For 19 years Tony Bennett has
been striving to return to a Bennett-coached team mountain-top of college
basketball: The Final Four, the holy grail of Division I Men’s Basketball.
Today Tony enters that rarified air as head coach for the Virginia Cavaliers,
following in the footsteps of his father, Dick, who did the same with the
Wisconsin Badgers. I learned four lessons from watching these men reach the
pinnacle of their respective careers, lessons which apply not just for coaches,
but for all of life’s pursuits.
In 2018, Tony was the coach
of the first number 1 seeded team to lose to a 16-seed. It was as embarrassing
a sports performance as one can endure.
Now, in 2019, Tony and his team have gone to the top. Lesson #1, a quote Tony uses: ‘If you learn to use it right, the
adversity, it will buy you a ticket to a place you couldn't have gone any other
way.’
Both Bennett-coached teams
can be hard to watch. Why are they so ‘boring’? Because they coach a style of
basketball which takes advantage of the talent their teams have rather than
trying to copy the styles of teams with better athletes. Lesson #2: Be the best person God made you to be rather
than try to be a poor imitation of someone else.
Laurel Bennett, Tony’s wife, captures
Tony’s approach to life quoting his mantra: Lesson #3: “This is what I do. I’ll give it my best and I’ll live with it. But the other side of that coin is who I am,
which is more important than what I do. And I am a child of God, and my values come from something other than my
job.”
Tony, and his father before
him, took a long and difficult road to the top of their profession. They won a
lot; they lost a lot. They had as many critics as fans. But they believed the goal
was worth it. Lesson #4: One day all of
your life’s experiences will come together in a way that you dreamed, if you
dare to dream God’s dreams for you.
Stay strong. Stay true. Stay humble. Keep dreaming.
Sources: Jeff
Potrykus, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; 4.3.19; David Teel, www.dailypress.com; 4.5.19
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