Coach Phil Bennett at Dallas A & M Club
Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 12:17 pmMy dad who is a member of the Dallas A & M Club invited me to their May meeting in which they invited Coach Bennett to speak. Evidently, he is the first opposing coach to speak before the club. I will try to give a synopsis of some of the things he said, but I didn't take notes so I may miss some things. He was very entertaining, bringing up a number of interesting stories from his playing and coaching days. Two of his former aggie players were there, Dat Nguyen and Rich Cody, who are very close to him and his family. He spoke for an hour.
He started by going back to his how he got to SMU. He stated that while he went to A & M he always had great feelings for SMU. He was very excited to coach here, but was shocked at the first practice at the difference between our players and the players he coached at Kansas State. He said that the recruiting pool has expanded greatly since he first got to SMU. One on the main things he has worked on while at SMU is changing SMU standards for recruiting. He said that SMU standards should be no higher than the NCAA standards. He was very ponted in his reamarks about the lack of degree programs helpful to the football program. He thinks the addition of the Education Department will be helpful in recruiting.
Coach Bennett said that our entry to Conference USA is going to be very beneficial to the program. He has been trying to get the schedule to be more regional in nature and being in the Conference USA accomplishes this end. He, of course, loves the conference and he likes the movement to a more regional out of conference schedule to go with our regional conference. He mentioned that our previous out of conference schedule was very difficult. It hurt the team with injuries and not being able to play younger players. He said he learned to build a schedule from the master, Bill Snyder. He says that when you are 7-4, people just remember the winnning record not who you played. He wants to have North Texas, TCU, Baylor etc, continue to be on the schedule. He talked about A & M. He respects Coach Franchione and loves what he has done with the program. He was hoping he might catch the ags on a down year since they were down when he scheduled it, but that isn't the case now. He talked about how the game was scheduled, which resulted from our open date after Northwestern was dropped. The ags asked if the Dallas game will be played at the new cowboy stadium or the cotton bowl. He said that it will be at Ford; he would not play it any other place, that was part of the deal. He also said that we have 6 home games for the first time since he has been at SMU. We obviously play better at home and this will make us more competetive since we had a winning record at Ford last year.
He expects us to be competitive this year with the ags. Coach Bennett says we now have some senior leadership that we haven't had since he came to SMU. Said that retention of players has been a problem. He believes senior leadershiop will improve the chemistry of the team. He pointed out we have 11 starters this year as opposed to 1 last year. He was very comlimentary of Allan Adami whose family has ties to a and m ( i think). He then went position by position breakdown of the team- much like he gave at the Radisson. He says we are deep at running back which will help the QB's. He said Foy's injury problems hurt us last year and limited the offense. Last year he had to get running production from the QB; this year we will have 5 guys competing there with Cedric Dorsey having the edge. He said the receivers are also deep. Said they are not all big play types, but all can catch and Bobby Chase could play for anyone. He said Chase won't leave the practice field. He also psoitively mentioned Humphrey, Kennedy and Peveto ( his dad played at A & M, I think) in the positional run down. Coach Bennett said the offense improved toward the end of the season and he expects the improvement to carry over now that the team is more familiar with the offense, and has more experience with it.
He said on defense we now will be able to do more. He was limited in th epast by personnel, but now will be able to run some of things he ran at Kansas State. We will be able to pressure the QBs more and blitz more. He said that his old coach at A and M responding to a question from Lester Hayes about blitzing more said the when you blitz one of the two bands will be playing, and he wanted to make sure it was his band that did the playing. He said we could not stop the run last year, but will be improved on it this year with deeper personnel.
During the Q and A, I asked about the quarterbacks, if he was going to run them like alast year, and what was Phillips status. He said that Ekert and Romo are 1 and 2 with the starter to be determined in 2 a days. He said that he wants to settle on a single starter unlike last year. He said that Phillip's injury has put him behind in the new offense. He asked if I had seen him lately and said he is going 238. He is number 3 right now and we may see him at tight end. Coach Bennett is high on our two freshman QBs. He said he was asked why he was recruiting som many qbs. He replied that if you knew SMU history with qbs you would understand, since we lost one to Earnst and Young and one to the band Submersed. It has been a struggle at qb and now we willhave some depth.
Rich Cody asked him if he saw hinself retiring from SMU or if it was a possiblility of him coaching for another team such as A and M. Coach Bennett said that he always envisioned retiring at 57. He is 50 now. He is focused on turning the program around. He wants to retire from SMU, but has learned not to commit that far out. He said that he had coordinator offers from the NFL, but decided to stay at SMU. It is good for his family. He expects to see the improvement start coming this year. He loves SMU and loves coaching there. He said he wants to win not only for selfish reasons, but for all the suffering the SMU fans have been through the last 15 years. He is also focused on getting more fans in the seats at Ford. he invited the ags to the TCU game since A and M is off. He wants SMU to be the college team for Dallas. He said that there is a lot of competition in the sports in Dallas, but having such a beatiful stadium and campus is a real positive factor for SMU. Coach Bennett said that SMU has everything going for it and now needs a footbal team it cn be proud of. He is focused on making that a reality.
He was asked about if he prefers turf to grass. He said grass, but since we don't have an indoor facility we need the turf to practice on when it rains. And with all the play the stadium gets, the turf is the practical solution, tough he would rather have grass.
He was asked about his run in with Leach. He laghed about it. He asid what really made him mad was he saw that the Tech qb wanted to take a knee. He saw on e of the assitant coaches say to take a knee. It also didn't bother him that tech was throwing late in the game. Leach ran his 1st team qb. What bothered him was that Lach tried to call time out that he didn't have and even though everyone else was ready for the game to end the game he threw to the endzone. He said he called a blitz to go after the qb. He talked to Cumbie later in the year and Cumbie said he wanted to take a knee, bit Leach wouldn't let him. Bennett and Leach talked after the game in the press box and Leach kind of apologized but said that he needed to get the reps and that that is just how he is. Bennett laughed at the fact that against Cal in the bowl game Leach was taking a knee. He said all the assistants from Tech told him they were screaming at him to take a knee at not run anymore plays. Bennett said he was disappointed that such a good game was ruined by Leach antics at the end of the game.
My dad was very impressed with Coach Bennett, as were the rest of the aggies. Coach Bennett was very entertaining and thorough. His anecdotes were great and the aggies were impressed with his enthusiasm. I had my SMU shirt on, and told him afterward that I was checking to see if he was telling the enemy the same things he was tellling us. He laughed and said I could tell from his talk that he was. He is excited about the season and sees the progress of the team and the program. I know I have keft a lot of things out, and din't tell the information on the Leach incident exactly right. I must reiterate how enjoyable his talk was and how positive and focused he is on turning this program around.
He started by going back to his how he got to SMU. He stated that while he went to A & M he always had great feelings for SMU. He was very excited to coach here, but was shocked at the first practice at the difference between our players and the players he coached at Kansas State. He said that the recruiting pool has expanded greatly since he first got to SMU. One on the main things he has worked on while at SMU is changing SMU standards for recruiting. He said that SMU standards should be no higher than the NCAA standards. He was very ponted in his reamarks about the lack of degree programs helpful to the football program. He thinks the addition of the Education Department will be helpful in recruiting.
Coach Bennett said that our entry to Conference USA is going to be very beneficial to the program. He has been trying to get the schedule to be more regional in nature and being in the Conference USA accomplishes this end. He, of course, loves the conference and he likes the movement to a more regional out of conference schedule to go with our regional conference. He mentioned that our previous out of conference schedule was very difficult. It hurt the team with injuries and not being able to play younger players. He said he learned to build a schedule from the master, Bill Snyder. He says that when you are 7-4, people just remember the winnning record not who you played. He wants to have North Texas, TCU, Baylor etc, continue to be on the schedule. He talked about A & M. He respects Coach Franchione and loves what he has done with the program. He was hoping he might catch the ags on a down year since they were down when he scheduled it, but that isn't the case now. He talked about how the game was scheduled, which resulted from our open date after Northwestern was dropped. The ags asked if the Dallas game will be played at the new cowboy stadium or the cotton bowl. He said that it will be at Ford; he would not play it any other place, that was part of the deal. He also said that we have 6 home games for the first time since he has been at SMU. We obviously play better at home and this will make us more competetive since we had a winning record at Ford last year.
He expects us to be competitive this year with the ags. Coach Bennett says we now have some senior leadership that we haven't had since he came to SMU. Said that retention of players has been a problem. He believes senior leadershiop will improve the chemistry of the team. He pointed out we have 11 starters this year as opposed to 1 last year. He was very comlimentary of Allan Adami whose family has ties to a and m ( i think). He then went position by position breakdown of the team- much like he gave at the Radisson. He says we are deep at running back which will help the QB's. He said Foy's injury problems hurt us last year and limited the offense. Last year he had to get running production from the QB; this year we will have 5 guys competing there with Cedric Dorsey having the edge. He said the receivers are also deep. Said they are not all big play types, but all can catch and Bobby Chase could play for anyone. He said Chase won't leave the practice field. He also psoitively mentioned Humphrey, Kennedy and Peveto ( his dad played at A & M, I think) in the positional run down. Coach Bennett said the offense improved toward the end of the season and he expects the improvement to carry over now that the team is more familiar with the offense, and has more experience with it.
He said on defense we now will be able to do more. He was limited in th epast by personnel, but now will be able to run some of things he ran at Kansas State. We will be able to pressure the QBs more and blitz more. He said that his old coach at A and M responding to a question from Lester Hayes about blitzing more said the when you blitz one of the two bands will be playing, and he wanted to make sure it was his band that did the playing. He said we could not stop the run last year, but will be improved on it this year with deeper personnel.
During the Q and A, I asked about the quarterbacks, if he was going to run them like alast year, and what was Phillips status. He said that Ekert and Romo are 1 and 2 with the starter to be determined in 2 a days. He said that he wants to settle on a single starter unlike last year. He said that Phillip's injury has put him behind in the new offense. He asked if I had seen him lately and said he is going 238. He is number 3 right now and we may see him at tight end. Coach Bennett is high on our two freshman QBs. He said he was asked why he was recruiting som many qbs. He replied that if you knew SMU history with qbs you would understand, since we lost one to Earnst and Young and one to the band Submersed. It has been a struggle at qb and now we willhave some depth.
Rich Cody asked him if he saw hinself retiring from SMU or if it was a possiblility of him coaching for another team such as A and M. Coach Bennett said that he always envisioned retiring at 57. He is 50 now. He is focused on turning the program around. He wants to retire from SMU, but has learned not to commit that far out. He said that he had coordinator offers from the NFL, but decided to stay at SMU. It is good for his family. He expects to see the improvement start coming this year. He loves SMU and loves coaching there. He said he wants to win not only for selfish reasons, but for all the suffering the SMU fans have been through the last 15 years. He is also focused on getting more fans in the seats at Ford. he invited the ags to the TCU game since A and M is off. He wants SMU to be the college team for Dallas. He said that there is a lot of competition in the sports in Dallas, but having such a beatiful stadium and campus is a real positive factor for SMU. Coach Bennett said that SMU has everything going for it and now needs a footbal team it cn be proud of. He is focused on making that a reality.
He was asked about if he prefers turf to grass. He said grass, but since we don't have an indoor facility we need the turf to practice on when it rains. And with all the play the stadium gets, the turf is the practical solution, tough he would rather have grass.
He was asked about his run in with Leach. He laghed about it. He asid what really made him mad was he saw that the Tech qb wanted to take a knee. He saw on e of the assitant coaches say to take a knee. It also didn't bother him that tech was throwing late in the game. Leach ran his 1st team qb. What bothered him was that Lach tried to call time out that he didn't have and even though everyone else was ready for the game to end the game he threw to the endzone. He said he called a blitz to go after the qb. He talked to Cumbie later in the year and Cumbie said he wanted to take a knee, bit Leach wouldn't let him. Bennett and Leach talked after the game in the press box and Leach kind of apologized but said that he needed to get the reps and that that is just how he is. Bennett laughed at the fact that against Cal in the bowl game Leach was taking a knee. He said all the assistants from Tech told him they were screaming at him to take a knee at not run anymore plays. Bennett said he was disappointed that such a good game was ruined by Leach antics at the end of the game.
My dad was very impressed with Coach Bennett, as were the rest of the aggies. Coach Bennett was very entertaining and thorough. His anecdotes were great and the aggies were impressed with his enthusiasm. I had my SMU shirt on, and told him afterward that I was checking to see if he was telling the enemy the same things he was tellling us. He laughed and said I could tell from his talk that he was. He is excited about the season and sees the progress of the team and the program. I know I have keft a lot of things out, and din't tell the information on the Leach incident exactly right. I must reiterate how enjoyable his talk was and how positive and focused he is on turning this program around.