Phil Bennett and Staff can't coach, must GO!

[mattfair]

Okay, forgive me for being new to the Pony Fans message board, but I have never been so quick to want to remove a coach and staff from power as I am with Bennett and his staff.

Has there been a discussion about this already?

He may be a good/great recruiter, but he is showing an inability to coach. Did anyone notice the amount of penalties we had versus Tulsa? Those are discipline problems that can be coached.

When the defense doesn't make tackles as is an every game occurrence, that is COACHING.

When Bennett mentions in post game that it was HIS FAULT for not having the defense in the correct scheme, or we can't tackle or it was my fault the offense was so conservative, HE IS ADMITTING HE is failing as a coach.

There are MANY teams throughout America in D-IA football that are playing with young players and succeeding. SMU is not and I believe it is the fault of this coach and his staff and will not be solved next year.

We can't even keep a QB on campus for more than a couple of years. Now this did start with Cavan, running guys off because he never knew who to start from week to week and Bartel did display a REGRESSION In mechanics versus last year, which tells me that maybe he SHOULD have gone back to the MINOR leagues during the summer instead of having the SMU coaches mess him up!!! Although, i will say, he was under duress due to a line not blocking and SMU having midget receivers. How many times did we see a jump ball or fade route thrown to Rushbrook, Warren or Cunningham, neither of which is 5'10 or taller. You can't throw that ROUTE MR. Offensive Coordinator. you can now with the Freshmen receivers #85 and Cleveland.

Anyway, sorry this is so long, but decided to throw everything out at once. I am sure Bennett will be around next year, but it is unfortunate that we cannot bring in a new coach for next year during our swan song in the WAC. I mean how lucky are we at 0-8 to have an invite from C-USA when a couple years ago TCU got the invite and we did not and we were actually a team with some W's!!

[i10pony]

I'm with ya man. Everything you have said is dead on,but this is the sunshine board and lot of peple are in denial.Bennett is a great recruiter but he and his coaching staff have a big bag of nothing when it comes to coaching. From reports I heard there were coaches fighting among themselves on the sidelines. I hope Bennett proves me wrong but I seriously doubt it.

[McAndless]

KellerPony, While I fully support your points and actually began making them long before anyone on this board would agree, don't bother posting them on here because the majority of these people are clueless. They don't see the program first hand, they only donate much needed time and money, but they are, however, outside of the loop of what is really going on. I'm not talking about players getting yelled at. They can handle that.

I'm not talking about old school versus new school. I'm telling you people right now, this man may win an award from here to forever for recruiting, but I do not nor will not credit coaches for recruiting and coaching top talent and top schools. His football knowledge may be great, or so we've been told, and his connections in Texas may run deeper than oil, but as a gameday manager, personnel manager, motivator, mentor, and consummate professional, we have badly badly badly missed the boat. Prove me wrong Phil.

In closing, I'm so sick of hearing "wait til we get his recruits in here!" Quit ignoring the truth to that statement. We are allowing an inadequate coach buy time to luck out and get good athletes to do well to make him look like he knows what he's doing. Those athletes aren't coming, and if they are, they will be so tainted by the upperclassmen that were once promising recruits that have endured this maniac for a year or two.

Take this post for what it's worth. The talent level may be down, but I'm sure there are coaches out there getting SOMETHING out of their talent they have.

[Mike Damone]

McAndless-
What is your connection to the program that puts you on the inside. Are you a former player, current player, friend, relative, etc.?? Just wondering. Maybe you've posted this before but I guess I didn't see it.

[Corso]

Originally posted by KellerPony:
Okay, forgive me for being new to the Pony Fans message board, but I have never been so quick to want to remove a coach and staff from power as I am with Bennett and his staff.

Has there been a discussion about this already?

Yes, there's been lots of discussion.

Originally posted by KellerPony:
He may be a good/great recruiter, but he is showing an inability to coach. Did anyone notice the amount of penalties we had versus Tulsa? Those are discipline problems that can be coached.

That's true, they can be coached. But many of the penalties were on inexperienced guys who jumped (on defense) when Kilian went into a hard cadence designed to make defensive linemen jump. Coaching is part of it, but so is inexperience.

Originally posted by KellerPony:
When the defense doesn't make tackles as is an every game occurrence, that is COACHING.

Also coaching-related, but when you have as many people fighting through injuries as we do, it's hard to allow your players to hit in practice. Rico Harris blew a knee in practice, and we all know the team can't afford to lose any more players. If they're not able to hit in practice because we're so thin, numbers-wise, all the coaching in the world can only do so much.

Originally posted by KellerPony:
When Bennett mentions in post game that it was HIS FAULT for not having the defense in the correct scheme, or we can't tackle or it was my fault the offense was so conservative, HE IS ADMITTING HE is failing as a coach.

I give him credit for that. He's not standing up there saying "I'm a great coach, the players are screwing up." He's fully aware that while the players grow and mature, he also has to grow and mature as a head coach. And I admire a coach who doesn't automatically point the finger elsewhere, assuming some blame himself.

You make several valid points. But it's extremely premature to suggest he should be removed. Just like you can't judge a recruiting class until those guys are juniors or seniors, you can't judge a head coach - especially a first-time head coach like Coach Bennett - until he's had three or four years under his belt. I'm not suggesting he's a great coach, because we just don't know yet. I'm merely suggesting that he deserves the time to prove himself - good or bad. My guess is that we'll see sporadic indications of improvement next year, and serious improvement in our debut year in C-USA .... at which point he'll get perhaps more praise than he deserves, just like he's getting more blame than he deserves now.

[ponyte]

Lou Holtz does the same thing. He always says it is his fault. Guess South Carolina should fire him.

We lack speed in key positions. I am sure that is the coach’s fault, as everyone knows that speed is a matter of coaching and not athletic ability. Bennett should be fired for that as well. It held true for Bear Bryant when his all white teams lacked speed in an integrated conference. I must have missed where Bama fired the Bear but I am sure Bama fired him.

We have so little talent on this team. We lack speed, size, and skill. Toss in the fact we are very young and it is a recipe for a disaster. I guess the one thing that can change that, recruiting better athletes, would not be a reason to keep a coach. Best fire him before he recruits good enough athletes to win.

[Diehard Pony]

Originally posted by KellerPony:
I mean how lucky are we at 0-8 to have an invite from C-USA when a couple years ago TCU got the invite and we did not and we were actually a team with some W's!!

I must admit that I have strong leanings toward the views posted above, but am still hopeful that Bennnett will prove us wrong. I think we all know he is going to get the chance.

Had to make a historical correction to KellerPony's post, as we were 0-6 and under NCAA investigation the last time C-USA came knocking.

[EastStang]

You're the clueless one. What credible coach would come here today after you've given Bennett less than 2 years? Name one. Come on. I don't mean pie in the sky, well maybe so and so would come. I mean ready to sign on the dotted line today. There are none and there won't be any. No one else would come here right now. What do you think SMU's name will be around the DISD if we can Phil Bennett, now? Think Jim Bennett will be talking sweet things about SMU to his fellow coaches? How about the excellent recruits we've landed for 2004? If we change coaches, they will walk. We've had 1 1/2 excellent recruiting classes. Next year we'll be a few steps further down that road. I am not enamoured with Bennett's on field production thus far. But I for one am willing to give the guy a chance to fill our cupboard before I think about kicking him out the door. I find it very interesting that once we start losing mysterious new posters show up trashing our coach. Go back to Frogland, troll.

[Mike Damone]

EastStang, I agree with you 100%. I think it would be suicide. Not to mention the recruits we would lose.

Lou Hotlz also had a winless season at South Carolina.

<small>[ 10-29-2003, 09:31 AM: Message edited by: Mike Damone ]</small>

[Johnny Rock]

McAndless, !10Pony, and KellerPony...you guys are wrong, wrong, wrong. SMU'S pathetic, winless season and the last fifteen years of losing should not be blamed on the coaching. It should be blamed on SMU'S inept admission standards and policies regarding the football team. First of all, our quarterbacks for the last five years have sucked! The top two left school before Bennett took the helm. Bennett was left with two well below average freshman quarterbacks in his first year...neither of which Bennett recruited. But let's blame Bennett. Bartel was a joke. But blame Bennett. Bennett's recruits are better than Cavan's junior and senior recruits so he is forced to play true freshman. But blame Bennett. The reason so many penalties occurred in Tulsa is because Bennett is forced to play too many freshman. Here is some advice guys...the next time you want to criticize the football team try pointing your finger at SMU'S faulty admission and recruiting policies. Do not blame Bennett, Cavan, or any coach for that matter. Blame SMU'S inept policies. And by the way, Fresno St. will kick our [deleted] at our own homecoming and the majority of their players would not even be accepted into SMU. But that is Bennett's fault. TCU has embarressed us and I mean embarress us with players that the SMU coaches were unable to recruit pursuant to SMU's policies.

[Corso]

Good point, East Stang. I know Jim Bennett was not too fond of A&M when they jettisoned Phil Bennett years ago, and I imagine it affected his discussions with players when they were trying to select a college. We've got some talented kids in here from Irving, and there are more on the way. His brother shouldn't be the reason to keep or fire Coach Bennett, but it's a good point you bring up.

[MizterTea]

Originally posted by i10pony:
I'm with ya man. Everything you have said is dead on,but this is the sunshine board and lot of peple are in denial.Bennett is a great recruiter but he and his coaching staff have a big bag of nothing when it comes to coaching. From reports I heard there were coaches fighting among themselves on the sidelines. I hope Bennett proves me wrong but I seriously doubt it.

Denial is only a river in Egypt

No sunshine here... but after 15 years, people realize that there are no quick fixes with this program (short of what caused this mess to begin with)

[MrMustang1965]

KellerPony: I see this is your VERY FIRST post on this board. Congratulations! Too bad it was a 'negative' post. You're entitled to your opinion. But - might I suggest - that you do a little 'research' of previous posts on this board. There are some very intelligent posters on here (you know who you are! :showoff:

[Hoop Fan]

McAndless, who are you and what axe do you have to grind? Maybe the better question is who do you think you are? You're quite the know-it-all making conclusions and absolute statements like that. God like, you must be. Answer me this, why does a stud and team player like Dat Nyugen like and respect Bennett so much? You think Bill Snyder had raving lunatics on his staff at KState? Maybe Bennett is so aggravated with the culture he found here that he just went ballistic and is cleaning house. Apparently you are or think you are an insider, but your whining and disloyalty might be the very thing that is wrong with this program. Its easy to talk so big when youre anonymous isn't it? Disgusting.

[Stallion]

yes please do explain to me how it is coaching even on the defensive side where we have been awful when Bennett coordinated one of the best defenses in the nation at K-State. Did he forget everything he learned-or could it be he misses all those stud JUCOs he had at K-State.