The saying goes "sometimes it's not what you know, it's who you know." In the case of new SMU offensive coordinator Rusty Burns, it's both.

SMU Mustangs offensive coordinator Rusty Burns (photo by SMU Athletic Dept).

What Burns knows is not in question. He has orchestrated some of the nation's most potent offenses in his 25-year coaching career, including a Cincinnati offense that was the best in Conference USA over the past two years.

But when SMU head coach Phil Bennett began his search by remembering an introduction made by an expert he also calls a friend.

"I've known Rusty Burns for about 20 years, since we were introduced in Florida by John Fox, who's coaching the Carolina Panthers," Bennett said of his new offensive coordinator, who left Cincinnati after the school replaced the staff following the 2003 season. "We've always had a mutual respect for each other, and you always sort of follow your friends' careers. I've followed his success, he's followed mine."

Bennett saw the effectiveness of a Burns-built offense against one of the schools where Bennett used to coach.

"When Rusty was at Wyoming, Texas A&M went up there for a game and they were playing a freshman quarterback," said Bennett, who was not coaching at A&M at the time, "and Wyoming put up almost 600 yards on that A&M defense."

If Bennett sounds like he's gushing over his new offensive coordinator, the admiration is mutual.

"I've always heard great things about Coach Bennett," Burns said. "I've watched the defenses he's coached at places like Kansas State, Texas A&M, LSU, Purdue - he's always had great defenses, and he's always been viewed as a great coach who does things the right way."

Burns said the Ponies' 2003 record did not decrease his desire to join Bennett's staff.

"That 0-12 didn't phase me a bit," Burns said. "This is a team that really can turn it around. When Coach Bennett brought me down here, I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. I saw a team that was upbeat, and it was obvious that this staff has the team pointed in the right direction."

Bennett said that Burns will be an integral part in that effort to get the Mustangs back on track.

While Burns was at Cincinnati, the Bearcats were one of the more prolific offensive teams in Conference USA (photo by Cincinnati Athletic Dept).

"When you look at the last two years, he's had the No. 1 offense in about every category in Conference USA," Bennett said.

But Bennett added that the fact that Burns faced some of the same obstacles at Cincinnati that plagued the Ponies last year further convinced him that Burns was the right man to take over the job.

"They played as many freshmen as we did," Bennett said. "His presentation during the interview process, was impressive. He has a good system, and he believes in it. And I believe in it. It's a quarterback-friendly system, an offensive line-friendly system. The increased simplicity will come in the protection, and that will allow the quarterbacks to be able to make more plays."

Burns' offense didn't start the 2003 operating at its optimal effectiveness.

"It took a while," he said. "Most of the time, all three wide receivers we played were freshmen. We had a good quarterback (Gino Guidugli), but it took some time even for Gino, because those freshmen made some mistakes. But it worked out."

Guidugli completed 227-of-425 passes (53.4 percent) for 2,704 yards. He also threw 10 interceptions and 14 touchdowns. But the notion that the Bearcats were a one-dimensional offense is not accurate. The 2,741 passing yards Cincinnati generated last year were offset by 1,980 rushing yards, giving the Bearcats the kind of balanced offense coaches crave.

"My offense usually starts around 60-40, passing to running," Burns said. "But what makes this system effective is the ability to take advantage of what the defense gives us. We might start out 60-40, passing to rushing, but then depending on what the defense does, we might end up going 60-40 rushing to passing. This offense is going to be very unpredictable."

Because they'll be learning a new system, all of the offensive players will start with a clean slate.

"There are no starters right now," Burns said. "Everyone's starting out equal. They will need to learn the system and execute it, starting in the spring."

Despite the success he's enjoyed at previous stops along his coaching career path, Burns is not unwilling to be flexible.

"Of course, we'll tailor the offense to fit the personnel we have here," he said. "But basically, I like to run a spread offense, wide open, to make people miss (a tackle). We know our job is to move the chains and get into the end zone. Our job is to score points."