From Wazzu to Wahoo… Bennett proves what Huskies have said for years

Fig Jam

Namely:  WSU is train station, not a destination. 

Tony Bennett has left WSU for…. Virginia (of all places) and has left an angry Cougar populace spewing chewing tobacco all over the place.  The Bennett family has done wonders for the WSU basketball program but today is not the day to argue that they deserve a place in the Cougar Hall of Fame (which I assume is code for “a corn silo”).  The amount of animus being projected at Bennett at sites like www.cougfan.com is almost comical. 

Initial discussions have also popped up over who the successor to Bennett should be, with 2 interesting names being bandied about.  1. Ken Bone and 2. Cameron Dollar.  Bone is the logical choice as he has head coaching experience and led Portland State to the NCAA tournament this season, while Dollar would be more of a longshot, but I do find it interesting that when push comes to shove, the WSU faithful are willing to abandon all those criticisms about Lorenzo Romar and his program (ie – Romar just rolls the ball out while Bennett actually has a ’system’) in attempts to poach 2 of Romar’s proteges.  I doubt if Dollar will get serious consideration, but I’ve seen his name in more than 1 post, so I found that interesting.  Bone should be the clear cut choice in this situation, with Dollar replacing Bone at Portland State, and me replacing Dollar on the UW bench.  

There are also some hilarious suggestions, such as this list, appearing on cougfan right now:

1) Dwane Casey- I think he’d really like to get some head job- any head job, and he has some recognition in the state. I think he’d have a defense first approach, and get in to a lot of the homes in the area.

2) Billy Gillispie- Probably a bit burned by the “basketball power” experience, would probably appreciate the relative quiet of Pullman. Personality issues aside, until he got to Kentucky, all he did was win.

3) Quin Snyder- A westside guy who must be nearing the end of his basketball exile- turned down going to the Dubs as a player, a coach, and has worked with Pres. Floyd… was able to recruit strong (if undisciplined) players to Missouri.

4) Mark Few- When the job opened for Bennett, the program was in no way reasonable for someone who had what Gonzaga was to take over. Now, at this point, it’s a well-stocked team, that is the only major program in the country who can offer the same sort of geography he has now, with the draw of a Big 6 program. There’s no reason not to try.

Yeah, that’s about the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.  I’ll point out that this person forgot to put Phil Jackson  down as a potential candidate (‘dude… he’s from Montana, likes to fish, and I’ve heard from sources that he’s tired of Kobe.  Pullman would be perfect.’), as well as, Jon Wooden, and Adolph Rupp.

At the end of the day, I’m actually a little sad to see Bennett go.  He was a pretty classy guy and did seem to have something going at WSU.  It would have been interesting to see where he went with that team if he stayed for another few seasons.

UPDATE: I’m also seeing a lot of noise about Gillespie. That is re-diculous.  If only there were an example I could think of to show that this would be a bad idea.  Some major University, possibly in the same state as WSU, who hired a coach right after he got fired from a really high profile job.  Some University where that fired coach was supposed to excel and show Notre Dame Kentucky that they screwed up by firing him as the football basketball coach.  Umm… I’m pretty sure you want to stay 1000 miles away from Gillespie right now.