The University of Virginia Cavaliers may have trouble holding onto basketball head coach Tony Bennett. The Illinois Fighting Illini have a vacancy for the head coaching position of their men’s basketball team and reports indicate that they are willing to offer Bennett up to $4.8 million per year. Bennett, if the offer is made and accepted, would become one of the top 5 highest paid coaches in all of basketball behind Mike Krzyzewski, John Calipari, and Rick Pitino while being slightly ahead of Kanas coach Bill Self.<\/p>\n
It’d be interesting to see if the University of Illinois actually offers that much but a lot of signs are pointing to the possibility. For example, they recently spent over $100 million to renovate its basketball arena. $100 million is not chump change — even for a Division 1 school. In a fiscally volatile time, getting a board of directors to approve the spending of $100 million on anything is an enormous victory. 247sports.com recently ranked their 2017 recruiting class as #11 in the nation. You add an elite coach such as Tony Bennett and Illinois could be flirting with a successful program in the next 2-4 years.<\/p>\n
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\nREPORT: #Illini<\/a> Basketball is mulling over a potentially massive $4.8 million\/year offer for UVA\u2019s Tony Bennett. https:\/\/t.co\/gKf0QRlYmz<\/a><\/p>\n
— The Champaign Room (@Champaign_Room) March 15, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n