The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Coach Tony Bennett Retires From UVA Hoops; 6 Minutes Of Tony Bennett Press Conference

Episode Date: October 18, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Coach Tony Bennett Retires From UVA Hoops 6 Minutes Of Tony Bennett Press Conference Why Did Bennett Retire With Such Short Notice? Award-Winning Journalist Jerry Ratcliffe Joins Us Ratcliffe’s Thoughts On Bennett Retirement Ron Sanchez Named Interim Head Coach UVA Mount Rushmore: Where Does Tony Rank? Impact Of Tony Bennett On CVille & Central VA Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air Jerry Radcliffe (JerryRatcliffe.com) joined Jerry Miller live on The I Love CVille Show! The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Friday afternoon, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville show. Thank you for bearing with us as we started a little bit later today. There was a lot on our plate as we edited and produced some of the sound from the press conference today. We'll play about six minutes from Coach Bennett's press conference. We watched it at our I Love Seville studio. Our featured guest, Jerry Hootie Ratcliffe of jerryratcliffe.com, was at the

press conference in person, asked a question to Coach Bennett that we watched right here in our I Love Seville studio. An emotional time for many in the fan base, an emotional time for me, for you, for Wahoos across the globe. Tony Bennett took a program that was reeling, and he made it a national success story. We watched firsthand as the team loses to UMBC and then responds by winning a national championship. We watched firsthand a coach take a program that was the doormat of the Atlantic Coast Conference and turn it into a perennial contender, one that was capable of not

just beating the blue bloods, Duke and UNC of the Atlantic Coast Conference, but was capable of silencing the blue bloods of the ACC, their fan bases, their talent, their pro talent, their coaches. Tony Bennett did it, and he did it his way. And his way was a way of integrity, honesty, authenticity, a way back by his precious pillars, pillars that became not just key components of the UVA program, but key components of the fan base as a whole. Today we start the new chapter, and it's a chapter going to be led by Ron Sanchez, the interim head coach.

We'll talk about that with Jerry Ratcliffe. We'll talk about the impact of name, image, and likeness, the NIL and the transfer portal, and the influence they had in Tony Bennett retiring with about three weeks left before the 2024-2025 season. A lot we're going to cover on the program. Judah Wickhauer behind the camera. If we can go to the studio camera and then a two-shot

and welcome Jerry Hootie Ratcliffe to the show. Let me know with a thumbs up when we're live on LinkedIn, please, so I can let those followers know. Hootie, you are on camera now. You have quite a few people watching. You, my friend, at the press conference today, what was the tone, the tenor, what was the mood of the press conference?

Well, it was very somber in some ways and to steal one of Tony Bennett's expressions joyful in another because so many people were so thankful for what he brought to this city in this state and this university and you know some people like Rick Carlisle flew in just to thank Tony Bennett for what he had done for UVA. And a lot of people were there just to wish him well on his new journey, which is yet to be determined exactly what that's going to be. But it was a mixture of emotions, and so was Tony Bennett. He was smiling and happy on some occasion throughout the press conference and choked up several times during some of his answers

and explanations to what led him to today? I want to highlight this. Quitting while you're ahead is not the same as quitting. And Coach Bennett, quitting while he's ahead here, this is his decision, a decision that was not made for him, that often happens in athletics when it comes to head coaches or athletic directors. Not many people get to call their shots. Exactly.

He's calling his shots. I want to throw this to you, NIL and Transfer Portal and the influence it had on this decision for Coach Tony Bennett. Major impact. As we've seen, and even Tony pointed out, as we've seen with Jay Wright, Mike Krzyzewski, Nick Saban, Jim Boeheim, and I imagine we'll probably see others, had a major impact. He just said that he had been soul-searching for, well, he and Carla had been having this discussion,

Carla Williams, the AD, had been having this discussion for three years. She tried to talk him out of it. He thought about maybe retiring at the end of last season, but they went straight into the transfer portal recruiting, which falls right on the heels of the end of the season. They were excited. He was excited about some of the players they landed. He was excited about getting Chance Mallory into the program. And he was fired up, but

he kept being haunted by the fact that of the NIL and the transfer portal and there's really little time off for coaches these days there's so much pressure it's so much about money and some of this goes against some of his five pillars that you mentioned and he he said humility and passion were the two pillars that really got to him in the end. And he struggled. He choked up when he said, I came to the realization. He and his wife Laurel went on the fall break mini vacation down to eastern Virginia. And it was then that he just said,

it's time, it's time for him to step away. And he choked up and he said, I'm no longer the coach to lead this program. And he wanted to turn it over to one of his trusted lieutenants, Ron Sanchez, like you said, on an interim basis. And that's where we are right now. Ron Sanchez, the interim head coach. We'll talk about the NIL and the transfer portal, how it may impact the current roster. We'll talk about the NIL and the transfer portal and what needs to change in college sports.

First, the focus on Tony Bennett. Soon we'll play six minutes from his press conference. Earlier today, a press conference at the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, Hootie Ratcliffe was at. Tony Bennett, emotional throughout this press conference. I appreciate that emotion. It showed his authenticity. Oh, no question.

And we have rarely over the last 15 years seen him get emotional like that. But, I mean, it was tough on him to step away from this. As much as he loved it, he called himself a square peg in a round circle. And, you know, other people believe that he still is equipped to do the job. I mean, I think everybody on this set thinks that.

Yeah, but in his heart, and talking with his father, Dick, who told him to follow his heart, but that if you can't give it 100% of your attention, then it might be time to step away. And that was it that Tony said that you have to be all in and and he's he just can't bring himself to do that and he talked about college at the state of college athletics and that it's not healthy right now and there needs to be revision. There needs to be changes. And I hope somebody out there is listening because we're losing too many giants in the game, people who matter, people who stand for something and do it the right way.

And I'm afraid if we keep losing these guys, then college athletics is going to be run by the people who don't think that way. Well said, Hootie. Six minutes of audio and sound, Judah. We'll get that queued up here. We'll play that in about 90 seconds or so. I'm emotional about this. The impact of Tony Bennett not just as basketball coach at UVA, the impact of Tony Bennett not just in the athletic department, but the impact of Tony Bennett on the University of Virginia in totality and its history.

Can you try to put that in perspective? I cannot think of a single person on this planet that I know that is more equipped to answer that question than you. Yeah, I mean, he was so unique. I remember the day before it was even announced that he was the coach, and I was able to graciously break the story thanks to John Oliver, who let me know about it before the story broke. And John Oliver told me that day, he says, Jerry, this is a young Mike Krzyzewski. And that was mind boggling at the time because Krzyzewski was on top of the college basketball world.

I don't think anybody really knew what they were getting in Tony Bennett, not just as a coach but just as a person. And he's had such an impact on this university and the program and everybody who follows it. Just in the way he handles himself, he's a perfect role model for every kid. He's a perfect role model for every father. Every sport.

Every father. Every father. I mean, I'm a father. He does everything the right way. I mean, it's not just about basketball. And he was excellent at that, doing it in a very unique way. It's not just about basketball. He was excellent at that, doing it in a very unique way.

He said that was one of the beauties of the sport. It was a sport that you could do things your own way and still succeed. It took some tolerance by Craig Littlepage and those guys. The first couple of years, as Craig said, were a little choppy.

But they could see what Tony Bennett was all about. They could see the big picture. And the way he handled himself, not just through wins. He was such a gracious winner, but he was a gracious loser. And who will ever forget the heartbreak of the UMBC loss that year when Virginia was the number one seed in the nation and became the first team to ever lose to a 16 seed in a shocking loss. And the way he handled that, It was written about nationally, not just in basketball circles, but in all aspects of life,

where people took that as an example of how to overcome adversity and how to handle yourself in the worst moments. The way he impacted the players in his program and other athletes around the university, I'm sure, took a lot of notice into how he operated, and I'm sure coaches did too, not just at UVA but elsewhere. I remember a national poll of college basketball head coaches a couple of years ago, and they said,

if you had a son that was going to play college basketball, who would you want him to play for? And it was almost unanimous, Tony Bennett. That speaks volumes. I mean, he just, to me, he's the perfect role model for any sport, but for just life in general, how he just developed players, not just as athletes, but as young men. And a lot of players came here because of that, not only for basketball,

but what they felt like and what they had seen him do for other players. Well said. I'm looking at a text exchange my wife and I had during the press conference. A press conference, Hootie Ratcliffe attended in person and asked a question of Tony Bennett in person. And I'm reading one of the blue bubbles, which are mine. Hers are the gray bubbles. Tony Bennett is the type of guy you want your son around,

our sons around, is what I sent her. We have six minutes of sound, the meat and potatoes of the press conference. Then I'm going to ask Hootie Ratcliffe, after these six minutes from the press conference, why did Coach Bennett retire on such short notice? I'm going to ask him his thoughts on Ron Sanchez as the interim head coach. I'm going to ask Hootie Ratcliffe if Coach Sanchez will get a fair shake to maybe shed the interim label and be the permanent head coach. I'm going to ask, as many in the fan base are wondering, if the timing was almost

strategic in a way to make sure Coach Sanchez would get a shot at coaching the team as opposed to a national search opening up the job for other guys to compete with Coach Sanchez. I'm going to ask Hootie Radcliffe if any of the players on the current roster or commits to be maybe shaky on their commitment to the University of Virginia. First, if we can get the meat and potatoes of today's press conference, please watch this closely. I watched it twice. Hootie saw it in person.

I think these are the six minutes where you see the roller coaster of emotions, Tony Bennett's authenticity, his emotions, which we rarely see. And I want to emphasize this again. Quitting while you're ahead is not the same as quitting because you're forced to leave. And Coach Bennett called his shot. Judah Wicker, that sounded three, two, and one, please. And I think those are the ones that caused me at this time to look and have sober judgment about where I was at. And that's probably the thing that has choked me up the most. And 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. And if you're going to do it, you've got to be all in. You've got to have everything. And if you do it half-hearted, it's not fair to the university and those young men. So, you know, in looking at it, that's what made me step down there's still a way in this environment there's a way with Carla and president Ryan and the board to do it and hold to our values but it's complicated and to admit

honestly that I'm not equipped to to do as humbly, but it honors the pillars. And maybe that's why I knew I was going to do this. And sorry, you can make fun of me later. My son, he's like, geez, dad, get a hold of yourself. I know it. I feel it. Just make fun of one of my friends. Every time he gets interviewed, that gets emotional. He knows who I'm talking about. But that's it. You know, this game, I think it's right for players, student athletes to receive revenue. Please don't mistake me. I do.

I think it is. But the game and college athletics is not in a healthy spot. It's not. And there needs to be change. And it's not going to go back. I think I was equipped to do the job here the old way. That's who I am, and that's how it was.

And my staff has buoyed me along to get to this point. But there needs to be change. It's going to be closer to a professional model, Coach Carlisle, I think it is, where there's got to be collective bargaining. There has to be a restriction on the salary pool that teams can spend. There has to be transfer regulation restrictions.

There has to be some limits on the agent involvement to these young guys. And there are good agents and there are bad agents. And they're driving some of this stuff that we're in. And I worry a lot about the mental health of the student athletes as all this stuff comes down. And sometimes when you're in it, you have to step away. And maybe I can be an advocate for the student athletes and the coaches to get the changes.

But this is a place that will not compromise and do it the right way. And I wish it could be me, but it can't. And when you know in your heart it's the time, you have to give it away. And I'll just go through just so you understand, and then I'll take questions. And I'm sorry to be this long, but just there's a lot there. After the season, I thought about maybe stepping away. Every coach, you get to that, it's a long season.

It was a hard ending. And I thought about that. But the way the recruiting calendar works, we literally jump in. You have no time for two straight months. We're in the transfer portal. You guys know that. And you're involved in situations and conversations

and things that I'm not great at. But because my staff, because of Coach Sanchez, Coach Williford, Coach Vandross, all this coach, all the staff, Coach Zay, we got excited. We landed a good, really good group of transfers. We had two good incoming players. And I was excited about that and going forward. And then I was offered a contract extension. And I signed it it and I didn't

know if I'd be able to do the whole six or seven years obviously but I was excited and thought I think I can do this and I'm excited about the way forward and as the season then we got a great commitment from a local kid I don't even know if I can say his name he hasn't signed so okay I can't so what does it matter I mean I can't get in trouble can I so I think you can and I was encouraged and excited me for this way forward and kind of went through the summer and the fall and hoping to to do this and felt some things as as it went along and it really wasn't until fall break that we have here where Laurel and I went away and just kind of processed about what the future would would be

and that's where I kind of came to the realization that that I can't do this it's not fair to these guys and to this institution that I love so much to continue on when you know you're not the right guy for the job. And the reason I did it then instead of waiting, and I've always wanted this to be taken over by one of my staff members. I always have.

And I just felt if I knew it was the time, instead of trying to delay it, I wanted these guys and the staff to have a couple scrimmages three weeks before they play games to get together and just to step out of the way and get away. I'll still be around. I'll still try to encourage if I'm allowed to be, but I won't overdo it.

But that was the timeline, and I didn't know it would happen like this. But as I said, when you know in your heart it's your time, it's your time, and it's wrong to stay in this. And it's hard to admit that, but I am so grateful. That right there, the meat and potatoes of today's press conference with Coach Tony Bennett and his retirement announcement. Hootie Ratcliffe in person at that presser asked a question following Tony Bennett's

monologue. And then interesting conversation you had, a brief conversation with Coach Bennett following the presser, Hootie. Yeah, I just wanted to thank him for being such a good guy to deal with over 15 seasons. If you're around a program for that long, it's meaningful to have a good relationship, if you can, with the people you cover and uh certainly

tony bennett was a great guy to work with um and he i just thanked him for being a good guy and he he said i remember that first day that i was introduced as head coach you were sitting right there on the front row and i i said yeah and then then he joked and he said, you outlasted me, which I've outlasted, I guess, a lot of coaches during my time. But he's such a gracious and thoughtful guy. And it was nice to just have that exchange with him. Hootie Racklow spent to 50 straight ACC basketball tournaments, ladies and gentlemen.

That's an unprecedented record when it comes to college hoops in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Some pointed questions for you. These did not come up in the press conference because it was more of a tribute to Coach Bennett. Ron Sanchez has the, I don't know, depending on how you look at it, the dubious task or the appealing task of following Coach Tony Bennett, appealing in that he has a loaded roster dubious and that he's following one of the most beloved coaches in University of Virginia history and a national championship award winner kind of a glass is half full class is half

empty type thing Ron Sanchez is the interim head coach open-ended anywhere you want to go on that one well the old coaches will tell you never follow a legend and certainly that's proven to be a very difficult task for a lot of people over the decades and it won't be easy for ron sanchez he is inheriting a really good program and a very talented team one that had tony really excited about the season. And, you know, we talked about this back in May. We told people, and we were scoffed at by a lot of people that said we were delusional that it was a plan to bring Ron Sanchez back to be his successor and that Tony may not coach this season.

Even after he signed the contract, he left himself an out. And a lot of people laughed at us, Jerry, about some of the reporting we did, you and I and Chris Graham over the mountain. And I hope people remember that. But it was important for Tony to bring Ron Sanchez, one of his guys, back. I asked him specifically about Ron Sanchez, what he liked about him, and he said he was such a loyal servant, was with him at Washington State. Sanchez is a lawyer.

This is a great story here. I had actually played for Tony's sister in college basketball and his sister told Tony back then one of these days if you ever have a chance you might want to take a look at this guy

Ron Sanchez because she knew what a quality person he was. She mentioned that Tony Bennett recounts this story in the press conference, Tony Bennett's sister coaching Ron Sanchez's wife when they were just dating at the time. Right. And his sister says to Coach Bennett, if you ever have the chance, here's an assistant coach you should hire. Yes, absolutely.

Amazing. And he certainly did at Washington State, and Ron followed him here. Across the country. Across the country, blind faith. Then, you know, I think it was probably a great idea that he went to Charlotte and got some head coaching experience. I think maybe some of this was all in the big picture.

Like I said, Tony's been thinking about that. He and Carla have been having this discussion, she said, for three years. So I think this has been in the works for quite a while. They did a pretty good job of keeping it quiet, although some of us who've been around kind of saw the little hints of things here and there. And usually where there's a lot of smoke, there's a fire. But, you know, Ron Sanchez was at Charlotte for a while. We thought immediately that him leaving after having his best season there a couple years ago and coming back here, something was up because it's just not a normal move in college basketball

or any sport for that matter. So going to be a lot of pressure on Ron to succeed, but he does have the pieces to make a nice run this season. It is an interim head coaching label, and Carla said that they would have a national search at the end of the season, and I assume that if he's met the expectations, he will hold on to the job. If he doesn't meet expectations, I imagine they will open it up for a national search. And it's a lot of pressure on him and the rest of that staff to produce.

And it's not easy. The ACC is going to be pretty challenging this year. Virginia was picked fifth in the preseason poll. Fifth in the preseason poll and not a single player on the all-ACC preseason teams. Exactly. Exactly. With so many new pieces, I think a lot of people just aren't familiar with these guys and how good some of them are.

But it's a tremendous pressure on him and the staff to deliver. And, wow, I mean, it's a great opportunity, but it's certainly going to be a challenge. Some fans around the program asking the question, the short notice, a little less than three weeks before the season starts, was it a strategic move to give Ron Sanchez some runway as the interim coach? If this was done at the tail end of this past season, a national search would have most likely ensued. And had a national search ensued, the chances of Ron Sanchez getting tabbed, the head coach, even if it's interim head coach, probably not that great.

It would have been interesting to see just who might have applied for this job had that been the case. I think it would have been a fairly large applicant pool. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, this is a good job. Great job. I mean, we saw back in Terry Holland's day when he announced before the season started that it was going to be his last season and that he wanted Dave Odom to be his successor, but the AD at that time wouldn't consider it.

He wanted a national search. And so Dave Odom ended up not getting the job. Do you buy that theory as it applies to this scenario? I don't know if that would have been the case this time or not, but it would have been interesting. I do think that Tony was pretty determined to have one of his own guys take his place. He said so.

He said it was very important to him for one of his staff, Ron or Jason Wilford, to take his place. I think Sanchez probably got the nod because he had head coaching experience. I think the timing probably had have to compete with an open field, so to speak, for that opportunity, and I think Carla was gracious enough. She trusts Tony's judgment. She said so when we were talking after the press conference that she trusted his judgment on Ron. But I think that if nothing else, it certainly assured that that would happen. You've got a lot of comments coming in. John Blair watching the program in Stanton. This guy's a college football fanatic.

He says, Hootie Ratcliffe, you're correct. You guys called this. Chris Graham called this. And you guys were called crazy at the time. Well done. Thank you. He says, amazing reporting happening right now with a local legend in Hootie Ratcliffe. Spot on reporting on the University of Virginia. Hootie Ratcliffe. That's John Blair. You have quite a few people watching the program, names you know watching.

Chad Wood says the portal and the NIL are ruining college sports. As Coach Bennett said, there has to be some regulation. Rob Craig watching the program. Great coach, better man. Hard not to shed tears today. At least the program is significantly better than when he first took the job. I concur. Kevin Higgins.

I think God comes to us in pieces. He is a piece. He won his biggest championship today, in my opinion. What an outstanding human being, Tony Bennett. Bill McChesney, the transfer portal is open for the next 30 days for current UVA players. How will that impact the roster? I'll throw that to you here shortly. Dan Pettit, I totally understand Coach Bennett's decision.

I have felt this way when I knew when I needed to move on from a position. It's a positive thing. The transfer portal and this roster and how it could be impacted by its leader stepping down. Do you see attrition with the roster? Well, you never really know because you don't know what kids are thinking and you don't know who's in their ear. There are some bad agents out there, some bad people out there who may try to influence some of these kids. I'm certainly, I wouldn't be surprised if there may be some tampering that may occur from other programs because that seems to be a trend a very disturbing trend that the ncaa has no absolutely no control over which is uh terrifying it's a shame it's an embarrassment um but i really don't think that they're going to lose any guys. I mean, they could, but I really don't think so.

I think they have enough respect for Tony and the staff that these guys will give them the opportunity to lead these kids. I think that, sure, a lot of them came here because they love Tony Bennett and what he stands for and his record. But they also know that this staff has been able to develop players to take it to the next level. Even Tony pointed out, and Tony, so modest, he normally wouldn't mention something like this,

but he went out of his way to talk about how many, that Virginia is first or second in terms of having the most players on NBA rosters who were not. They were first in the NBA for players not being ranked in the top 25 in their class. Yeah. And then he threw out a different statistic, one of the top programs in the country of having current and active NBA players.

Right. And who would have ever seen that a long time ago when you first got here? I mean, that used to be one of the raps that other coaches used against him in negative recruiting is you go to go to Virginia you never play in the pros and he certainly shattered that uh criticism but a lot of these kids believe in the program they believe in in the way that these this coaching staff um cares for them and tries to develop them not just as players but as young men and gives them at least an opportunity to make it at the next level. I really don't see any attrition. I could be wrong, and we may sit here a month from now

and maybe somebody will leave, I don't know. But I really think that they believe strongly in what Virginia is doing. And even though they came here because of Tony Bennett, they also came here for other reasons because they like what this program stands for. Do you think the attrition, if there is any, most impacts transfers new to the program or those that have years of investment in the program? There's one guy in particular that I'm curious about, the point guard from Kansas State. Yeah, I mean. Day Day is a guy that can play anywhere. He is, I think, one of the key guys to this team. He is an up-tempo guy, a pesky defender, a guy who could finish at the rim, who's going to instigate a lot of the offense for this team in a lot of ways.

I see Day Day as one of the key components of this program here. He is fresh to Charlottesville and UVA. Yeah, and I see where you're coming from. And yeah, I think it may cross some people's minds, and who knows what kind of temptations there's going to be out there from tampering and NIL money elsewhere, et cetera. It's a great unknown, and certainly I'm sure that if other programs come after Virginia players, I'm sure he will be one of the targets because, like you said, he's just a rising sophomore and fresh in and certainly a very attractive marketable player that people will desire.

But I think these kids probably want to, I think they've been here long enough to where they feel comfortable with these coaches and will give them a chance. I think a lot of these guys want to see what it's like playing in the ACC. They're playing a very challenging schedule. I just think that they're going to give these guys a chance. And who knows, after a season, all bets are off because no matter if they finish with a subpar record

or if they end up in the Sweet 16 or better, all bets are off because you don't know who's coming after these kids and what kind of things they're throwing at them. Here's a challenging question for you. Is the program best suited with Ron Sanchez as its leader, or is the program best suited for a national coaching search to see who's interested in the job and if you're able to get a true superstar in coaching to come to charlottesville

well it depends it depends on a lot of factors uh you want to start all over again with new people that you don't know that well you that you're maybe rolling the dice on or do you want some continuation some continuity of what you've had for the past 15 years certainly everything is in place

to not skip a beat there's going to be heavy pressure on Ron Sanchez to deliver. Is the pressure ACC regular season champion, tournament champion, must make the big dance NCAA tournament pressure? Well, it's difficult to judge. I would think that the NCAA tournament is an expectation. I don't think winning the ACC regular season or tournament probably are because even with Tony, that wasn't something that a lot of people felt like might happen this year

because the ACC is very loaded. There's some really good teams and a lot of players coming back and a lot of influx of superstar players due to the NIL. So I think the NCAA tournament is a reasonable expectation for Ron Sanchez and his staff. I think a lot of ADs would like that continuity, familiarity, comfortability, rather than taking a chance on the flavor of the month. I don't know how many hot shot coaches, big time coaches that you see on TV might have had any interest in this job at all. It's difficult to gauge because it's been so long since Virginia's had a

coaching search. You don't know what other coaches are thinking about this job. Certainly it's a great job, great facilities, great fan base, everything you need to win, with the exception of maybe the NIL insanity that's out there right now. And some coaches, that's not for them. They'd rather coach somewhere where they pay players to play, essentially. Does Coach Bennett at all flirt with professional basketball I don't

think so I think his coaching days are done uh that it kind of alluded with the side sidebar conversations with Carla that it's an athletic department type time yeah he said maybe like fundraising or something yeah he he said that they've talked about it on and off for a long time, and he would like a, I think he said, a part-time job with a lot of vacations. That's what he said, yeah. And I think he's earned that. He has. But, you know, I think he would like to hang around, and I think he would like to be somebody who is an advocate for changing.

He said that too. And uniforming the college game to make it a better sport without the insanity that we're going through now. So we won't continue to lose great coaches throughout the country. Jay Billis pushed for this. I can't think of anybody better. Well said.

I think Tony Bennett or Mike Krzyzewski, either one. Mike Krzyzewski talked for a year about that college basketball needed a basketball czar who could bring things together and make it make sense. And I can't think of anybody better than Tony Bennett to do that. That's very well said. He alluded to that. I could see him becoming a fantastic fundraiser. I can see him almost becoming in, what is it in the media business, in a budsman? Yeah. Kind of

like a third party watchdog. Well, certainly if you wanted to send him out to close deals with heavy hitters, take him out for a round of golf and yuck it up and tell stories, you couldn't find anybody better. That man could raise money. I mean, cut to chase. Tony Bennett could do anything. Tony Bennett's coming to your office today and you're going to go play

18 and maybe give turnover a six-figure check. Six-figure check. I think a lot of people would be eager to do that. Absolutely. Absolutely. You've got comments coming in on your Twitter account that I'll get to. Jefferson Hiker is his handle.

He goes, his first name is Rich. He says, I hope Coach. He's a Tennessee boy. He's watching. He says, I hope Coach Ron Sanchez is given a fair chance to become the Virginia basketball coach. Skip Johnston watching the program. Texas boy.

Says, thank you, Coach Bennett. Agree totally with your comments about the state of college athletics. So darn glad your health is good. Enjoyed watching every game. Soccer 1968. A lot of comments we're not going to be able to get to here at the 123 marker of this talk show. I have some comments that I, historical perspective, that I would love to get from the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, Hootie Ratcliffe. We talked about Rushmore of Athletics. Slam dunk Tony Bennett's on it.

Mount Rushmore of Athletics, Terry Holland, Ralph Sampson, George Welsh, Tony Bennett I want to ask you about the Mount Rushmore of UVA history wow it's a big mountain starts with Thomas Jefferson the founder of the university President Alderman on there. Castine had a long run as president.

Tony Bennett in that conversation, the Mount Rushmore of UVA history. You talk about a guy that's very below the radar that's had a huge impact, Jeffrey Woodruff, $180 million donated to the University of Virginia, top donor in history, data science school. He built with his own money. The squash centers at Forsett, he built with his own money. He's a university graduate. He's probably on there.

A lot of folks don't know that name. Gene Corrigan would be someone that would be on there because he changed the outlook of UVA athletics forever because with his Corrigan report, which he thought he might get fired for, for telling it like it is and telling it like it needed to be told, when he said the university wasn't investing in the athletic program the way the other, so they could compete with other ACC schools. And he was dead on right. And instead of getting fired, the president then listened with great intent

and agreed with him, and they changed things forever. I don't know if they had rejected his thoughts at that point. I don't know if UVA Athletics would have turned around over the next 15 or 20 years. It was one of the biggest moments in UVA Athletic history, in my opinion, that he had the guts to do what he did and should never be forgotten for that as a young AD. Certainly he was a guy that belongs on that mountain. There are others in athletics that have done incredible jobs like Debbie Ryan and Bruce Arena and Brian Boland winning all the national championships, Brian O'Connor, what he's done. Don Staley.

The baseball program, Don Staley. So many athletes in so many sports. The current Olympic swimmers for UVA. So many people, I'm sure we're overlooking some people, but going back into the old days, Art Gipp and Frank Murray in football did some incredible things. Some of the guys that are in the College Football Hall of Fame from this program, like Joe Palumbo and others,

it's a massive mountain, but at the very top, certainly there's a spot for Tony Bennett. Well said. Ken Elzinga, the economics professor. Larry Sabato, another one that comes to mind. Paul Tudor Jones comes to mind. Carl Smith.

Carl Smith absolutely comes to mind. Frank Batten comes to mind. Carl Smith. Carl Smith absolutely comes to mind. Frank Batten comes to mind. And for Coach Bennett to be on that list of, you know, some of the most influential in University of Virginia history speaks to his success, not just on the court. We didn't say Terry Holland, though. We said Terry Holland. I thought they would never overlook him. First name, Terry Holland, to mention. We'll close with this. Dean Smith's got the Dean Dome.

Coach Sheskey's got his name on the court. When does that happen for Tony Bennett? Should be painted right now. Yeah, literally right now. Yeah, I thought the same. It should be a stencil on the painted right now. Yeah, literally right now. Yeah, I thought the same. It should be a stencil on the court right now. How do you honor him? Name on the court, statue outside the arena.

How do you do it? I don't think UVA believes in statues because I've written for years they needed one of Ralph Sampson and Don Staley out there. And even Ralph laughs. He said the only thing, I think he said his mother said the only good thing statues for is collecting bird poop. But I think they do need some kind of something inside the arena. If they don't build statues, they certainly need to have some sort of a tribute to Terry Holland, Debbie Ryan, Dawn Staley, Ralph Sampson, and Tony Bennett inside that arena and maybe in the

lobby where it's unavoidable when you walk in. We'll close with this. JerryRackliff.com is the website we check every day. I check it multiple times a day. I check your Twitter account probably four or five times a day. I encourage all the viewers and listeners to follow Jerry Ratcliffe on Twitter and jerry

ratcliffe.com. How do you even begin to cover this? Put in perspective the metrics, the traffic on the website, and how do you even begin to cover a retirement like this? Our website almost blew up last night with the column I wrote about what was going to happen and what had happened. And I think it was the second highest total in our six-year history. It was just massive, and it's continued on through today and I imagine will be. I'll be writing, I don't know how many stories from this. I talked to Rick Carlisle. I talked to Carl Williams. I talked to Kyle Guy.

Kyle Guy tweets, I named my oldest son after Tony Bennett, the influence Tony Bennett had on Kyle Guy. That says a lot. Yeah. That says a lot. Yeah. That says a lot. Talk to Craig Littlepage. Certainly there will be bukus of stories and things coming out of this. I can't wait.

I don't know if I have enough time to write it all. I mean, it's not like football season. You got Clemson on the docket tomorrow. Kind of a big game tomorrow. Massive game tomorrow. Tony Elliott going home for the first time. That's a story I have to write, too. Yeah. But, yeah.

Kobe Pace. We'll try to meet expectations. Yeah. JerryRackliff.com, ladies and gentlemen. The man's been all over from start to finish this story with Tony Bennett. Been all over it, and he's been right from start to finish this story with Tony Bennett. Been all over it, and he's been right from start to finish. And so have you. Thank you.

JerryRackliff.com, the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, 50 straight ACC basketball tournaments. Proud to call him a friend. I could not think of anyone else to sit across from us on a day like this. Thank you for coming. Glad to be here. Our pleasure. It's our pleasure. Judah Wickhauer behind the camera. He produced the sound from today's press conference. This show will archive wherever you get your podcasting content and your social media content. It's the I Love Seville show on a Friday.

We'll see you on Monday at 1230, guys. Enjoy the weekend. Thank you.