Thoughts from Bennett's introductory news conference

by Jeff Nusser on Apr 1, 2009 11:10 AM PDT

Again, I'm not going to take up any more space on our front page talking about a guy who's not our coach anymore. But I'll offer my thoughts here for those of you who missed the press conference, and give you guys who did watch it a space to offer your thoughts, too.

Here are the conclusions I reached:

He loves his family more than anything -- you just need to look at his emotional reaction early in the press conference as he thanked his family for their support. The demands of coaching in Pullman necessarily take you away from your family, and my guess is that this wore on him. Truthfully, I can understand this -- I turned down a job I actually wanted over the summer to take another job closer to home so I'd be on the road less and home with my family more.

He saw WSU as a place where he was never going to be able to get where he wanted to be. He didn't come right out and say it, but he talked often about the facilities and the hub of recruiting at Virginia, and while you try hard not to read too much into it, it's hard not to reach the conclusion that he saw those as huge barriers to success in Pullman. It was just too much of an uphill battle that he didn't want to have to fight year after year.

He's infatuated with the ACC. You can see the stars in his eyes when he starts talking about the chance to compete in what he perceives as the biggest stage. He talked about talking to both Sendek and Dawkins about the ACC, and basically said he didn't believe them when they said the Pac-10 was comparable.

He has no clue about the mess he's left behind. Some might say he doesn't care, but personally, I'm going to choose to believe that he does care, but is just a forward-looking guy and is excited about his opportunity. For that, I can't blame him. But man, it's tough being on this end of it.

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Comments

Sounds about right

I especially agree about your first two points. It was the right decision for him to make for himself, but it sure was selfish for a man who preached about servitude. You can’t blame him in some ways, but you just didn’t think that’s the sort of person he was.

by johnnycougar on Apr 1, 2009 12:04 PM PDT reply actions

I guess he had a choice

Serve his family, or serve his employer and players. If you look at it that way, it’s not really selfish at all. (Assuming I’m correct about No. 1 being a huge factor.)

CougCenter

by Jeff Nusser on Apr 1, 2009 12:13 PM PDT up reply actions

yeah, I guess

by johnnycougar on Apr 1, 2009 12:15 PM PDT up reply actions

People say that UVA is a recruiting hotbed...

While that may be true, think about who he’s recruiting against. At WSU he had to recruit against UW, GU, and maybe UO and OSU for NW recruits. At UVA he’ll have to recruit against: North Carolina, Duke, Georgetown, Clemson, VA Tech, Maryland, Wake Forrest, NC State, and Boston College among others. As a fourth year coach with no ties to the East coast, it’s an understatement to say that he is going to have a tough time recruiting.

by GoCougs on Apr 1, 2009 12:25 PM PDT reply actions