Success, experience: ASU’s priorities clear in hiring of Randy Bennett as coach

PHOENIX –  It took a quarter century, but a native son is coming home.

Arizona State athletic director Graham Rossini announced Monday that Randy Bennett will be the next coach of the ASU men’s basketball program. 

Bennett grew up in Mesa and played for his father, Tom Bennett, at Mesa Community College, before transferring to UC San Diego. He’s the first Arizona native to coach the men’s basketball team since Bill Kajikawa, whose coaching tenure with the Sun Devils ended in 1957.

Bennett’s replacement at Saint Mary’s, Mickey McConnell, is the son of longtime Mesa Dobson coach Rick McConnell.

“He puts together just a really solid program,” Rick said of Bennett. “I think this is one place he probably looked at over the years and thought it would be a great fit for him.”

On a day in which his son became the new coach at Saint Mary’s, Rick has received calls and messages about Bennett, too. 

Not only is Rick a basketball coach, but he knows what it’s like to be a parent, trusting a collegiate coach to help his child transition into adulthood. 

“My wife took (Mickey) up in the spring,” McConnell said. “I saw the campus the day we dropped him off so we kind of put a lot of trust in Randy.”

Bennett coached at Saint Mary’s for a quarter of a century. In that time, the Gaels became one of the premier teams in the West Coast Conference.

As the winningest coach in Gaels history, Bennett won 589 games with a win percentage of 72.1. He led the Gaels to the NCAA tournament 12 times, posting a 7-12 tournament record. The Gaels made the Sweet 16 in 2010, their best tournament finish under Bennett. 

“It was going to take a very special situation for us to leave Saint Mary’s, and I am energized, driven and focused on taking over Sun Devil Basketball, a program I am very familiar with and grew up watching,” Bennett said in a news release. “We are in the best basketball conference in the nation and I look forward to the opportunity and am excited to meet everyone who wants to help this program reach our goals in the new landscape. My staff and I will be ready for the challenge.” 

Bennett is just the fourth coach to lead the Gaels to the NCAA Tournament, and he’s the only one in the school’s history to make the tournament multiple times. He was named WCC coach of the year seven times, most recently in the 2024-25 season.

Former Phoenix Suns player Jock Landale was a second-team All-American at Saint Mary’s. Landale averaged 21.1 points per game and 10.2 rebounds per game for Bennett’s 2017-18 Gaels squad.

Saint Mary’s played the role of underdog rival to coach Mark Few and Gonzaga over the past 25 years, but Bennett’s teams were the one WCC team that ever gave Gonzaga trouble.

Bennett and the Gaels beat Gonzaga 18 times between the 2004-2005 and 2025-26 seasons. They went 6-5 against the Bulldogs in the final 11 matchups.

The Gaels finished in second place in the WCC 12 times throughout Bennett’s tenure. They were co-champions of the conference four times and won the conference title outright three times, including in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. 

“Coach Bennett is one of the most accomplished and respected coaches in college basketball,” Rossini said in a news release. “We were drawn to his sustained success over multiple decades, his strong recruiting relationships across the country, particularly on the West Coast, and his proven ability to identify and develop international talent. 

“Just as important, he brings a genuine enthusiasm for leading the Sun Devil Men’s Basketball program. He has deep ties to the Valley, and we are excited to welcome Coach, his wife Darlene, and their family to ASU.”

As Bennett begins assembling his team, it’s worth noting he is represented by the same agency that represents ASU center Massamba Diop.

The Arizona ties run deep for the Bennett family. Tom Bennett coached basketball all over the state for 33 years, with stints at Central High, Gilbert High and Westwood, where Randy played his high school ball. Tom won 442 games at Mesa Community College, making him the winningest coach in MCC history.

This article first appeared on Cronkite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.