U.Va. lands its first choice

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- As he walked down the University of Virginia's historic Lawn, Tony and Laurel Bennett at his side, Jon Oliver held his breath Friday.

"I was scared to death," Oliver said yesterday at John Paul Jones Arena.

Oliver, U.Va.'s executive associate athletic director, feared someone would recognize the Washington State men's basketball coach. If word got out that Tony Bennett was in Charlottesville, Virginia's search for Dave Leitao's successor might be derailed.

"I needed this to be under the radar screen," Oliver said, "because if you spook a guy like this . . . "

He need not have worried. Bennett and wife slipped into town Thursday and left Friday, unnoticed by the media.

"Actually, it was impressive that nobody got wind of that," Bennett said yesterday at his introductory news conference.

Oliver, who wields tremendous power at U.Va., usually keeps a low public profile. Yesterday, though, he happily talked about the school's new coach.

Bennett "has a plan, and he's able to articulate that, but at the same time, he's the most humble guy I've ever met, and that is so refreshing," Oliver said. "This is a guy that gets his players to play through supporting them, treating them with kindness, helping give them confidence during the game and before the game."

Like Bennett, Oliver came to U.Va. from Washington State. The Bennetts -- father Dick and son Tony -- arrived in Pullman, Wash., after Oliver left, but Oliver continued to watch the Cougars. WSU, which had long ranked among the nation's worst programs, went 69-33 in three seasons under Tony, who succeeded his father as head coach.

"Having worked there, I knew that place was a huge challenge," Oliver said. "That's why I followed them so much, because I was trying to figure out, 'How is this guy doing it?' I have the Fox package on my DirecTV. I would stay up late at night, and I'm thinking, 'How are you doing this at Washington State?'"

U.Va. consulted with Parker Executive Search, Oliver said, but ultimately did not hire the Atlanta-based firm. Bennett, 39, soon became the focus of Virginia's search, Oliver said.

"This was the first choice," Oliver said. "There's no question about it. There were no other offers on the table. Ever."

In Bennett, U.Va. officials saw a young, passionate coach not unlike Brian O'Connor and Brian Boland, who have built the school's baseball and men's tennis teams, respectively, into national powers.

"What [Athletic Director] Craig [Littlepage] and I really talked about was [needing] to get back to our model of how we hire Olympic-sport coaches," Oliver said. "Just because it's a high-profile job, you don't need to leave your principles of how you hire. And that's how we arrived at a guy like this."