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Stunner in Madison

Bennett burned out three games into season

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Wisconsin head coach Dick Bennett announced his retirement Wednesday, just three games into the 2000-01 season. The 57-year-old, who led the Badgers to a Final Four appearance last March, cited burnout as the main reason for his departure. CNNSI.com spoke with Sports Illustrated's Seth Davis about the veteran coach's unexpected decision.

CNNSI.com: How surprising is Dick Bennett's retirement?
Seth Davis: Very surprising. He did talk openly about retiring at the end of last season, but, as with many former coaches -- like Bill Guthridge, John Thompson, Dean Smith -- the biggest surprise is the timing of it. You'd think, at the very least, Bennett would have been able to make it through the season.

I brought the subject of retirement up to Bennett when I was in Madison reporting for SI's college basketball preview issue before the season. He said one major reason he came back this year was so he could get his son, Tony, started on his coaching career. So I'm very surprised at the timing, especially given how well Wisconsin played Wednesday night against Maryland, and how energized Bennett's team was. He certainly didn't look exhausted Wednesday night, so on one hand it might appear that the guy's abandoning his team. But if he really is physically and mentally exhausted, then I think he's doing the right thing by stepping away. It's just unfortunate that it has to happen during the season.

CNNSI.com: Bennett made this decision last Saturday, but asked Wisconsin athletic director Pat Richter if he could coach one last game, which turned out to be Wednesday's win over Maryland. Does that strike you as odd?
Seth Davis: Well, it's odd for a coach to step down in late November, after the games have started. Bennett is an older guy, he has been around for a while and he interviewed at Wisconsin many times before they actually hired him. Something obviously was going through his mind at the end of the last season. I don't know if the fact that he asked to coach one more game is any odder than the fact that he would decide to do this now, and not just say "I'm retiring, effective at the end of this season." The guy must have been in pretty bad shape, but again, I certainly didn't pick that up when I met with him. He seemed to coach practice with enthusiasm and he was certainly excited about his team this year, for good reason. He gave no indication that his retirement was imminent.

CNNSI.com: What kind of effect will this have on the players?
Seth Davis: Dick Bennett is an old-school guy, he's very principled and he's really one of the good guys in college basketball, so you have to figure if he's going to do this now, he must be in really bad shape, because he is, in effect, abandoning this group of kids. The current group of seniors was his first recruiting class, they brought him to the Final Four. They talked to me about how much pride they had in the fact that they all came into together and they're all leaving together. It has to be very hard for him to walk away.

CNNSI.com: Assistant Brad Soderberg takes over on an interim basis, but speculation on who will replace Bennett permanently starts now. Which names do you see surfacing?
Seth Davis: I have four words for you: anyone but Bob Knight. Every time a college job opens, Knight's name is going to be thrown in there. I'd be surprised if he was considered, though. It's really too early to speculate on a long-term replacement for Bennett, but Tom Crean of Marquette is someone who jumps to mind. Crean has only been at Marquette for two years, but the Wisconsin job would be a chance for him to go back to the Big Ten.

It's a pretty good job. Dick Bennett was a very unconventional coach. He recruited a specific kind of player, and coached a specific kind of way, so before the school decides who it wants to replace him, it's going to have to decide what kind of program it wants. I don't know too many people who could do what Dick Bennett did, and as well as he did it.

Sports Illustrated staff writer Seth Davis covers college basketball for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.

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