The University's men's basketball team is at a critical crossroads: we can either continue losing with Tony Bennett (15-16) as head coach, or agree to a multimillion-dollar buyout of the remaining four years of his $1.7 million/year contract. It might seem absurd to fire Bennett, but The University has a proud tradition of paying its coaches to quit. Just last year, The University paid head football coach Al Groh $4.3 million to not coach the next two years. Bennett's predecessor, Dave Leitao (63-60, 15-15 his first year), was paid $2.1 million to leave four years early; Leitao's predecessor, Pete Gillen (118-93, 14-15 his first year) was given $2 million to leave six years early. Let's cut our losses and find someone who can deliver the winning record to which we're entitled.
Arguably, those coaches were fired for less-esoteric reasons than an inability to win games. The mathematically inclined might point out that basketball is a zero-sum game that necessarily produces losers. The business-oriented might even argue that they were fired for not generating enough revenue. But ticket sales were down this year and prices were slashed to $10 for six home ACC games. Moreover, fewer seats were filled. Even during Leitao's last and worst season (10-18), 1327 more JPJ tickets were sold than during Bennett's first (both seasons had the same number of home games).\nIn a recent letter, Prof. Ann Hamric praised Bennett for having high academic expectations of his student athletes. Unfortunately, what she and Bennett fail to realize is that student is an adjective in "student athlete." If academics were a priority, they'd be called athletic students or somesuch. It's time for a paradigm shift away from losing and back towards the excellence that Thomas Jefferson originally envisioned for his "athletical" department.
Peter Dolph\nGSAS VI
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