Bennett's Post Game Interview???

[Mustang75]

I'm sure after the game, most of our fans turned the radio/internet off. I'm not a fair-weather fan, so I stayed tune. After making reference to working on 'foot-work' at practice next week, I thought it was very interesting that Coach Bennett said, "if I'm still here...". Are the chains starting to rattle already? I hope not!!!

GO Mustangs!!!

[i10pony]

If he said that then he must be reading this board or mustangmaniacs. SMU won't fire him until his contract is up.

[PonyExpress]

The folks I've talked to down in Dallas have assured me that Coach will not be leaving any time soon. Not because of the size of his contract, but because the administration understands the development and maturation that's necessary in re-building a program. They are convinced he's the right man for the job, and based on what I've heard from people who are pretty well connected, I tend to agree.

[FloridaMustang]

Yeah, we got a good guy to rebuild the program. Just not soon enough for me. We have to deal with a mediocre staff of assistant coaches and a first year head coach that is going to need two years just to learn his own position. It's just frustrating. 0-7 starts? Seems like Tulsa and Rice are doing more with recruits that are comparable to our own.

[Mike Damone]

If we were to fire him, even after the season, there isn't a decent coach in the world that would take this job. Who would want to take a job in this situation when you also know that the adminstration and fans have a quick trigger finger.

Goodness, the guy obvious has a lot of improvement to do as a head coach, but when is there a better time for him to learn on the job then when we are going to suck these last two years anyway. Hopefully, he and his staff will start to peak as a coaching staff around the same time this young talent starts to peak on the field.

Not to count out the upperclassmen as is done so much on this board, but can you imagine how close these coaches and underclassmen are going to be in a few years after going through all this crap.

<small>[ 10-13-2003, 07:29 AM: Message edited by: Mike Damone ]</small>

[NavyCrimson]

bennett is the right coach at the right time!!!!

it'll happen but it wont happen this or next season.

[Corso]

Not so fast, my friend!

I don't think we'll win the WAC or anything next year, but I do believe that next year we'll enjoy glimpses of the success SMU will enjoy in the future. Next year, we'll start to see the rewards for our patience and support of the team and the coaches. The year after that is when the major improvement becomes readily apparent.

<small>[ 10-13-2003, 07:56 AM: Message edited by: Corso ]</small>

[FloridaMustang]

Wow I wasn't advocating firing the guy. I was just relating to you all how frustrating is to deal with. I think we'll be better next year, but that statement always seem to a be a year early too.

[Hoop Fan]

to get better, or show potential, the offensive and the defensive lines need to show something. Desmond Jones and Bonds are promising D-Tackles, but I don't see the makings of physical improvement at the defensive ends yet. And the offensive line loses two key seniors, so we are two years away there. And we lose Jonas. In fairness, all we need is to figure out how to win a close game early in the season and then the outlook and attitude are different. I think we had a serious hangover from Utep game going to San Jose.

[Mike Damone]

Next year (and MrMustang don't jump down my throat for not predicting a national championship), I would like to see us win 6 or 7 games and play some important ones in the WAC in late October, early November. And if by year 4 we are not where we want to be- competing for conference championships- then we have a problem.

I think year 3 will be the turning point as far as seeing improvement. Until then, everyone on here is just [deleted] about his ability with the X's and O's, which most, including me, know very little about other than extensive time on their PS2.

[McAndless]

I'd like to consider myself decently familiar with X's and O's and that's what kills me about this staff. Don't be misled that our defensive scheme is so great. We haven't gotten full swing into the WAC yet, and this conference plays lights out offense. Defenses in this league, however, are pretty weak and usually play well one week out of the year...against us. Teams with salty defenses, i.e Fresno and Boise, usually win the conference, but they also play very creative offensive schemes. Our offensive scheme however, is dictated by the head coach who has a severe case of fear of losing. We all hate to lose, but I for one like trying to win and see what happens, as opposed to trying not to lose. It's a serious flaw in our head coach and anyone that disagrees knows nothing about the game. You can hear it in his interviews, game plan, practice schedules, etc. He just wants to play decent on defense and hope to be there in the end. This is the WAC, save a few teams, you aren't going to be there in the end with no offense. Period. I'm just annoyed that Tulsa can go hire an offensive guru and ignite something in their program. It's their first year, but they beat Hawaii, which constitutes progress, while we, for the second year in a row, have an 0-6, headed right for 0-7 record. Poor. I applaud the effort of every player on that team, and feel for the parents that must endure what more than any fan can feel, because what they are going through right now feels like Christmas cannot get here fast enough.

[2Mustangsons]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Hoop Fan:
Desmond Jones and Bonds are promising D-Tackles, but I don't see the makings of physical improvement at the defensive ends yet. ------------------------------------------------- Move Adami to his true position at DE.

<small>[ 10-13-2003, 12:21 PM: Message edited by: 2Mustangsons ]</small>

[Charleston Pony]

It would be wonderful to see Adami playing at the DE position, but that would remove ANY depth from the DT spot. With injuries to the undersized Karrington and Berry, who is left to back up the three interior guys we have? I think the undersized Randy Denman is next on that list.

I have to believe that's why we see this ball control, boring offense...to do whatever we can to kep the defense off the field and prevent them from wearing down early in the game. Same thing at LB. Our true frosh may be our best backups, but why blow their RS years? We've got some serious speed on the bench in guys like Turner and McGee and that may help us down the road, but I think Bennett's making the right call to allow them a year to mature physically.

Given the fact any reasonable person (anf that undoubtedly includes Jim Copeland, who when all is said and done must judge Bennett) could not possibly have expected much this season, I would like to see things opened up a bit and let's go to the backups when the starters wear down. What's the worst that can happen? We get blown out rather than losing by 17? Let's find out if guys like Denman and Glockzin and Carrington and Barnettand Fitzgerald can play and give them some snaps.

Reality is that with 60 frosh on the roster, we are looking at 2005 or 2006 before we can truly compete (and that's assuming Bennett and his staf can continue bringing in classes as strong as last year's every year). From the early verbals, it still looks promising to me.

[SMUstang]

Did we start the year with 60 frosh on the roster? If so, how did anybody predict we would win 5 or 6 games? I seem to remember that's what most on this board predicted.

[Charleston Pony]

My opinion was that if we went 3-9, that would reflect improvement over last year, because the schedule was tougher. I looked at UTEP, Rice and Tulsa as our best chances to win 3 games. I felt Tulsa would be the toughest of those games because it was on the road. Right now, I'm just hoping we don't go 0-12. I will admit to being really disappointed by the UTEP loss, but beyond that, we are where I expected we would be. I was actually impressed by the fact we were close to winning at Baylor and Nevada.