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The college basketball world was shocked by the recent news of Virginia basketball head coach Tony Bennett announcing his retirement. It was a big surprise as Bennett has had a ton of success with the Cavaliers, and the announcement came right before the start of the season. At the end of the day, Bennett didn't think he was the best coach to lead the program. The news got people wondering about other head coaches and their thoughts on the current landscape of college basketball, and one head coach that has discussed it is Kansas basketball coach Bill Self.
College basketball is changing, and so are all other NCAA sports in this current era of NIL and the transfer portal. Tony Bennett didn't think that he was the best person for the job with the way things are right now.
“The hardest thing to say is when I looked at myself and I realized I’m no longer the best coach to lead this program in this current environment,” Bennett said at his retirement news conference. “If you’re going to do it, you gotta be all-in. If you do it halfhearted, it’s not fair to the university and those young men. So in looking at it, that’s what made me step down.”
If you're a Kansas basketball fan, you don't have to worry about Bill Self having similar thoughts. The Jayhawks recently had their Late Night in the Phog event to get ready for the upcoming basketball season, and Self is still enjoying things in the new college basketball landscape.
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“I’m still having fun,” Self said, according to an article from Zags Blog. “It beats work. I think there’s some things about it that [Bennett’s] right on point with a lot of that stuff. I didn’t hear him say anything that wasn’t on point. But I do think it will balance out. I do think there’s going to be going to be a balance at some point in time. Now, I don’t know if that’s a year or two years down the road that looks different than it does today. But right now, to me, and my administration is basically responsible for this — to me coaching right now today isn’t any different than it was five years ago. Today, through the end of the season.”
Not a lot has changed for Bill Self
It's not a secret that a lot of things have changed in college sports in recent years, and basketball is a sport that sees some of the biggest changes. As one of the most popular, there is a lot of money in the game, and a lot of money for players. Still, for Bill Self, he's just coaching the game of basketball.
“It’s the recruiting, it’s the others things of the guys that aren’t here yet,” Self continued. “But the guys that are here, we won’t have any issues with that. So the issue will be jealousy in the locker room and stuff like that. But from my vantage point, it’s still just coaching guys.”
Self is one of the most successful head coaches in college basketball history, and his Kansas basketball team will start another season in just a couple weeks. The Jayhawks are ranked #1 to start the season, and they open their campaign on November 4th at home against Howard.
