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Guys,

This is my first time on this board. I'm a regular on the Frog Fan Forum. I haven't come to trash talk. There really is no point. I'm very saddened by the state of SMU football. It's a real problem for us over here in Ft. Worth. We don't like having a rivalry with a team that is so bad year in year out.

My proposition.
Bennett is horrible and needs to be fired. I've gathered that that is the feeling in UP as well. There's no reason that he would keep his job unless y'all find a way to upset us next week. That being said, SMU needs to get all of its high profile alumni to back a real coach.

R.C. Slocum

I am not an Aggie nor do I support them. But, I have major repsect for this guy and I think if he was willing to come in, y'all would be going head to head with us with both going into this game with at most 2 losses each every year.

He is one of the best known coaches in the state. His record speaks for itself. And face it, CUSA and WAC aren't the Big 12 so I think he could realistically run the table at SMU.

My Plea
PLEASE GET ALL OF YOUR ALUMNI BEHIND THE HIRING OF R.C. SLOCUM OR A COACH OF THAT HIGH OF STATURE. A no name coordinator that no one ever heard of will not be able to turn your program around. SMU needs and deserves someone with a high profile.

Bennett was not exactly a "no name" coordinator when he was hired. K-State did have one of the best defenses the years that he was the defensive coordinator. Bennett was every bit as much of a known name as Gary Patterson was. Unfortunately for Bennett, the coach that he replaced was a "big southern dummy" and about 90% of the lack of success these past two years is a direct reflection on the lack of talent that he (Cavan) recruited.

Actually Cavan recruited fine talent before the Malin incident. We are reaping the fruits of the post-Malin recruiting drought. Perhaps famine is a better word. But Bennett's got us back on course and better days are ahead.

I say do it. bennett is a horrible coach. We need somebody that not only is a good coach but somebody that can run a program. Somebody that can get good asst. coaches. Nobody wants to work for bennett with the rep he has.

This is, without a doubt, one of the silliest posts I have seen on this board in quite some time. As has been said here MANY times before, NO ONE of R.C. Slocum's stature (or any other coach of similar caliber) will come to SMU under its current conditions. The only way ANY of them would consider something like this is if SMU were winning some games. And, we all know, that's not happening right now. (although I have faith that it will begin next Saturday against TCU) Phil Bennett will take us to the promised land...but it's going to take at least another year or two (see threads addressing this elsewhere on this board) to do that. I'm not ready to throw in the towel on Phil Bennett yet. His recruiting classes will be coming in to their own within the next year or two. Frankly, your first post here smacks of anti-SMU, anti-Bennett sentiment...and it has no merit. (Sam...you ain't much better for agreeing with him.) I look forward to the game next Saturday against the 'Cinderella'-Horned Frogs...and the beginning of SMU's winning streak to end the 2003 season and to begin the 2004 season. :thumbupcool:

<small>[ 11-22-2003, 01:51 PM: Message edited by: MrMustang1965 ]</small>

You who want to fire Bennett are idiots. RC got fired at A&M- who would want him anyway. His phone doesn't seem to ringing a lot. Get real and leave Bennett alone. The man has improved recruiting and even though he made some mistakes, he is a knowlegable football coach. I was watching Bayor today. The coach had guys in the right place all day. The players couldn't make the plays. That is because they weren't good enough athletes. Bennett has done the same this year. Think about what you are saying. This program needs help- not mindless criticism. If we get some good athletes for a couple more years and we are still losing, then start your diatribe. Until then, if you want to bad mouth someone, go after the administration for putting us in this position and still not doing all they can to bring us out of it.

I smell a frog who is concerned about how well Bennett recruited coming off a 3-9 season. It appears he may do well again this year coming off 0-12. Meanwhile, TCU's success this year might cost them their coach. Maybe TCU hopes we fire Bennett so they can hire him to backfill behind Patterson?

the Malin situation is yet another ridiculous excuse for the lack of talent. It was a relatively minor violation in the world of college athletics and I bet it didn't change the mind of one recruit. The reason for the lack of the talent is the same reason we have a 23% winning record over 14 year. The lack of a competitive Model and ESPECIALLY the restrictions on early recruiting put in place by Ken Pye under which these players were recruited. Cavan heading into his 3-5th years of his tenure was not able to maintain the relatively impressive recruiting start he had in first few years. Bennett will soon find the recruiting road much tougher now that he heads to the same point in his career. Can he overcome the fact that the school did not give him the alternative to plug some major holes by recruiting some JUCOs until the kids grow up. We'll see. But it ain't easy to continue that kind of momentum off a 3-21 record especially when just about every team on your schedule is plugging their holes with JUCOs.

<small>[ 11-22-2003, 03:27 PM: Message edited by: Stallion ]</small>

Nobody needs to be fired. He's only had two seasons... see other threads for the rest of the "keep Bennett" philosophy.

He may need to reevaluate his coordinators, redistribute existing talent in skill positions, do more delegating, continue strong recruiting, lobby for less restrictive academic requirements, forget trying to please the press, and lose the mustache, but firing him is not the answer.

BTW, I really do think Bennett is too press oriented. I liked Michigan's coach at halftime, today. His team is up 21-7, and he just had his QB kneel to end the 1st half. The reporter grabs him on the field and asks why he had his QB take a knee with 35 seconds to go and 2 timeouts.
His reply: "Now why would you ask such a dumb question?"
The reporter didn't miss a beat and mentioned at least going for a field goal.
The coach's reply: Smirked, shook his head and went into the tunnel.

Now that's a coach handling the press. Bennett (of course of late, his team would be behind at half time) would have said: "We have to do better at coaching. Just bad coaching."

<small>[ 11-22-2003, 03:38 PM: Message edited by: Javs ]</small>

Originally posted by Stallion:
the Malin situation is yet another ridiculous excuse for the lack of talent. It was a relatively minor violation in the world of college athletics and I bet it didn't change the mind of one recruit. The reason for the lack of the talent is the same reason we have a 23% winning record over 14 year. The lack of a competitive Model and ESPECIALLY the restrictions on early recruiting put in place by Ken Pye under which these players were recruited. Cavan heading into his 3-5th years of his tenure was not able to maintain the relatively impressive recruiting start he had in first few years. Bennett will soon find the recruiting road much tougher now that he heads to the same point in his career. Can he overcome the fact that the school did not give him the alternative to plug some major holes by recruiting some JUCOs until the kids grow up. We'll see. But it ain't easy to continue that kind of momentum off a 3-21 record especially when just about every team on your schedule is plugging their holes with JUCOs.

The Malin incident caused us to lose 9 scholarships over 3 years and limited our recruiting that we did have (campus and coaches visits considerable, thus reducing the effectiveness of those classes even given the 'administration' restrictions).

<small>[ 11-22-2003, 06:41 PM: Message edited by: GoRedGoBlue ]</small>

Metropolis 777, are you a Dream Theater fan?

Originally posted by OldPony:
RC got fired at A&M- who would want him anyway. His phone doesn't seem to ringing a lot.

no offense sucka... but you don't know what you are talking about - R.C. kept that program alive and won games on a national level when the rest of the SWC barely rivaled the present-day Sun Belt

but you are right - he would never come here anyway - nor would Lou Holtz, but they are proven big-time division I coaches

the scholarship reductions were not 9 under the 85 man limit but(i don't think it was 9 anyway) were about 3 under the 25 man limit per year a number we have RARELY given out anyway since we had high retention numbers. The effect IF ANY was minimal as we always had about 80 on scholarships at all time which is about average for us anyway. Its absurd to suggest that it played a big role because we weren't in contention for quality recruits in the first place. Go sell that somewhere else because it doesn't fly.

Stallion - If the reason Cavan had poor classes in his last 3 years is due to the Pye model (which I think needs to go) then why did he have so much sucess in his first two years prior to the Malin incident?

Metro: We've got a coach, thanks anyway. Point of interest, though: R.C. Slocum was Phil Bennett's position coach at ATM. Mr. Slocum needs to draw the retirement buck$ and take the grandkids fishin'.