Tony Bennett to UCLA?

[Shenexon]

Any thoughts on the Zagoria tweets about UCLA interest in Tony Bennett? Is this a real possibility?

 

[OrangeXtreme]

I thought he left his heart in San Francisco.

 

[gmoney44]

I hope so. With him there we win 1 in 10 against Virginia.

 

[Newhouser]

That doesn't seem like a fit for either.

 

[Shenexon]

HoosThat, can we get a field report? Whatcha hearing?

 

[Cheriehoop]

Big loss for the conference not just Virginia. Would be huge for not just UCLA but the ‘conference of champions’ too.

 

[Fly Rodder]

Seems like a high risk move, but probably insta-HOF if he can turn around UCLA and tame that place.

 

[HOFCeluck]

They must be offering a lot of money otherwise I don’t see anything enticing about that.

 

[OrangeDW]

I was thrilled when Howland left Pitt for UCLA.

If Virginia can just skip their “Dixon era” and go right to the “Stallings era”, that would be great.

I don’t care about the conference. I want W’s.

 

[jgeorge322]

a. they obviously offer him a ton of money, its ucla basketball
b. he'd turn them around in no time. anyone can recruit to ucla. he would therefore have even better players to play his scheme, which has already proven successful. add to it that easier to win in pac 12 than acc, and i don't see tony viewing the risk of failure to be a real deterrent.

not sure i see a lot of downside, if i am tony. only thing is he doesn't need to leave, as he has a good job, and does he want to move to la? he seems like a humble guy/not ego or greed driven, so easily could see him saying no thanks.

 

[hoopsupstate]

He would be my first choice if I had to hire a new coach. His teams are fundamentally sound, have great ball movement, are disciplined and play great defense. They are everything SU isn’t. SU can play great defense, but the other three are nonexistent.

 

[Arangeman]

UCLA looking for 52-49 games? Not sure how that plays in LA.

 

[Col. Bleep]

easier to win in pac 12 than acc,

Just wait until he runs into Hop's 2-3 zone.

 

[Briancuse]

I hope so.no offense hoos uva has become an annoyance.

 

[Madbiker]

If Bennett doesn't win 10 titles in 11 years at UCLA they'll run him out of town. Ben Howland in his 10 years with the Bruins, he had a .685 winning percentage, went to three consecutive Final Fours, and won four Pac-12 conference titles -- and then they fired him.

 

[jgeorge322]

Just wait until he runs into Hop's 2-3 zone.

Lol @ “hop’s” 2-3 zone

 

[longtimefan]

a. they obviously offer him a ton of money, its ucla basketball
b. he'd turn them around in no time. anyone can recruit to ucla. he would therefore have even better players to play his scheme, which has already proven successful. add to it that easier to win in pac 12 than acc, and i don't see tony viewing the risk of failure to be a real deterrent.

not sure i see a lot of downside, if i am tony. only thing is he doesn't need to leave, as he has a good job, and does he want to move to la? he seems like a humble guy/not ego or greed driven, so easily could see him saying no thanks.

Not sure about the money angle. UCLA has been notoriously cheap.

Wooden retired after winning the championship in '75. 18 months later Boeheim became HC at SU. There was about $5K difference in salary between what Wooden finished at and what Boeheim started at.

 

[Sherman20]

Any thoughts on the Zagoria tweets about UCLA interest in Tony Bennett? Is this a real possibility?

I think they’ll pursue him. They’ll certainly pay him more than he gets at Virginia. But it’s an open question whether or not he’ll be interested. That fan base is lunatic levels of unreasonable.

 

[HOFCeluck]

UCLA looking for 52-49 games? Not sure how that plays in LA.

I mean Ben Howland coached there for ten years.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

They must be offering a lot of money otherwise I don’t see anything enticing about that.

If it were me, i think the appeal would be: it's los angeles. Not that there's anything wrong with Virginia, but come on. And then there would be the massive salary, and surely a long term contract with a huge amount guaranteed. Even if he fails there, he could retire and just be done. Plus, less competition. He wouldn't be the default 'third' team, cache-wise. And it's a challenge. Coaches should welcome challenges, no?

 

[HOFCeluck]

If it were me, i think the appeal would be: it's los angeles. Not that there's anything wrong with Virginia, but come on. And then there would be the massive salary, and surely a long term contract with a huge amount guaranteed. Even if he fails there, he could retire and just be done. Plus, less competition. He wouldn't be the default 'third' team, cache-wise. And it's a challenge. Coaches should welcome challenges, no?

Dude needs to complete his current challenge!

 

[jgeorge322]

Not sure about the money angle. UCLA has been notoriously cheap.

Wooden retired after winning the championship in '75. 18 months later Boeheim became HC at SU. There was about $5K difference in salary between what Wooden finished at and what Boeheim started at.

1975!!!! That was 44 years ago.

 

[Hoo's That]

HoosThat, can we get a field report? Whatcha hearing?

We're hearing the same rumors as everyone else.

We also heard a lot of rumors (getting to this year) that he was leaving for Wisconsin. Oh, wait a minute it's the NBA. Oh, wait a minute, it's ...

I really don't think that his style of play would be what the UCLA fans would want. He was the coach at WAZZU and made them into a good team, but that's WAZZU (whose fans are more patient and care more about the increased number of wins rather than the stylistics that get them there), not UCLA. Could he leave? Sure. Will he leave? We don't think so.

 

[Cusefan0307]

We're hearing the same rumors as everyone else.

We also heard a lot of rumors (getting to this year) that he was leaving for Wisconsin. Oh, wait a minute it's the NBA. Oh, wait a minute, it's ...

I really don't think that his style of play would be what the UCLA fans would want. He was the coach at WAZZU and made them into a good team, but that's WAZZU (whose fans are more patient and care more about the increased number of wins rather than the stylistics that get them there), not UCLA. Could he leave? Sure. Will he leave? We don't think so.

They pushed Howland and his similar style out after he lost in the first round and won 25 games when he took UCLA to 2 FF in 9 years. UCLA deserves to rot after that.

 

[Hoo's That]

They pushed Howland and his similar style out after he lost in the first round and won 25 games when he took UCLA to 2 FF in 9 years. UCLA deserves to rot after that.

I knew that they fired Howland, but I didn't know he had such a successful record. What they did was disgraceful! How can any of their fans possibly justify that?