When Tony Bennett was the coach of the Washington State men's basketball team, you could always spot his father, Dick Bennett, in the stands in Pullman, Wash., grimacing and generally looking extremely nervous.
Tony has since moved on to the difficult task of rebuilding the men's basketball program at Virginia. And Dick has gotten so upset watching a couple of Virginia's early games in Charlottesville that Tony told his dad to stay away for the next one - a 79-46 win over Rider Thursday night.
"Tony suspended me for the game. I can't go. He's afraid I'll go wild and say something,'' said Dick Bennett, who is a former coach of the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team and then preceded his son as the coach at Washington State.
"Tony said `I want you to stay home,''' Dick Bennett continued. "He said, `I'll bring a tape home afterwards and we can watch it together but I'd rather not have you at the game.' So I'm not going.''
Dick and his wife, Anne, who moved back to Wisconsin a couple of years ago, have been spending some time in Virginia with Tony and his wife, Laurel, and their children.
As usual, Dick spent some time in Virginia golfing, too, and played a few rounds with famed sports psychologist Bob Rotella.
"He said he was a big fan of my teams and my style,'' said Dick Bennett. "He lives on the same course that Tony lives on. I was going to play by myself and all of a sudden he walks up and invites me to play with him and these other fellas. The next day he invited me to play with him again.''
Posted in Sports, Blog, Men, Rob_schultz on Friday, November 20, 2009 11:10 pm | Tags: Dick Bennett, Tony Bennett, Bob Rotella, Virginia Men's Basketball
Sights and sounds of an instant Classic (time-lapse video)
Watch UW women skate past BSU (time lapse video)
UW defenseman Brendan Smith
UW men's hockey coach Mike Eaves
CRHC fan cam: Jump around, hockey style
© Copyright 2010, madison.com, 1901 Fish Hatchery Rd Madison, WI | Terms of Service and Privacy Policy