownâ years, I think it was very clear that the program was in a rut.
So now, we have a scenario thatâs imo best case. Sanchez gets an opportunity to take the roster Tony helped build, and provide continuity into a new season. The drop off shouldnât be that severe over a one year period from a coaching standpoint. Theoretically. If we have a good year (this means win a tournament game) and thereâs reason for optimism going into next offseason (ie young players breaking out), then you have reason to roll with Sanchez. Not sure what that would look like though because Iâm still not sure heâs the right long term fit, but we can debate.
If we have a down year which is fairly likely, then we can have a big head start on finding the right fit. This is an attractive job, and with the right coach, in this new era, we can put together a competitive roster fairly quickly. Whether thatâs the coach retaining some of our better players, bringing over some of âhis guysâ, or recruiting the portal, itâs not a scenario where we have to wait years to be good again. Louisville is one example. Not that theyâll be amazing this year but in one offseason they pieced together a really solid roster. Maybe not the best example but let me have this one.
Iâve reached acceptance stage. Not going to wallow anymore, especially when itâs beautiful outside here in Charlotte, NC. Weâre going to get through this guys. UVA basketball WILL be back at some point; I truly believe that. Hope everyone has a great Sunday
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The problem though â what are we as fans going to be happy with?
Whenâs the last time a college coaching legend was replaced by someone with cachet within a year following his retirement? (And Iâm saying retiring, not leaving for another college gig like Cal or Barnes).
Larry Brown was replaced by a 10-year assistant under Dean Smith (and heâs now in the HOF, but who knew that in 1988?).
Dean Smith was succeeded by his longtime assistant, Bill Guthridge (then Matt Doherty).
John Thompsonâs replacement was his longtime assistant, Craig Esherick.
Roy Williams and K succeeded by their assistants, Hubert Davis and Jon Scheyer, respectively. Boeheim by his assistant, Adrian Autry, Calhoun by his assistant, Kevin Ollie. Knight by his assistant Mike Davis.
Even Terry Holland by his assistant, Jeff Jones.
I guess the point is, proven head coaches seem relunctant to follow a retiring legend.
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Or that ADs donât fight legendary HCâs on their succession plans, for two reasons.
(1) They run the risk of incurring the wrath of donors more loyal to the HOF coach than the AD.
(2) If the AD picks an outsider and they fail, itâs all on the AD and likely costs them their job, but if the HOFâerâs chosen successor fails, the AD can point the finger at the old coach.
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Yeah, but that will be Wakeâs fault.
Seriously, though, I donât think itâs the money thatâs going to turn off fans. I think it will be having to learn to love an entirely new set of players every year. You donât have time to grow emotionally attached. (On the other hand, Kentucky and Duke didnât seem to lose any fans when all their players were one-and-done, so who knows?)
It would be a similar dynamic with pro sports if every player was a free agent every year. But theyâre not: There are restrictions in place, like contracts and collective bargaining. I think thatâs what CTB was talking about when he referred to âguardrails.â He even mentioned collective bargaining explicitly.
Also, itâs clear the grind of of the job now â full speed nonstop all year, with no down time anymore â wore him down and got in the way of enjoying things he cherished, like his family.
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I agree here. The problem is the free agency every year for your entire team. I am a pretty invested fan, but even I find it difficult to get too invested in several of our players. Just feels like most wonât end up meaningfully contributing to us.
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Based on prior comments, I assume that among the âguardrailsâ he spoke of were things that would fall under the umbrella of âwork/life balance for coachesâ â e.g. build a couple breaks into the schedule.
I mean, fall break was the first couple days he had to stop and think since the end of last season, and weâre a couple weeks away from next season? Thatâs not sustainable.
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Yeah, because (a) they win and (b) those guys often become NBA stars (who then claim Duke or UK as their alma mater in pregame introductions). Very different for all those mid-level teams that are stuck in mediocrity with players they never hear from again.
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Evolving the âDirector of Scouting / Recruitingâ role to be a full fledged GM to handle the transfer portal would ostensibly let the head coaches get less burned out by recruiting both HS and Portal. First problem is college coaches are roster control freaks and donât want to cede that to anyone else. Second problem is the HC still has the unenviable job of trying to keep the current players happy enough to not bolt in the Portal, which I bet Tony really grew to hate.
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I think youâre right the first time. Perennially dominant teams like Duke and Kentucky are different â they tend to attract the sort of fan that just likes being a fan of a dominant team, and doesnât need to (or maybe care to) get emotionally attached to the players. But you can only have a few teams like that.
But when every school has massive turnover every year, so thereâs little emotional attachment to players, and 99% of those teams remain mediocre anyway, the bloom is off the rose.
Edit: er, yeah, what @StLouHoo already said.
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How attractive is the Virginia job?
- JPJ half full the last few seasons
- ACC a dying conference
- Youâre competing against the Carolina market (to an extent)
- Academic restrictions
- NIL seems good, but restrictive (not sure how much is Tony v how much is the University)
- Following a legend
I think itâs attractive but itâs not a job that attracts a bonafide top coach. To be fair, not many jobs in college basketball that would - we are just not in that company.
That leaves you with competing with any P5 team that has an opening next Spring for an up-and-comer. No clue who they are but I think either way itâs not a slam dunk that weâre the âtop jobâ.
That sounds doom & gloom. I just think we will have a ceiling (unless we back up a truck) of who is interested and wonât necessarily receive our pick. I think it will still attract guys that succeeded at a mid major or high major - but think guys like Otz would pass.
Agree with all that. Plus third problem, the recruit (including transfer recruits) would rather be recruited by the coach. The coach is the guy they want to be comfortable with, have a relationship with; thatâs the guy they want to want them. So there is a recruiting disadvantage to outsourcing the job.
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Maybe not âloseâ fans, but my UK friends in Louisville hated OAD because they looked at the Pitino 1992-96 years as the âgood old days.â They got to watch a team develop and flourish (much like we did with Bennett), and didnât have to learn 7-8 new names every year.
It was more ambivalence. Theyâre hoping Pope goes back to the old days, but understand NIL and the portal are a barrier to developing players over more than a 1-2 year window. What they hated under Cal will now be commonplace, they fear.
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Iâve heard Duke fans express the same sentiment. Itâs no different from the rest of us who still enjoy college basketball and football and yet maybe donât enjoy it quite as much, or in the same way, as we used to.
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5mil a year would make it pretty darn attractive.
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Of course Iâm still excited. Itâs Virginia basketball! Iâve been excited for over 40 years. (Okay⌠I waned during Leitao.)
But hereâs two specific reasons Iâm less excited than I would otherwise be.
- As much as I root for Virginia, I was also rooting for Tony Bennett himself. And this season, I wanted to see him defeat two narratives: one, that he canât coach offense; and two, that he canât adapt to the new rules. I still think both are false (the latter especially), but now he wonât get to prove it.
- I donât really âknowâ Sanchez. If JWilly were taking over, Iâd have a connection; it would be more like a Holland-to-Jones situation. I already liked Jeff Jones. Sanchez is a blank slate for me. (To be clear, Iâve never met any of these guys.)
But yeah, Iâm excited. Less so. But itâs still Virginia ball games.
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Also think weâre overstating the ânew team to root for every yearâ. A successful coach here should be able to retain a solid core year over year. Will be definitely be more attrition than weâre used to but could also see us using NIL to keep players in college longer.
What will suck is younger players who need development will be major flight risks if they donât play right away. Thats the case now but TB did a better job at retaining these types of players than our future coach will.
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