Sweet 16 Aftermath

For some Cougar fans, basking in the afterglow of a terrific season of basketball may not have lasted very long. It’s lasted about as long as it takes to flame the fires of blogger’s keyboards. That doesn’t take long…unless the blogger is waiting for his pc to boot up Vista!

So what’s the concern? What’s the problem? Why the long face?

Here’s the dealio…

The rumor mills are ripe with stories about Coach Tony Bennett heading off to take over the Indiana University basketball program. Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports cites the administration at Indiana having made the offer to Coach Bennett just one day after the Cougs were defeated by UNC in the Sweet 16. Oh my!

Andy Katz of ESPN is reporting just the opposite. His source is named to support a contrary position. The source? Ah… Coach Bennett was contacted by ESPN.com and specifically stated that he has NOT been offered the job at Indiana.

Who’s right here?

Well, Coach Bennett fueled the rumor mills by dodging the question about whether he was considering the Indiana job. This was during the press conference following the Cougs final game of the season.

But wait. There’s more…

With Cal looking for a new head man to fill their opening, Coach Bennett’s name has been mentioned as a candidate. Cal showed their 12 year head Coach Ben Braun very little respect by firing him almost as soon as the team’s jet landed back home following the Bears final loss of the season in the NIT. Since that time, speculation is running wild as to who will take over for Cal. However, there was some hint given to the search priorities by the school athletic director, Sandy Barbour. Specifically, she is looking for a coach with “a proven track record”.

Digging a little deeper into this story, it appears that one of the prime candidates for the Cal job is Coach Bennett. There’s a twist though. Barbour and the Cal search team is supposedly taking a look at Coach Randy Bennett of St. Mary’s of the West Coast Conference. Another WCC head man, Coach Mark Few is on the rumored list.

For the sake of Cougar Nation, let’s hope the Cal job search doesn’t include our Coach Bennett.

In the meantime, let’s return to the enjoyment provided by our Cougs this past season. Rather than repeat what others have waxed on about, let me put it very simply.

“It’s great to be a Coug these days!”

GO COUGS!!!