Bay. The Green Bay Phoenix posted a 4–24 record the year before Bennett arrived, but had reached the second round of the NIT tournament by 1990. Bennett's son Tony became the star of the team during the early 1990s. A guard who played several seasons in the NBA, Tony Bennett led the team to its first NCAA tournament berth in 1991, where the Phoenix lost to Michigan State in the first round. The following year, the UWGB rolled to a 25–5 and won its first regular season conference title, but lost in the conference tournament. After Tony Bennett's departure in 1992, the 1993–94 team won the conference title and tournament on its way to the NCAA tournament. There, the 12th-seeded Phoenix defeated 5th-seeded California, whose roster included Jason Kidd and Lamond Murray. In Bennett's final year with the Phoenix, his team returned to the NCAA Tournament where they lost to Big Ten champion Purdue. Wisconsin In 1995, Bennett replaced Stan Van Gundy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison as the head coach of the men's basketball team. In Bennett's first year, the Wisconsin Badgers earned a bid in the NIT. A year later, the Badgers notched their first winning record in Big Ten Conference play since 1974, and only their second since 1954. He coached Wisconsin to three NCAA tournament appearances, including the 2000 Final Four. The Badgers had played in a total of three NCAA tournaments in their entire history prior to his arrival. Bennett also coached Wisconsin to its first ever 20-win season in 1998–99. Bennett resigned three games into the 2000–01 season citing burnout. During his tenure at Wisconsin he was 94–68 (.580) from 1995–2000. Washington State Cougars After two years off, Bennett was hired at Washington State University on March 29, 2003. He faced a daunting rebuilding project. Making strong defense a cornerstone, he started building around veterans Thomas Kelati and Jeff Varem and brought in what arguably was the greatest recruiting class in school history in 2004 (Kyle Weaver, Derrick Low, Robbie Cowgill, Chris Henry, Daven Harmeling and Josh Akognon). Bennett stayed three seasons at WSU. The team did not post a winning record, but they did secure wins over teams they traditionally could never beat: UCLA, Arizona and Stanford. Bennett retired following the 2005–06 season and handed the program to his son and associate coach Tony Bennett. Tony proceeded to guide the Cougars to back-to-back