For the third straight season, a longtime sitting head coach has retired just weeks before the season opener. Oregon's Dana Altman -- the best coach in program history -- retired effective immediately Wednesday, less than 24 hours before the 68-year-old was slated to take the podium at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago. Virginia's Tony Bennett in 2024.
Auburn's Bruce Pearl in 2025. Now, Altman follows suit in flying away from the Ducks in 2026. The common grumbles about NIL (excuse me, pay-for-play) and the portal (excuse me, free agency) are staples of the conversation, like usual.
Altman grew frustrated with the consistent roster turnover and the voluminous court orders, injunctions and temporary restraining orders that have exploded after the NCAA's poorly timed rollout of the new five-in-five eligibility model, sources told CBS Sports. Altman had taken a backseat in portal negotiations this spring, handing the baton to top assistant Tony Stubblefield, who is now Oregon's interim head coach. Altman being swirled with retirement murmurs was nothing new.
But let's call a spade a spade: Bennett, Pearl and now Altman all bid adieu to rosters that left much to be desired. Bennett's last Virginia squad rated 80th nationally on kenpom.com in the preseason. Virginia would go on to finish just 15-17 and outside the top 100 nationally for the first time since 2010-11.
Pearl was fresh off leading Auburn to the 2025 Final Four, but he had to replace seven of the top eight players on the roster, including All-American Johni Broome and multiple other NBA players in Dylan Cardwell, Miles Kelly and Chaney Johnson. Pearl helped construct a roster that rated outside the top 30 nationally in the preseason, and sure enough, it finished 36th and on the outside looking in for the Big Dance. Handing his son, Steven, the head coaching job was certainly part of Bruce Pearl's calculus for retirement, but I'd be hard-pressed to believe Pearl would've had the stomach to simply walk away from another national championship contender.
That dude loved to be in the fight. A similar script is being emulated in Eugene. Preseason prognostications aren't gospel after the whackiest offseason in college basketball history, but Evan Miya tabbed Oregon at 56th nationally in his early projections, and the Ducks were picked 13th in CBS Sports' Big Ten preview.
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