Coffee with Coach Bennett

[Charleston Pony]

I continue to believe the jury is still out on whether Phil Bennett, given the opportunity to coach SMU the full 5 years of his contract, will be successful as a head coach...but today I heard something from a Georgia Bulldog that gave me something to think about.

My Georgia buddy didn't even know who was coaching SMU today but commented that he "felt sorry for the guy having to rebuild after Cavan". This guy is apparently at least "acquainted" with Cavan and said basically that "Cavan has been a jerk since he lost his starting job as the Georgia QB his senior season". He talked about how Cavan got the SMU job and inherited a team that Tom Rossley had slowly built into a competitive group (I think they went 5-6 Rossley's last season) and that Cavan had inherited a veteran group of players and only improved on the previous year's record by one win (they did go 6-5 his 1st year with the infamous season ending loss to 0-10 TCU). He went on to say that in his opinion, Cavan then went on to alienate Texas high school coaches - the very lifeblood of the program - because of his demeanor and commented on how SMU got progressively worse under Cavan. He commented that by the end of Cavan's tenure, he was generally only able to recruit guys who otherwise were looking at I-AA programs.

Don't know how much truth there might be to any of that, but I do recall being woefully thin in the trenches by the end of the Cavan regime. Whether Bennett survives or not, I do think he's done a good job filling some very big holes in the past two years recruiting classes and if the big OLs and LB he has commitments from so far remain commited, I like the start of next year's class. As has been documented, most schools would have relied heavily on the JUCO ranks to fill all the holes we had in Bennett's 1st year...but he took this job knowig it would take 4-5 years to field an experienced team of his own recruits. I guess we will find out if the administration will make a 4-5 year commitment to Bennett (especially if there is mounting pressure from the big money boys) to see what he can do.

[MustangTu]

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My Georgia buddy didn't even know who was coaching SMU today but commented that he "felt sorry for the guy having to rebuild after Cavan". This guy is apparently at least "acquainted" with Cavan and said basically that "Cavan has been a jerk since he lost his starting job as the Georgia QB his senior season". He talked about how Cavan got the SMU job and inherited a team that Tom Rossley had slowly built into a competitive group (I think they went 5-6 Rossley's last season) and that Cavan had inherited a veteran group of players and only improved on the previous year's record by one win (they did go 6-5 his 1st year with the infamous season ending loss to 0-10 TCU). He went on to say that in his opinion, Cavan then went on to alienate Texas high school coaches - the very lifeblood of the program - because of his demeanor and commented on how SMU got progressively worse under Cavan. He commented that by the end of Cavan's tenure, he was generally only able to recruit guys who otherwise were looking at I-AA programs.

This was implied in commemts made by Phil and not disputed by Copeland. IMO the team is really being groomed for a winning splash in to Conf USA next year. Once the season went south it was felt players should get experience so theat we can be 2 or 3 deep on defense etc.

In fairness to Coach Bennett it should be noted that he made the statement that if he were fired he would tell the press that it was still a great job and that he new what he was getting into and would take the job again.

For those who know him I would suggest you talk to Steve Wilensky (Exec Dir of the Mustang club after the death penalty) about the internal politics and the part they are playing in the on field problems. He briefly outlined these and got no disagreement from anyone present.

It's no secret that Cavan like Shumate spent his time complaining about the admission restrictions instead of trying to work around them were he could. He did turn off the Texas high school coaches. Bennett is and has reversed this attitude. IMO the hook should be put away until next year when we have 19, 20 and 21 year olds with 2 to 3 years of experience facing off againest the other schools 21 to 23 year olds with similar experience. Then if we don't look competitive bring out the hook. Early in the year Bennett said that the team was a JV team so I don't see why we are getting upset when they play like one.

[PerunaPunch]

We're upset because the team isn't playing to its potential... At the beginning of the season, most people on this board were expecting 2-3 wins and said they would be ecstatic if we won 4 or more.

So far we've won 1. If we can beat Tulsa and/or Nevada, we'll have 2-3 wins. If we beat UTEP, we would all be ecstatic with our 4 wins...

Hmmmmmm.

[PonyTales]

I'm just focused on beating Tulsa. Then I'll worry about Nevada. And then if we beat UTEP .... nice going, PerunaPunch - now look what you've done to me!


GO MUSTANGS! BEAT THE HELL OUT OF TULSA!

[SMUstang]

We're upset because the team isn't playing to its potential... At the beginning of the season, most people on this board were expecting 2-3 wins and said they would be ecstatic if we won 4 or more.

So far we've won 1. If we can beat Tulsa and/or Nevada, we'll have 2-3 wins. If we beat UTEP, we would all be ecstatic with our 4 wins...

Hmmmmmm.

They haven't done it yet, and the way they've been playing it isn't likely that they will.