Region takes a hit as Bennett takes Virginia job

If you’re a college basketball fan in the Northwest, excited about the direction the programs in the region were headed, then news of Tony Bennett’s departure to the University of Virginia was a gut shot.

The now former Washington State basketball coach will take the helm of the UVA Cavaliers in the wake of Dave Leitao’s firing two weeks ago. Bennett will have the pleasure of going up against the likes of North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest, Maryland, and others, every season in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Good luck with that.

Back at home, the void that Bennett leaves at WSU is a total bummer. He coached the Cougars to their first Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2007 and had amassed a 69-33 record in three seasons at Wazzu.

What he also did was build a program that was helping to create a college basketball hotbed in the rainy Northwest. The potential of a long-term rivalry between Gonzaga, Washington and even Portland State was beginning to emerge. Even Seattle U looks promising in its first season of basketball. Having four or five highly talented basketball programs within a few hundred-mile radius, who genuinely don’t like each other, battling it out year in a year out on and off the court would have been a pleasure to watch.

Maybe WSU can replace Bennett and keep the momentum going, but it seems unlikely. Some of the names people are talking about to replace Bennett are Ken Bone (Portland State) and Dan Monson (former Zags, current Long Beach State).