Mike Cavan's Recruiting Legacy

[ponyboy]

I'm a huge Bennett apologist, but let's put to rest forever the idea that Cavan could not recruit. He could. And he did so under the severest of restrictions, many of which no longer hold us back. (Some of which still do).

Cavan's first two full classes were solid and they rivalled TCU as the best classes in the WAC. We may have won the recruiting battle with the Frogs in 97 and 98. But then the Malin incident happened -- an incident, by the way, that was relatively minor and wouldn't have raised an eyebrow anywhere else but here -- and we were bottom feeders until Cavan was shown the door. I was one calling for Cavan's head back then, but not because he deserved it. The honeymoon ended rather abruptly with Malin and it was time for a change.

[BUS]

Cavan started out pretty well. The Malin thing took the effort out of some. Another problem was that Caven did not put in the Pre-work for recruiting.

I was publically chastised by asking about recruits that had been Blue Sheeted. PB does a much better job of working within the protocol of SMU.

The Malin thing hurt the desire of Caval I think. PB is stronger than that and is a harder worker. Copeland made a better choice this last time.

Go Mustangs.

[PerunaPunch]

Echo that which BUS stated... Some other SMU alums and I were discussing a similar matter the other evening. One thing that stood out from that conversation was Bennett's ability to work recruits taking full advantage of the rules. For example, if there's a kid Bennett wants and comes to an agreement with (yet who doesn't qualify) we see those kids funelled through junior colleges with the full knowledge that if they get their academics up to par, they'll transfer in (ala Bobby Chase). The gray shirts are another example: this year's allotment of 13 scholarships has been extended greatly through this. And as we know, through attrition, more scholarships should be available by fall.

In all, it seems Bennett has a knack for working with kids and working within the system to maximaize his classes. I've always wondered why programs like UT got away with handing out 25 scholarships year in and year out. Perhaps in the past, we just haven't hustled enough.

My gripe on Cavan is not that he couldn't recruit some good players, but the fact that he seemed to fill out the remainder of his classes with random "whos" that weren't D1A athletes. Sure, he picked up some good kids, but were they "low hanging fruit"? And as his program spiraled downhill, Cavan gave up.

[Stallion]

This is such revisionist history it makes me sick. Cavan had one player Shanderick Charles contributed who was recruited under the new recruiting rules circa 2000 which in fact have been relaxed even more since Bennett. No recruiting trips until a player was admiitted to the university-the three tiered recruiting categories which required a player to score at least a 900 or he would have to go in front of an academic committee (and that was seen as an improvement) and submit writing samples-no offers extended prior to December. Phil Bennett is on easy street compared to what Mike Cavan had to work with and he admitted as much the day he was hired. Further, Phil Bennett plays in a ridiculously poor Division in CUSA and if he can't find a way to have a winning season playing Rice(transitioning from the wishbone to a passing attack), Tulane(crippled from a Huricane), Sam Houston State Peniteniary, Arkansas Tech, North Texas Normal College, UTEP, Tulsa, East Carolina, UH, and UAB then our program will have reached a new low- a losing record against easily the worst schedule in the history of the program. He scheduled these cupcakes and he will be the one to feel the heat if there is not a bowl game in 2006.

[Mickey]

Echo that which BUS stated... Some other SMU alums and I were discussing a similar matter the other evening. One thing that stood out from that conversation was Bennett's ability to work recruits taking full advantage of the rules. For example, if there's a kid Bennett wants and comes to an agreement with (yet who doesn't qualify) we see those kids funelled through junior colleges with the full knowledge that if they get their academics up to par, they'll transfer in (ala Bobby Chase). The gray shirts are another example: this year's allotment of 13 scholarships has been extended greatly through this. And as we know, through attrition, more scholarships should be available by fall.

Good Lord, what kind of Kool Aid are you drinking? Bennett has a much easier task of recruiting compared to his predecessors. Like I keep saying, take a look at the record. The problem is not the coaching, it is the hole that Pye's regime put us in that we can't get out. Admission and recruiting policies implemented by Pye was the problem. They are finally being changed, but too late.

By the way, Bobby Chase went the JUCO route because he did not have any D1A offers, not because of grades. That is why he only had to attend JUCO for one year. He was a qualifier coming out of HS. I also don't recall this staff funneling any JUCOs and signing them later. It is more like they are signed after JUCO instead of funneled to a JUCO and then signed.

[SMUstang]

Not only did Cavan have problems recruiting. But he couldn't keep the kids on the team once they signed and played a year or two. And who could blame them. A lot of the better ones came to SMU expecting a pro style passing attack, and good ole Cavan was determined to have an I formation running game even though he didn't have the players to run it. Therefore we lost guys like Chris Sanders and Josh McCown who went on to set records at Div. 1-AA schools. McCown was good enough to start for an NFL team but couldn't make it at SMU. With Seniors Ramon Flanagan and Donte Womack on the bench their last game with SMU we lost to an 0-10 TCU team when we had a bowl game on the line.

[Stallion]

and the same thing happened to Phil Bennett plus Phil Bennett's offenses consistently have finished at or near the cellar in offensive productive every single year.

[SMUstang]

The cupboard was so bare when PB took over that it took several years to recover. That wasn't the case when Cavan took over. He had a mature senior laden team with a lot of good athletes on it. His problem was changing the offensive philosophy before he had the players to do it.

Unlike Cavan, PB is trying to red shirt all of his freshmen to give them an extra year to develop.

[Charleston Pony]

Cavan did have some bad luck with linemen getting hurt. He played too many guys as true FR and some had career ending injuries as I recall. He did NOT do a good job of recruiting the big hosses and allowing them to mature before they hit the field. Bennett at least seems to understand how to build some depth in the trenches. This 2006 team should be as deep on both lines as we've been for 10 years.

[JasonB]

A major difference between Cavan and Bennett is that Cavan's sleepers never panned out. Bennett's have. Bennett is, IMHO, a much better talent evaluator.

[Stallion]

since SMU's class is rated 95th-let's hope so. Again you are still comparing apples to oranges. Mike Cavan had to take a lot more sleepers BECAUSE of university policy not because he was a poor evaluator of talent. Geez. You also are forgetting about 3 guys who started in the Big 10 after transferring so he must not have been so bad an evaluator after all.

[Hoop Fan]

Brewer, Riley and who was the third one??

[SMUstang]

Why didn't they stay at SMU?

[Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex]

Brewer, Riley and who was the third one??

You might be thinking of Tellis Redmon, who was Brewer's cousin and was supposed to have followed him but all 3 ended up at Minnesota instead.

[SMUstang]

If I remember correctly, one of them couldn't meet the entrance requirements at SMU so all three of them went to Minnesota.