Orsini made right decision...again

[CalallenStang]

The very first hire Orsini was involved with, the Doherty hire, was the right decision for SMU's basketball program at a time when we had just burned a LOT of bridges by firing Tubbs.

Since he has gotten here, Orsini has added new associate ADs for compliance and marketing, and I am especially excited to see what Richard Sweet can do to improve the marketing of SMU athletics.

When it came down to evaluating Bennett this year, Orsini kept him on. Personally, I had no strong conviction either way on Bennett's status as our coach (unlike my conviction about our needed change at offensive coordinator), but as I sat and thought about the decision made today, I realized that once again, Orsini did the right thing as we continue to build our program.

To those of you who question the time it has taken Bennett to build this program (citing Graham at Rice, Johnson at Navy, and others), consider this: We may be taking longer to build a program, but we are building one. We are not in need of radical reconstruction at this point in time. Our team has gone from 0-12 to 3-8 to 5-6 to 6-6, and the talent level has increased. All of us who predicted bowls this year expected DeMyron Martin to be healthy this year. He wasn't...and we still were close to bowling (and arguably would be bowling if it weren't for the J-Wil drama during the UTEP week).

This program is making progress. No, we are not making progress as fast as Rice (and others) made progress. But that is Bennett's style. He is (slowly) building this program up so that we can expect top-level play year-in and year-out. For those of you who cited Tulsa going from 1-11 to 8-5 in 1 year, they went 4-8 the next year. For those who cite UTEP going from 2-11 to consecutive 8-4 seasons, look where they are this year: one win less than us. Al Groh turned Virginia around from 5-7 to 9-5, 8-5, 8-4...only to see a 7-5 season last year followed by a 5-7 season this year. Sometimes winning NOW can cost you later...TCU in 2001 was 6-6 and in 2004 was 5-6...they are not exactly the models of consistent winning they make themselves out to be.

Let's look at some examples where patience paid off:

Virginia Tech - Frank Beamer 2-9, 3-8, 6-4-1, 6-5, 5-6, 2-8-1, 9-3...all winning seasons since.

Colorado - Bill McCartney 2-8-1, 4-7, 1-10, 7-5, 6-6, 7-4, 8-4, 11-1, 11-1, 11-1-1, 8-3-1, 9-2-1, 8-3-1, 11-1 (retired)

K-State - Bill Snyder 1-10, 5-6, 7-4, 5-6, then all winning season to 2001 (6-6) which was followed by two 11 win seasons capped off by his uncharacteristically abysmal final season

Iowa - Kirk Ferentz (hired after a 3-8 season but only a year removed from a 7-5 season) 1-10, 3-9, 7-5, 11 wins, 10 wins...

North Carolina - Mack Brown 1-10, 1-10, 6-4-1, 7-4, 9-3, 10-3, 8-4, 7-5, 10-2, 10-1 (left for Texas)

Countless other examples abound. Everyone is lauding Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe...well, he's been at Wake since 2001 and was only bowl-eligible in 2001 and 2002 before this year. (This may not be the best example as we have not yet seen if the program can sustain their level of play).

While it may not bring instantaneous results, I am convinced that Phil Bennett's method of building for the future will eventually bring us to the level we want our program to be on...a program where a 6-6 season is the worst season in 9 years rather than the best season in 9 years.

[mr. pony]

Whatever.

[NavyCrimson]

Excellent post - CalallenStang

[perunapower]

Whatever.

Excellent rebuttal. I have no idea how anyone can argue with that reasoning. As for CalallenStang's point. Muy excellente.

[MrMustang1965]

Fellow PF's: This young man will be attending SMU soon. When he has that degree, I have a feeling he'll be working in the SMU Athletic Department as its SID! Bravo, Calallen! Bravo!

Whatever.

Too much for you to grasp, huh?

[jtstang]

This program is making progress. No, we are not making progress as fast as Rice (and others) made progress. But that is Bennett's style. He is (slowly) building this program up so that we can expect top-level play year-in and year-out.

Well "building slowly" (a/k/a/ sucking) is a style that sucks, and how can you say he's making progress and leading us to "top-level play year-in and year-out" when he hasn't had it in five years?? And "building slowly" was the same style as Cavan, Rossley, and Gregg...where was the patience then?

Look, be happy about Bennett staying or don't, but don't be a freaking sunshiner and tell us that everything is proceeding just as he has it planned. Because if his plan was to be 14-1,368 after five years then we should have never hired his @ss in the first place.

[mustangxc]

I won't defend his overall record which is abysmal. However I am much happier with the progression from 3-0-3-5-6 than the downward trend we were in with Cavan at 6-5-4-3-4. I would have liked to see Rossley get some more time though.

[CalallenStang]

This program is making progress. No, we are not making progress as fast as Rice (and others) made progress. But that is Bennett's style. He is (slowly) building this program up so that we can expect top-level play year-in and year-out.

Well "building slowly" (a/k/a/ sucking) is a style that sucks, and how can you say he's making progress and leading us to "top-level play year-in and year-out" when he hasn't had it in five years?? And "building slowly" was the same style as Cavan, Rossley, and Gregg...where was the patience then?

Look, be happy about Bennett staying or don't, but don't be a freaking sunshiner and tell us that everything is proceeding just as he has it planned. Because if his plan was to be 14-1,368 after five years then we should have never hired his @ss in the first place.

Where were the people calling for his head at the end of the season last year? We finished on a three-game win streak. Do you expect to finish every season on a three-game win streak?

As far as the patience with Cavan, Rossley, and Gregg...since I did not really follow the program at the time, I do not know all the events surrounding the program at the time of their departure (and was Gregg fired? I thought he became the athletic director?). Anyway...judging by records alone, I would have given Gregg more time, Rossley would have been kept on, and Cavan would have been fired. The reasoning behind Cavan is that the program was getting progressively worse as far as the Ws and Ls are concerned before a "turnaround" in 2001 of winning 4 games after 3 in 2000. Still, when you consider that the win gained can be attributed to UTEP going from a strong 8-4 team to a dismal 2-9 team, you can see that he had no forward momentum.

[jtstang]

[ Still, when you consider that the win gained can be attributed to UTEP going from a strong 8-4 team to a dismal 2-9 team, you can see that he had no forward momentum.

And Bennett's win gained this year was against a D-2 team. This program is in shambles, call a spade a spade.

[CalallenStang]

Still, when you consider that the win gained can be attributed to UTEP going from a strong 8-4 team to a dismal 2-9 team, you can see that he had no forward momentum.

And Bennett's win gained this year was against a D-2 team. This program is in shambles, call a spade a spade.

This team is much better than the team we had last year. This year, we blew out SHSU and ASU, beat Tulane on an emotional high, beat Marshall, beat UAB on national TV, and came back to beat Tulsa...all with a freshman QB and without Martin, who, if you recall, was named to the Doak Walker watchlist prior to the season. The one game where he seemed to be back, Rice, was a game in which Willis had an off-game...you get these two working together and we will have something next year on the offensive side of the ball...replace Burns at OC and we will have A LOT. I'm sorry, but I do not see this program being in shambles the way you do.

[jtstang]

This team is much better than the team we had last year. This year, we blew out SHSU and ASU, beat Tulane on an emotional high, beat Marshall, beat UAB on national TV, and came back to beat Tulsa...all with a freshman QB and without Martin, who, if you recall, was named to the Doak Walker watchlist prior to the season. The one game where he seemed to be back, Rice, was a game in which Willis had an off-game...you get these two working together and we will have something next year on the offensive side of the ball...replace Burns at OC and we will have A LOT. I'm sorry, but I do not see this program being in shambles the way you do.

As one of those geniuses who likes to throw around "21-10" whenever some TCU idiot comes on and brags, you know last year we beat a top 25 team, and finished stong indicating improvement through the season. This year we got our @sses handed to us by NTSU and ECU, barely hung on over Tulane, spotted UH a huge lead in a loss, struggled on national TV against UAB, and laid an egg against Rice in the biggest game in twenty years. Get rid of Burns and we still have A LOT...A LOT of work to do on the defensive side of the ball. Shambles, I tell you, but its Bennett's shambles to work through. Hopefully his baby steps won't be backwards next year, but don't be surprised if they are.

[78pony]

Callalen Stang, I am going to significant lenghts to copy page after page of PonyFan posts over the past 2 days and will retain same until at least this time next year.

You are on record, as are others.

In the future, expect your comments/opinions to be used to heap praise on your incredible insight, especially at such a young age, or to substantiate a true lack of understanding in all things real. Especially what we call football at the D - 1 college level; otherwise known as BIG Business.

I am willing to bet that retention of PB will not, I repeat, will not sell ONE more season ticket (I will obtain the final accounting numbers) - will not result in one more victory (easy to document), will not garner a shred of additional goodwill (difficult to measure), and will not result in a recruiting class with more than 7 (SEVEN) AREA (not state - certainly not national)TOP 100's in recruiting. I will look to the voice of rational wisdom & thought + stats - Stallion to confirm or refute.

[CalallenStang]

Callalen Stang, I am going to significant lenghts to copy page after page of PonyFan posts over the past 2 days and will retain same until at least this time next year.

You are on record, as are others.

In the future, expect your comments/opinions to be used to heap praise on your incredible insight, especially at such a young age, or to substantiate a true lack of understanding in all things real. Especially what we call football at the D - 1 college level; otherwise known as BIG Business.

I am willing to bet that retention of PB will not, I repeat, will not sell ONE more season ticket (I will obtain the final accounting numbers) - will not result in one more victory (easy to document), will not garner a shred of additional goodwill (difficult to measure), and will not result in a recruiting class with more than 7 (SEVEN) AREA (not state - certainly not national)TOP 100's in recruiting. I will look to the voice of rational wisdom & thought + stats - Stallion to confirm or refute.

OK. I can handle that. Just because I'm young doesn't mean I'm not mature enough to face the music if I'm wrong.

As far as your other bets, I'll make assertions on them as well. Feel free to copy them down.

Season tickets - No, I do not think there will be a marked increase in season tickets over the next year. Nor do I think there will be a large increase in two years...we have some major marketing problems and I am hoping Mr. Sweet can fix that for us. But ONE more season ticket? You are really cornering yourself.

Victories - prove to me that any other coach could do any better. You can't prove it.

Goodwill - what exactly do you mean by this?

Recruiting - I think the general thought is that SMU is on the upswing. Are you restricting yourself to DFW area top 100s? Because if so, that may be hard for PB to do this year (and less so next year, I think). But if you mean DFW top 100s + Houston area top 100s + Name your metro here top 100s...I think he can do that.

As one of those geniuses who likes to throw around "21-10" whenever some TCU idiot comes on and brags, you know last year we beat a top 25 team, and finished stong indicating improvement through the season. This year we got our @sses handed to us by NTSU and ECU, barely hung on over Tulane, spotted UH a huge lead in a loss, struggled on national TV against UAB, and laid an egg against Rice in the biggest game in twenty years. Get rid of Burns and we still have A LOT...A LOT of work to do on the defensive side of the ball. Shambles, I tell you, but its Bennett's shambles to work through. Hopefully his baby steps won't be backwards next year, but don't be surprised if they are.

jt...search my username if you wish; I don't throw around "21-10" as much as a LOT of others do. Yes, we beat a top 25 team last year and ruined their otherwise perfect season. Yes, we finished strong last year. This year we did struggle against UNT (ok, I have no idea what happened here), and ECU (they were just flat out better than us), and lost winnable games to UH and UTEP because we like to give up leads, regain them, and lose them late. I think the Tulane win was a high spot - no other team had to face that emotional of a Tulane team this year. I think the UAB win on national TV was a boring game to watch with abysmal attendance, but we impressed a lot of people that night. Friends at school the next day said "I had no idea SMU was a decent team. I always thought they never won." Against Rice, we were 1 yard away from TDs...twice...and didn't get them, costing us the game. Get a real OC and that gets fixed.

I know you have no expectations, and that's what works for you as a fan. I'm fine with that. But for someone with no expectations, you sure expect a LOT out of a team who hasn't had a 6 win season since 1997.

[MrMustang1965]

Calallen: I commend you for responding with maturity and class to posts that disagree with yours. You will be a credit to SMU when you get here and upon your graduation.

[perunapower]

Calallen: I commend you for responding with maturity and class to posts that disagree with yours. You will be a credit to SMU when you get here and upon your graduation.

I second that. Very refreshing to see someone who can accept that there will be differing opinions and handling that in a mature fashion.