You could say Bennett is pretty popular in Pullman these days. The combination of his good looks, humility and success has lifted him to rock star status. And his coaching style is gaining praise throughout the Pac-10. Legendary coach John Wooden, the Wizard of Westwood, recently said Washington State was the best-coached team in the Pac-10. And the former UCLA coach doesn’t pass out that type of praise often.

“I don’t know if our players realize or think much about the reverse of status,” assistant Mike Heideman said two weeks ago of the rare opportunity to go into Washington as the favorite and contending for the conference title. “These young kids believe in themselves and each game is kind of an independent thing where you just focus on what you need to do and how you prepare. That’s very big for us.”

Dick Bennett was a great tactician who valued every possession and taught his teams to use the shot clock with his grinding offensive style and tight man-to-man defense. Tony’s Cougars seem comfortable winning games that are in the 70’s or the 40’s. That can’t be too comforting to the rest of the Pac-10 as it tries to figure out this new contender.

The Cougars, after a tough loss at Oregon on Wednesday, play at Oregon State, then finish with home games against UCLA and USC. A season already playing out like a dream has a chance to get that much better.

Bennett heads my ballot for Coach of the Year in a season when so many coaches are doing an excellent job. Rounding out my top three would be Billy Gillispie at Texas A&M and Todd Lickliter at Butler.

The job Gillispie has done lifting the Aggies into first place in the Big 12 is remarkable. There is no doubt that A&M is going to the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons for the first time. If Gillispie takes his team to the next level and makes a deep run in the tournament, he will get a lot of votes – and be one of the hottest coaches in the country.

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What Lickliter is accomplishing at Butler is certainly comparable to what Bennett has done. The Bulldogs have been the symbol for the mid-major schools this season, moving high in the rankings and scoring big upsets early over Notre Dame, Indiana, Tennessee and Gonzaga. Butler has done it despite losing most of its scoring punch from last season - and after being picked to finish in the bottom half of the Horizon Conference.

It has been a great year for coaches. Here are the other guys who should be mentioned for top honors: Tom Crean of Marquette; Tim Floyd of Southern Cal; Kevin Stallings of Vanderbilt; Dave Leitao of Virginia; Kelvin Sampson of Indiana; Al Skinner of Boston College; and John Beilein of West Virginia.