PULLMAN, Wash. — Tony Bennett surprised his team with a slickly produced DVD of highlights from last season. The Cougars went 26-8 and were one of the big surprises in college basketball. Then the Washington State coach threw the disc in the trash. He said it was time to start over.

"We need to make new highlights this year," Bennett said.

The 37-year-old coach brings earnest enthusiasm to the job, having made the most out of a downtrodden program with players no one else wanted.

The Cougars hadn't had a winning record in a decade when last year's team defied predictions of a basement finish in the Pacific-10 Conference by tying the school record for victories and rising to No. 9 in the polls. They went to the NCAA tournament for only the fifth time, losing in double overtime to Vanderbilt in the second round.

Bennett, in his first season as head coach, was The Associated Press coach of the year.

This season, all his key players are back except for Ivory Clark. The team figures to be among the Top 25, with some suggesting the Cougars could make a run for the national title.

"These are uncharted waters for our program," Bennett said. "We are learning on the fly."

Bennett, a former NBA guard, preaches humility, tough defense and sacrifice. His team, after all, does not attract the kind of athletes who head to UCLA and Arizona.

Bennett does not keep his coach of the year trophy in his office to impress visitors. It's on display in the generic trophy case at the entrance to Bohler Gym, among musty jerseys and battered footballs.

He is a coach wary of hype. When he was a senior at Wisconsin-Green Bay, NBA scouts started coming to his games. Bennett got caught up in impressing the scouts, instead of helping his team win.

"I learned from that," he said.

He played several seasons in the NBA and overseas. After coaching in New Zealand, he became an assistant at Wisconsin under Bo Ryan. He followed his father, Dick, to Washington State four years ago, and took over the program when Dick retired before last season.

Known as "Coach Tony" to his players and "Coach Dreamy" to some female fans, Bennett is religious and family oriented, a seeming Boy Scout in a world populated by sharks.

Dick has retired to a lakeside home in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., where he spends his time playing golf and enjoying his extended family. Tony built a house in Pullman for his wife and two young children. He had the team and staff over for Christmas Eve dinner last year, but only after a full day of practice, weightlifting and film.

"He said we had to be getting ready for UCLA," player Daven Harmeling recalled.

Harmeling remembered his first recruiting call from Bennett.

"I hung up and said, 'Man, there's something different about that guy. I hope he offers me a scholarship.' "

In the basketball offices at Washington State, the Cougar logo is surrounded with the Biblical words "humility, passion, servanthood, thankfulness and unity."

Success is not likely to turn the coach's head. He talks about how the Cougars failed to win their first Pac-10 title. He remembers an 81-29 loss at Oklahoma State in his second season.

Bennett is in position now to pursue the best high school players, but he doesn't necessarily want them. The Cougars prefer players who are hungry and want to improve.

"We said we want the same type of kids, maybe with a little more luster coming in," Bennett said.

There was much speculation that Bennett would jump to a more prestigious basketball school. But in March he signed a seven-year contract, saying he was grateful for the chance Washington State gave an unproven assistant.




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