The end is coming soon for Washington State men’s basketball coach Dick Bennett.
Bennett said earlier this week that he will retire no later than the end of the 2006 season, and possibly as soon as the end of this one.
“I said that I’d like to get the program going so that whoever follows me has a fighting chance, a little better chance, than when I came in,” said Bennett, 61, who signed a five-year contract with WSU in 2003. “But I also want to get on with my life, so it will be either this year or next year.”
Bennett leads the Cougars against Washington at 4 p.m. Saturday in Pullman.
Bennett was a surprise choice to take over Washington State, a program that hasn’t had a winning record since the 1995-96 season. He retired in 2000, a year after leading Wisconsin to the Final Four, citing burnout with the job. Since coming to Washington State, Bennett has been frustrated by the officiating in the Pacific-10 Conference as well as the Thursday-Saturday schedule. He has a record of 23-28 with the Cougars, including a win at Arizona this season.
Bennett admitted that the losing also has worn on him.
“It’s just that we are not quite good enough, and it’s hard for me to live with that,” Bennett said. “If I was at one of those schools where you won all the time, I could probably coach until I was 75. But it’s hard losing, even when you see it coming.”
Bennett is leading a young team this season, with the Cougars starting three freshmen and playing six regularly. Washington State is 5-8 in the Pac-10, 10-12 overall and Bennett said he believes this team is better than last season’s team that went 13-16 (7-11 Pac-10), though the record might not appear to back that up. He said the fact that the team has played a more difficult schedule makes the record deceiving.
He hopes that Washington State’s administration looks beyond the record when it comes to finding his replacement. It’s long been rumored that Bennett’s son Tony, WSU’s associate head coach, would take over when his father retired.
“It’s all a matter of whether folks here think it’s moving in the right direction,” Bennett said of the basketball program. “It looks like we may not do as well as last year and that’s not a real big positive.”
Bennett said thinking about retirement isn’t something new for him. He did the same thing at Wisconsin.
“When I came here, they asked me to give them what I can and I’m doing that,” Bennett said. “At the end of the year, I will sit down and think about things. I’ll talk to my wife and see what we’re going to do.
“That’s what I’ve done for as long time. Here it’s a little more dramatic because this will probably end it for good.”
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