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I talked to a friend 0f mine from Tyler the other day. He said that coach Bennett had visited their alumni assn last week. He was greatly impressed with everythin coach had to say; but, more importantly, he said that coach was visiting with all of the frats on campus and had even attended some of their parties, trying to increase student interest in football and encourage attendance at the games. I was greatly impressed. It seems that good coaching is not all about X's and O's.

Coach Bennett is the man. He's visible everywhere. He's meeting with students at the Greek houses. He's out in the community. He's in the media, including an interview with the anti-Mustang, Dale Hansen, and had Dale eating out of the palm of his hand (Dale even talked about Coach B on his radio show the next day, and if we didn't know better, you'd think Dale sounded like Coach B was roaming the sidelines of his beloved Cornhuskers.) He's meeting with alumni groups, from Dallas to Fort Worth to East Texas to Houston to Austin to San Antonio. He's interacting with high school coaches by the hundred, and charming recruits and their families.

He's quickly becoming the best salesman the athletic department has ever had. If he coaches half as well as he sells the program, the future looks amazingly bright on the Hilltop.

Enjoy Coach Bennett while you can. A coach of his caliber will only stay at a small university for a hand full of years before moving on to a larger, more prestigious program in a more competitive conference.

Phil is going to do great things with you guys. You're lucky to have him.

Before the end of the 2002 season, I promise you'll hear the guys on ESPN saying: "and how about the job Phil Bennett is doing in his first year at SMU? What a great hire they made down in Dallas."
Coach will make the team really good - and fast.

BUMP !!!!`

catch22 wrote:Enjoy Coach Bennett while you can. A coach of his caliber will only stay at a small university for a hand full of years before moving on to a larger, more prestigious program in a more competitive conference.

firephil wrote:BUMP !!!!`

After Cavan Phil Bennett looked pretty good to a lot of us, me included. Where are your post that day saying it was a bad hire?

By the way Phil is a great guy and I wish him the best.

Amen to that.
He and his staff are good guys. Just wish there were more W's.

A Lot more W's.

Just bumped to show people what was said back then. I wasnt on the board then and am not trying to say i knew it would work out that way...

Just interesting to contrast what was important to the fans

this thread just goes to show that no one on this board can possibly predict what coach is going to have success here...

firephil wrote:Just bumped to show people what was said back then. I wasnt on the board then and am not trying to say i knew it would work out that way...

Just interesting to contrast what was important to the fans

Time to change your name, Sparky.

SMU2007 wrote:this thread just goes to show that no one on this board can possibly predict what coach is going to have success here...

Very, very true.

Good luck, Coach Bennett.

Dement-ed wrote:Time to change your name, Sparky.

Ok, Dement...

Sounds like Phil took the exact same approach that Coach Doh did... visiting the frats, being "everywhere"... sure hope it's a different result.

SMU Kilmer wrote:Sounds like Phil took the exact same approach that Coach Doh did... visiting the frats, being "everywhere"... sure hope it's a different result.

ASBOLUTELY NOT TRUE - this is pne MAJOR problem I have had with Phil. Students never got to know him, he had no accountability for losing because he never tried to sell the team as being on their way up, and he just quietly went on with his team...losing 52 games!