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Anybody know much about these coaches that Bennett offered the jobs to? How the heck does this story get leaked and them not having accepted the jobs yet? That is both strange and not a positive sign. They must be getting feelers for other jobs.

SMU football team offers assistant positions
11:35 PM CST on Monday, December 22, 2003

By CALVIN WATKINS / The Dallas Morning News

SMU offered the vacant offensive coordinator position to Rusty Burns and the offensive line job to Steve Shankweiler over the weekend. Burns and Shankweiler have yet to accept the positions. The coaches had the same positions at Cincinnati until they were released following the 2003 season.

"I'm trying to decide what to do," Shankweiler said. "There's a lot to decide."

Last season, SMU ranked last among 117 Division I-A schools in total offense with 260.6 yards a game. Under Burns, Cincinnati ranked 45th nationally with 393.4 yards a game.

SMU coach Phil Bennett would not comment.

Originally posted by BigEasyPony:
SMU coach Phil Bennett would not comment.

He didnt get who he wanted. Has to be it. :no:

Looks like these two are a couple of college asst. lifers.

Here's the info on Burns...

<img src="http://www.ucbearcats.com/photos/1240.jpg" alt=" - " />

The return to Cincinnati a year ago by offensive coordinator Rusty Burns was a record-setting one as the Bearcats rewrote the season records for passing yards, total offense and points.

Burns’ first stint at UC came as quarterbacks coach from 1989-91 on the staff of Tim Murphy.

Burns, 47, proved adept at implementing the Bearcats’ spread offense in his return last year. With quarterback Gino Guidugli blossoming into one of the nation’s top offensive performers, Burns masterminded the UC attack that led C-USA in both total offense (397.5 ypg) and passing offense (260.6 ypg).

A 24-year collegiate coaching veteran, Burns most recently served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Wyoming (1999-2001).

He has also worked as offensive coordinator at Springfield College (1978-79), Connecticut (1980-88) and Memphis (1996-98) and as assistant coach at Georgia Tech (1992-94).

In his two-year tenure at Wyoming, Burns was credited with developing All-Mountain West Conference quarterback Casey Bramlet, who threw for 3,069 yards and ranked 14th in the nation in total offense (277.1 ypg) in 2001. The transformation of the offensive attack that he guided led to the Cowboys having the most improved offense in the conference in 2001.

Burns originally came to Cincinnati as part of Murphy’s first coaching staff and he helped develop the UC offense. The Bearcats ranked 30th in the nation in total offense in his final season, averaging 380.5 yards per game, the seventh-highest total in school history.

A 1978 graduate of Springfield College with a degree in physical education and a concentration on English, he earned his master's in guidance and psychological services and admissions from Springfield in 1979.

And here is the info on Shawshank, I mean Shankweiler...

<img src="http://www.ucbearcats.com/photos/1246.jpg" alt=" - " />

Steve Shankweiler, who most recently served as offensive line coach at East Carolina University, takes over as offensive line coach for the 2003 season.

A veteran of 23 collegiate seasons, Shankweiler sandwiched 10 years as offensive line coach at East Carolina (1987-91, 1998-2002) around a stint as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Georgia Tech (1992-94). He also served as an assistant coach at The Citadel (1980-83) and Western Kentucky (1984-86).

Shankweiler second term at East Carolina was a successful one as he helped the Pirates to appearances in the Mobile Alabama Bowl in 1999, the galleryfurniture.com Bowl in 2000 and the 2001 GMAC Bowl. ECU was the only school in C-USA that placed an offensive lineman on the all-league first team all five years (1998-2002).

A 1974 graduate of Davidson College with a degree in history, Shankweiler went on to earn a master’s degree in physical education from Georgia State in 1978.

Shankweiler lettered twice in football and three times in track at Davidson, earning All-Southern Conference honors in track while serving as team captain in 1974.

Shankweiler started his coaching carer as offensive coordinator and head track coach at Avondale (Ga.) High (1974-76) before serving as head coach at Redan High in Stone Mountain, Ga. from 1976-79. He piloted Redan to a 35-8 record and won the 1979 Class AAA state title before moving on to the collegiate coaching ranks in 1980.

A native of Atlanta, Ga., Shankweiler is married to the former Patti Ann Thompson and the couple have three children, son Kort, and daughters, Lori and Jennifer.

<small>[ 12-22-2003, 09:47 PM: Message edited by: Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex ]</small>

Hey, Cincinnati moved the ball pretty well, and their passing attack was solid. If they take the jobs and come to SMU, I'd be OK with that.

0-12 and no offense, and the best we can do is this?? Has anyone asked why they were released following the 2003 season? For gaining too many yards? Scoring too many points? Running too high powered an offense? If we thought R Flanigan was our man...or even remotely so...I would think this would be a step down (see New Orleans bowl last year)

Originally posted by RGVPonyfan:
0-12 and no offense, and the best we can do is this?? Has anyone asked why they were released following the 2003 season? For gaining too many yards? Scoring too many points? Running too high powered an offense? If we thought R Flanigan was our man...or even remotely so...I would think this would be a step down (see New Orleans bowl last year)

First, Cincinatti let go of the head coach and the entire football staff. If the criteria for the job where that they had never been "fired" (an odd criteria Stallion seemed to advocate in selecting a head coach, even though his first choice couldn't meet it), you'd have a hard time finding anyone to coach any team at any position.

Second, there has been a huge friggin split over what kind of coordinator to hire. Some people were going to have a caniption if we didn't hire an experienced coordinator. They got their wish. Some people wanted Flannigan or a high school coach. But in neither case was there an indication by the university that they were going that way. They are disappointed.

Cincinatti won more games than SMU, and had a lot better offense. If this is who Bennett wants, fine.

This guy, from the bio, looks like a good teacher of the QB position. That is something we sorely need. Also, from the bio, looks like the guy has experience in developing an offense. That is also something we sorely need. Also, between the existing defensive coaches and the new offensive coaches, the staff has gameplanned against every team in the future conference USA.

Is this my ideal choice? Probably not. I would have preferred somebody with recruiting ties to texas, but we don't always get everything we want.

<small>[ 12-23-2003, 05:28 AM: Message edited by: Dooby ]</small>

If these are the guys Bennett wants then so be it. I truly hope they bring something to the table. I'm the one who first suggested Todd Dodge's name. I still feel strongly that he would have been a spectacular hire. There were 2 things I felt that our new coaches needed: 1) not being a career assistant that has floated around mid-major schools with marginal to average success; and 2) being able to instantly recruit Texas.

It looks to me like these guys fail in both categories. At those point, all I can do is support Bennett and hope he hired the right guys.

Actually guys with recruiting ties to Ohio and CUSA experience will be very helpful after our move to CUSA. We need big uglies, and those steel towns in Ohio are loaded with big meaty guys. Second, they have coached against Memphis, USM, TCU, UH, Marshall, and Tulane, and they might have some idea what kind of defenses they run. ECU will have a different coach so I didn't include them. They also have coached against Hawaii (too bad we don't play them next year). He will also get experience against Rice and Tulsa next year. I think they're good hires.
Experience, knowledge of future opponant defenses, a history of turning offenses around, and mid-major experience. Bennett could have done much worse.

To say someone has coached against another team is a highly overrated characteristic - if not irrelevant. Also, I'm sorry, but if we're now focusing on recruiting in Ohio and the steel belt, we're dead. We're in Texas and our future will be won or lost in Texas, period. SMU needed a hire that created instant credibility and excitement in the high school ranks in Texas and, to a lesser degree, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. Also, our offense needs to be juiced up into a productive and exciting brand of football.

I hope these guys are good. I have no choice but to defer to, and support, Bennett. On the outside looking in, however, I'm less than thrilled.

So we haven't made significant inroads in Texas already with Bennet, his brother, et. al?

I'm just curious who everybody seemed to want for this position...and not seeing a lot of logic in many of these posts.

If these men join the SMU staff, their knowledge of CUSA will be an asset, as EastStang suggests.

Coach Bennett surely has specific hiring criteria most of which are unknown to anyone but him and his closest advisors.

Let's close ranks and support whoever he hires.

In part, his future as a HC will depend on the assistants he selects.

Come on-there is a reason nobody on this board could name an instance where a High School coach has been named as an Offensive Coordinator at a Texas school in the last 30 years. You got to pay your dues and Todd Dodge although he might someday be a quality coach was simply not ready for that jump. Sorry that you had your hopes dashed by the choice of experience over a high school coach but that decision would have been made by just about every staff in the country. Its not fair to blame Bennett for not hiring your favorite high school coach. Thank God the program's future isn't riding on the hopes of an experiment.

<small>[ 12-23-2003, 06:33 AM: Message edited by: Stallion ]</small>

Originally posted by RGVPonyfan:
(see New Orleans bowl last year)

after that, wake up and see New orleans bowl THIS year

I think it's a tad short sided to call Todd Dodge an experiment. A risk, perhaps. Any coach that is hired is a risk to some extent (outside of people like Bill Parcells, Jimmy Johnson, etc.) But no more risky than hiring an OC from a school who is moving to a better conference without him. Wonder why?????? At a minimum, Dodge should be compared to who we ACTUALLY hire and not some hypothetical OC from the D1 ranks. Again, just b/c someone has been an OC in D1 does NOT mean they can help SMU. To merely discount a guy like Dodge b/c he's from the high school ranks is not logical. Now, if we were getting ready to hire the OC from Ole Miss, NC State, or the likes, I'd take that hands down over Todd Dodge. Look at the facts: that's not who we're hiring. I will agree that Dodge is about the only high school coach I'd be willing to hire in the OC position. At this point, I'm just hoping that there's something more to these hires than meets the eye.

if its not an experiment then name me one Head Coach that has had the balls to do it-seriously its simply not EVER done.