Bennett Will Bring Virginia Back to Basketball Prominence

The Virginia Men's Basketball Team had a down year last year, no question about it. Their coach resigned and the search for a new coach began. But on April 1 of this year, Athletic Director Craig Littlepage got it right.

Former Washington St. Head Coach Tony Bennett decided to try his hand at the ACC. Bennett was hired by Virginia to be the Cavs next Men's Head Basketball Coach. This was a great hire by Littlepage. Bennett had remarkable success at Washington St., which had very little success before Tony arrived with his Father, Dick Bennett, an outstanding coach in his own right both at Wisconsin-Green Bay, where he coached Tony, and Wisconsin before coming to Washington St.

Tony Bennett took over the WSU program in 2005 when his father retired. In his three seasons as the Cougars Head Coach, Bennett went 69-33 overall and 32-22 in the PAC-10. The 69 wins were the most in a three year period in WSU history. In 07, the Cougars reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament before being eliminated by Vanderbilt.

Virginia has a rich tradition in Men's Basketball. Names like Ralph Samson, Roger Mason, John Krate, Matt Blundin, Curtis Staples and most recently, Sean Singletary were part of that success. I believe Tony Bennett will go out and recruit the top players in Basketball hot beds such as DC, New York and Philadelphia. He'll also be able to get the best in-State talent from Richmond and the historically athlete-loaded Tidewater area on the Coast.

Don't worry Wahoo fans, Bennett will have Virginia at or near the top of the ACC once again. If he can do it at a school that didn't have much of a Basketball tradition, he can and will certainly do it in Charlottesville.