The 57-year-old Bennett said at a news conference that he doubted he ever would coach again. The school has named Bennett's top assistant, Brad Soderberg, 38, interim coach.

"I think it's over," Bennett said. "I don't think anyone can ever say anything is absolutely over, but I don't envision me returning to coaching. I have a lot of catching up to do with children, grandchildren, friends and family. I have a lot of making up to do."

Bennett said he began having thoughts of retiring several years ago when he was coaching Wisconsin-Green Bay, but when Wisconsin approached him to rebuild its program, he apprehensively accepted the challenge,

"My goal was to try and coach five more years and get the program to where I thought it could be," Bennett said. "I prayed quite often during that time that I could make those five years. Quite frankly, I was tired and thought I had lost some snap. Like a musician who knows when he can't play anymore, I felt I had lost a step."

Bennett said he almost packed it in after last season, but the excitement of reaching the Final Four temporarily clouded his vision. The Badgers lost to eventual champion Michigan State, 53-41, in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.

Over the summer, he even talked to school administrators about a long-term contract and also brought his son, Tony, in as an assistant coach.

But it was also last summer that the "Shoegate" scandal broke and two of Bennett's players, Maurice Linton and Travon Davis, were suspended for receiving extra benefits.

"I knew I didn't have the drive I once did, but I got caught up in the euphoria of the Final Four and said maybe I could keep it going. But as the competition began, I said it wasn't going to work. I wasn't going to stand up to it," Bennett said.

He stressed that it was not the actual games that wore him down but the obligations and requests that go along with coaching a big-time program.

"It's meeting obligations and answering requests, not only from your current setting but from your past setting," Bennett said. "I was simply drained. It began to bother me.

"I want to go out feeling as I do about the game of basketball, the University of Wisconsin and the young men I coached. It's not the game I'm afraid of, it's what it can do to you. For the first time I am at peace with myself and whatever is to follow."

Bennett told his staff on Wednesday of his intentions and informed his team following that night's 78-75 overtime upset of No. 14 Maryland in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Bennett, who came to Wisconsin in 1995 after 10 years at UW-Green Bay, posted a 93-69 record in five-plus seasons with the Badgers. He began his coaching career at Wisconsin-Stevens Point and has a career record of 453-258 in 24-plus years.

"Dick Bennett is not only an icon in the state of Wisconsin but throughout the nation as well," Marquette coach Tom Crean said. "The impact that he has had on the game has been enormous, and his ideals and principles will cary on for a long, long time."

Soderberg becomes the second interim coach in the Big Ten Conference, joining Mike Davis of Indiana, who replaced the legendary Bob Knight.

Soderberg played for Bennett at UW-Stevens Point in the mid-1980s. He came to Wisconsin with Bennett in 1995 after two seasons as coach at South Dakota State. This was his first season as Bennett's top assistant.

The Badgers' next game is Saturday against Xavier.