I was the first to say Bennett was the “Frank Beamer of basketball” because he was a nice guy who could never win the big one. Bennett just proved me wrong. Now I feel like Bennett can take UVa to blue blood status with Coaches K and Williams getting close to retirement. UNC will find another coach some day and get back, but it took some time between Dean Smith and Roy to get back to where they are today. Duke will be good, but not great after Coach K goes. Coach K is a legend and Duke will be somewhat lost for some time without him. They’ll land a big time coach and make the tournament most likely years, but they’ll never be the same elite team they are today.

Fast forward to Bennett’s future... K, Williams and Boeheim will all be gone. Bennett will take control of the ACC for years. To me, UVa may be to ACC basketball what Dabo is to ACC football.

The future of Tech athletics may be OK, but the idea of any National Title in Olympic sports will be a long time away. Football and basketball Titles seem unrealistic in my lifetime. We lack the “big program” cash to compete, quite honestly. That’s not me feeling sorry for myself, but just being a realist. Tech athletics = great fans with adequate teams. We’re the pre-2016 Chicago Cubs of college sports. If Tech athletics could match the intensity of the fans, we might see more success. But many times, our athletic programs get a B+ or even A-, but never an A+. Our only A+ programs were our 99 football team, our final 4 men’s and women’s soccer teams and our top 5 wrestling team under Dresser. And those A+ programs still couldn’t reel in a Title. I believe there are only 3 Power 5 programs without any National Titles (Mississippi State, KSU and Tech). I think MSU gets one soon. So the frustration is real.

So I don’t say this lightly when I tell you to savor your Title.