Phil Bennett-Hot Sports Opinions

[Treadway21]

you guys blaming prior Coaches for failing to get changes to the admission standards are CLASSICALLY MISINFORMED. And excuse me but I thought that the search committee went to June Jones and promised him that athletic admission standards were already going to be changed to (paraphasing Turner) "so SMU was on an even playing field with all our competitors". So really why does June Jones get credit for anything more than fine-tuning. The evidence shows they were letting large numbers of Category C recruits get in within weeks of Jones' arrival. Typical June Jones worship

maybe because they read your quote on ponyfans that said anyone who knew anything about June Jones and how he does things would know that he has ZERO interest in coming to SMU. So give yourself a pat on the back for that one.

[BRStang]

Coaching is a profession which seems to me to be one of the more difficult to excel at. Often a coach can be a success at one place or as an assistant coach be really good and be a failure at another place or as a head coach. Sometimes the most successful coaches don't seem to be very nice or even honest people. There is little doubt that two ingredients are needed for a head coach to be successful-good players and good assistants. Sometimes even having those does not work and sometimes just being a good fit for the job is necessary. The guy at Ole Miss is about to get fired and he was quite successful at Arkansas. Go figure!

I have been around, as a player and later as a fan and sometimes as a good friend and sometimes as an employee of many coaches.

My high school coach won a state championship in basketball and two in football and was one of the legendary Texas High School coaches. He was a forbidding looking man and everyone was afraid of him. Not a screamer but coached with the look. He could make you feel two feet high. Never gave a pep talk. He was a technician offensively and we were ahead of everyone else in that phase of the game. I have a close friend who played for a guy who was also legendary and won many state championships. He was a screamer, worked his players until they dropped, had about five plays from the single wing and threw the ball about twice a game. He was a mean SOB.

In college I happened to be around when Texas Tech had probably their best record and team. Dewitt Weaver was the head coach but probably his secret weapon was Wade Walker, offensive line coach. The players loved him and he could really coach the split T. He even took time to help and inspire marginal players, like me. He left Tech to take the head coaching job at Miss. State and later got fired. TT was not as good after he left.

Ed Price at TU was a very fine man and well liked. He would go out of his way to help an "all you others." He was fired and Royal was hired. I have heard he was not always a very nice man.

A coach with one of the best coaching records in Texas College football, I was quite familiar with. He took a small school in the NAIA and made a national power of them. One year he won 18 games including one of the national championships he won. He was not very likeable and IMO kind of sneaky. He did hire some good assistants. One went on to have a good coaching career, including at SMU and one quit coaching and became CEO of a big energy company.

Hayden Fry IMO is the classic example of a coach who always seemed to hire good assistants. I knew him rather well and some of his assistants extremely well. In spite of hiring good assistants and having some success in recruiting, Hayden never really got it going at SMU. I believe that when Fry had so much success at Iowa, it was at least partly because there was harmony on the staff and he let those good assistants coach.

A coach at SMU who was a great coach and a wonderful man was Red Barr. His swimmers seemed to really like him. He was innovative and cared a great deal about all people. I worked for him and learned a lot. He had his swimmers weight lifting long before football players started doing it.

A coach who was a great IMO assistant coach was Dave Smith. I knew him as a player and as a close friend. For some reason, he was not successful at SMU, perhaps because of a weak staff. He may have been just too nice a person to to be a head coach at that level.

Ron Meyer gave the impression of being a high roller but he was really a genuine person. He certainly got the job done at SMU and that may have been the best fit for him, rather than the NFL.

Bobby Collins was truly a genuine person and a Red Barr type IMO. Most of his staff was the same way. One thing that made an impression on me was that one could sit at a big table after golf with Bobby and his staff and it was hard to tell who was the head man. He was certainly not an egotist.

Phil Bennett was IMO, a nice fellow and always very pleasant to me for no good reason as I was not a big contributor at that time. I heard he was a micro manager perhaps because his staff may have been weak. Jim Copeland went out of his way to be cordial to me and was a geniunely nice person.

The point of all this is that most men in coaching are nice people and really care about their fellow man. Perhaps the best head coaches need to be a little ruthless and have a mean streak. Some are screamers and some are not. I believe that Patterson is the former. The fact is, though, that just because an assistant coach is very good, there is no guarantee he will be good as a head coach at a certain place. On the other hand, a good staff or a certain great assistant can make a head coach look good. Patterson and Peterson are probably examples of that.

One thing is for sure, a football team, no matter how good the talent, will not be consistently successful unless the coaching staff is overall very good at their job.

[ObeyMyDog]

The reason admission standards changed is because June Jones agreed to come to SMU if they happened and June Jones is a hell of a coach and a recruiter.

Trying to make it sound like we hired June and then things changed so June got the best deal is absurd. Things changed because June said he would come here if they did. That's what happens when you have credibility and a track record. You get to make demands and they usually get me. Prior coaches had absolutely no previous success as head coaches to tout comparable to June's, so it should come as absolutely 0 surprise that they didn't get to bring in marginal student athletes.

[Dutch]

Coaching is a profession which seems to me to be one of the more difficult to excel at. Often a coach can be a success at one place or as an assistant coach be really good and be a failure at another place or as a head coach. Sometimes the most successful coaches don't seem to be very nice or even honest people. There is little doubt that two ingredients are needed for a head coach to be successful-good players and good assistants. Sometimes even having those does not work and sometimes just being a good fit for the job is necessary. The guy at Ole Miss is about to get fired and he was quite successful at Arkansas. Go figure!

I have been around, as a player and later as a fan and sometimes as a good friend and sometimes as an employee of many coaches.

My high school coach won a state championship in basketball and two in football and was one of the legendary Texas High School coaches. He was a forbidding looking man and everyone was afraid of him. Not a screamer but coached with the look. He could make you feel two feet high. Never gave a pep talk. He was a technician offensively and we were ahead of everyone else in that phase of the game. I have a close friend who played for a guy who was also legendary and won many state championships. He was a screamer, worked his players until they dropped, had about five plays from the single wing and threw the ball about twice a game. He was a mean SOB.

In college I happened to be around when Texas Tech had probably their best record and team. Dewitt Weaver was the head coach but probably his secret weapon was Wade Walker, offensive line coach. The players loved him and he could really coach the split T. He even took time to help and inspire marginal players, like me. He left Tech to take the head coaching job at Miss. State and later got fired. TT was not as good after he left.

Ed Price at TU was a very fine man and well liked. He would go out of his way to help an "all you others." He was fired and Royal was hired. I have heard he was not always a very nice man.

A coach with one of the best coaching records in Texas College football, I was quite familiar with. He took a small school in the NAIA and made a national power of them. One year he won 18 games including one of the national championships he won. He was not very likeable and IMO kind of sneaky. He did hire some good assistants. One went on to have a good coaching career, including at SMU and one quit coaching and became CEO of a big energy company.

Hayden Fry IMO is the classic example of a coach who always seemed to hire good assistants. I knew him rather well and some of his assistants extremely well. In spite of hiring good assistants and having some success in recruiting, Hayden never really got it going at SMU. I believe that when Fry had so much success at Iowa, it was at least partly because there was harmony on the staff and he let those good assistants coach.

A coach at SMU who was a great coach and a wonderful man was Red Barr. His swimmers seemed to really like him. He was innovative and cared a great deal about all people. I worked for him and learned a lot. He had his swimmers weight lifting long before football players started doing it.

A coach who was a great IMO assistant coach was Dave Smith. I knew him as a player and as a close friend. For some reason, he was not successful at SMU, perhaps because of a weak staff. He may have been just too nice a person to to be a head coach at that level.

Ron Meyer gave the impression of being a high roller but he was really a genuine person. He certainly got the job done at SMU and that may have been the best fit for him, rather than the NFL.

Bobby Collins was truly a genuine person and a Red Barr type IMO. Most of his staff was the same way. One thing that made an impression on me was that one could sit at a big table after golf with Bobby and his staff and it was hard to tell who was the head man. He was certainly not an egotist.

Phil Bennett was IMO, a nice fellow and always very pleasant to me for no good reason as I was not a big contributor at that time. I heard he was a micro manager perhaps because his staff may have been weak. Jim Copeland went out of his way to be cordial to me and was a geniunely nice person.

The point of all this is that most men in coaching are nice people and really care about their fellow man. Perhaps the best head coaches need to be a little ruthless and have a mean streak. Some are screamers and some are not. I believe that Patterson is the former. The fact is, though, that just because an assistant coach is very good, there is no guarantee he will be good as a head coach at a certain place. On the other hand, a good staff or a certain great assistant can make a head coach look good. Patterson and Peterson are probably examples of that.

One thing is for sure, a football team, no matter how good the talent, will not be consistently successful unless the coaching staff is overall very good at their job.

now THAT was funny.

[Cardinal Puff]

Wish Phil well. Just damn glad we have June Jones.

[rich59]

Ponyboy, could not agree more. Two examples of why it is not all recruiting. Franchione(and Patterson) took Sullivan's players at TCU who had won one game(SMU) and went 6-4 and beat USC in the Sun Bowl. Royal took Ed Price's players who had barely won a game his last year and went to the Sugar Bowl.

[Stallion]

Who in the [deleted] ever said it was all about recruiting? I never said Coaching doesn't matter either although its repeated by guys like Ponyboy. I can say Ponyboy sleeps with Children-that doesn't make it true as far as I know. This is an Urban Myth created by one of the most clueless posters on this Board. What I said was that the reason SMU didn't win championships, have winning records and go to Bowls [from 1989-2007] was because SMU Academic Model didn't allow SMU to recruit on an even playing field with its natural and traditional rivals. (And guess what I was NEVER proved wrong which makes guys like Ponyboy crazy). Oh and BTW June Jones was 1-11 in his first year-he'll get smarter and smarter as Klemm bails him out.

[PonyKai]

Of course there's the in-house example of June w/ von Appen's players in '99.

[Dutch]

Ponyboy, could not agree more. Two examples of why it is not all recruiting. Franchione(and Patterson) took Sullivan's players at TCU who had won one game(SMU) and went 6-4 and beat USC in the Sun Bowl. Royal took Ed Price's players who had barely won a game his last year and went to the Sugar Bowl.

and Bob Stoops won his only NC w/ John Blake's players