GMG Exclusive Interview With Former North Texas DC Phil Bennett

[TheReal_jayD]

Join Jd from gomeangreen.com as he sits down with former North Texas Defensive Coordinator and college coaching legend Phil Bennett for an in-depth discussion on the current landscape of college football. In this highly engaging conversation, they delve into intriguing topics like high school versus portal recruiting, the challenges of transitioning to different defensive schemes, and the ever-evolving phenomenon of college realignment.

 

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77K6KqZWVgc

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Edited September 14, 2023 by TheReal_jayD

[Matt]

Man I really wish he was still here.

[El Paso Eagle]

Phil being nice while saying he's not sure what our Defense is doing and questioning if we are putting them in the right places.

[Big Z]

Phil is like "That defense scheme and coach is trash" 

[TreeFiddy]

 

 

Please?

[El Paso Eagle]

I would like to see Eric walk into Jared's office and say he needs some help on the defensive side and the ball, and the two of them pick up the phone and call Phil or another very experienced coach and bring them in as a consultant. Eric and Caponi need to be willing to accept help.

[Travis]

I had a great conversation with Phil at a family wedding this past summer. The way he spoke of UNT on this podcast was the exact same when we talked.  He has such an optimistic outlook for UNT and such a positive regard. It was neat to talk about the Boise State bowl game and a few tidbits. All around great guy.

I give him two thumbs up!

 

[TreeFiddy]

During the interview Phil said when he took the North Texas job he had other coaches ask him flat out why on earth would you go to North Texas?  Oh man, that's rough.

Thank you for this JD.  Great to hear coach weigh in.  I really wish they would bring him in as a consultant to try and calm things down a bit and talk some sense in this defensive staff.

 

[Jonnyeagle]

Great interview JD.  We lost a very good one in Phil.  I hope Jared and Coach Eric learn their lesson on this.  Old is not always bad.

[SteaminWillieBeamin]

He's kind of full of shit that he didn't know "anything" about North Texas before he came here.

When he was a DC at KSU, we went up there and they kicked our asses up and down the field. 

Then when he was HC at SMU. his prissy ponies came up here on their bus and we kicked their asses. 
 

Not to say at the very least he coached in the same metroplex for five years and recruited the same kids. 

Edited September 15, 2023 by SteaminWillieBeamin

[BBA1989]

Good stuff right there.  

[rcade]

2 hours ago, TreeFiddy said:

During the interview Phil said when he took the North Texas job he had other coaches ask him flat out why on earth would you go to North Texas?

Those coaches might have overestimated his job prospects. When he took the job in Denton he had an 18-52 record as head coach and had been out of coaching for three years.

And now I feel bad for posting this because I loved that yellow bastard on our sidelines with his playcard tucked so deep into his sansabelt shorts he could sing soprano.

[cousin oliver]

I found Phil very stimulating in this interview.  His spirit is young.

[Mean Green 93-98]

Very good interview.  Maybe the best I've ever heard on a Mean Green-related podcast.

I wonder what would have happened if he were here this year.  When he first came here, everyone said his defenses always took off in year 3.

[Meangreen Fight]

3 hours ago, TreeFiddy said:

During the interview Phil said when he took the North Texas job he had other coaches ask him flat out why on earth would you go to North Texas?  Oh man, that's rough.

Not really to me.  I realize how bad this program has been consistently and the underwhelming moves they made to make the dramatic change that needs to happen here.   It isn't about just more money for a coaching staff.   I think the only good thing Morris had done was placing a lot of value on the support staff (assistant coaches, scouts and etc.).

[Cr1028]

Thank you JD. Great interview. Listening reinforced my feelings that the old staff should not have been let go.

[bstnsportsfan3]

Another great interview JD!

[meangreenfaninno]

Good interview JayD!

[greengal]

Always loved Phil and we should have kept him on. Love Eric too but me mussed this one up.

[Harry]

Great to hear his perspective on everything.  A must listen for UNT fans.

[Meangreen Fight]

15 hours ago, Cr1028 said:

Thank you JD. Great interview. Listening reinforced my feelings that the old staff should not have been let go.

Staff or staff and Seth Littrell?  Who besides Bennett and Cobbs were worth keeping and why?  Of course Phil is not going to trash the guys he worked with.  How long being mediocre to bad is enough for you?   The defense wasn’t good 3 years in a roll.   And especially with what we’ve seen this year so far an efficient starting QB wasn’t on the 2022 roster.  
 

The important thing I took from the interview is what he said about TCU vs SMU.  It seems beyond building football facilities the leadership had no real plan like TCU Phil talked about.  If we did then maybe one of the coaches before McCarney or Seth have everything in place from a staffing standpoint as Morris does now.  
 

But even with all that there is no excuse for Seth being at 0.500 or below to younger FBS programs and a restarted UAB program after a 2 year shutdown.  

0-1 against Charolette 

1-1 against ODU 

4-4 against UTSA

2-2 against FAU

1-4 against UAB

I don’t know what hopes you thought were realistic had for a Seth & company led Mean Green team in 2023 or beyond.  So far I think they might squeak by a FIU team but only if the defense tackles and he gets a QB like Rogers or better.   Remember Rogers committed to UNT January 9th long after Seth was fired. 

I can't believe Cr1028's got 6 positive reactions to 4 other than positive reactions.  Some of us fans really have low expectations or place faith very easily in anyone who speaks positively of the Mean Green Football program. 🤷🏽‍♂️

 

Edited September 15, 2023 by Meangreen Fight

[Cr1028]

3 hours ago, Meangreen Fight said:

Staff or staff and Seth Littrell?  Who besides Bennett and Cobbs were worth keeping and why?  Of course Phil is not going to trash the guys he worked with.  

Staff and Seth Littrell. Bennett himself said he only came to North Texas for Seth. Littrell put together a great staff. That staff was the first staff to rival his initial staff. They improved the team’s record both years they were together. Were 2019 and 2020 bad? Absolutely but not by our historical standards. I stand by my feeling that as long as the program was improving they should’ve been allowed to continue. I think our first two games this year have shown how valuable Mike Bloesch was. You give extra credit to Pat because he is an alumnus but look how poorly the backs have performed without Bloesch scheming the offense and coaching the Oline (I know it was technically Clements last season but you know Bloesch still had his hands in there). Gush is a great coach too. None really merited getting canned after going to the conference title game.

3 hours ago, Meangreen Fight said:

How long being mediocre to bad is enough for you?  
 

What we have done by replacing them is gone from mediocre (but improving 3 consecutive years) to 2007 bad or worse.

3 hours ago, Meangreen Fight said:

The defense wasn’t good 3 years in a roll.   And especially with what we’ve seen this year so far an efficient starting QB wasn’t on the 2022 roster.  

Aune was the 34th rated passer in the nation last year. Why do you say Bennett was one of only two worth keeping but also say the defense wasn’t good for three straight seasons?

 

3 hours ago, Meangreen Fight said:

But even with all that there is no excuse for Seth being at 0.500 or below to younger FBS programs and a restarted UAB program after a 2 year shutdown.  

0-1 against Charolette 

1-1 against ODU 

4-4 against UTSA

2-2 against FAU

1-4 against UAB

You can throw that UAB slice out because you know full well they got to accept nonqualifiers and were allowed to have players practice for 2 years without using eligibility so they had a team stocked full of 24-25 year olds. The .500 record to the others is not bad. Old Dominion was just a disastrous game by any account but there was no opportunity for a rubber match.

3 hours ago, Meangreen Fight said:

I don’t know what hopes you thought were realistic had for a Seth & company led Mean Green team in 2023 or beyond.  So far I think they might squeak by a FIU team but only if the defense tackles and he gets a QB like Rogers or better.   Remember Rogers committed to UNT January 9th long after Seth was fired. 

I would have put Cal as a loss; FIU, LaTech, and ACU as wins; Navy as a loss; Temple as a win; Tulane as a loss; Memphis and UTSA as tossups; SMU as a loss; Tulsa as a win; and UAB as a tossup. So a 6-6 or 5-7 at worst record(although 8-4 was a real possibility) to start AAC play was my realistic assumption. Can you honestly say that you believe Eric Morris’ team can meet these expectations? Even the worst case 5-7 record?

 

Try this exercise. Look at Seth’s record as if you were trying to forecast it taking all of the emotion out of it. Graph SL’s win/loss margin over time so year 1 was 5-8 so that would be a minus 3. Year 2 was 8-5 so that would be plus 4 and so on. You will see there is improvement throughout the entire graph except for a one year tremendous drop. Then you have to try to explain that drop and why it is contrary to the trend of the rest of the graph.

Edited September 15, 2023 by Cr1028

[Mean Green 93-98]

3 hours ago, Meangreen Fight said:

I think they might squeak by a FIU team

You think they might "squeak by" a FIU team?  UNT under SL and PB destroyed FIU 52-14 last year.  On what basis do you think the outcome would be significantly different this year?

[jtm0097]

Just listened to the interview. Great job JD!  Damn I miss Phil. He's a leader and I see why the kids miss playing for him.I wish Morris would call him and beg him to come back.

However, that's not going to happen. Hopefully we get some buy in with Caponi. If not, time for the rebuild.

[Meangreen Fight]

34

2 hours ago, Cr1028 said:

Staff and Seth Littrell. Bennett himself said he only came to North Texas for Seth. Littrell put together a great staff. That staff was the first staff to rival his initial staff. They improved the team’s record both years they were together. Were 2019 and 2020 bad? Absolutely but not by our historical standards. I stand by my feeling that as long as the program was improving they should’ve been allowed to continue. I think our first two games this year have shown how valuable Mike Bloesch was. You give extra credit to Pat because he is an alumnus but look how poorly the backs have performed without Bloesch scheming the offense and coaching the Oline (I know it was technically Clements last season but you know Bloesch still had his hands in there). Gush is a great coach too. None really merited getting canned after going to the conference title game.

What we have done by replacing them is gone from mediocre (but improving 3 consecutive years) to 2007 bad or worse.

Aune was the 34th rated passer in the nation last year. Why do you say Bennett was one of only two worth keeping but also say the defense wasn’t good for three straight seasons?

 

You can throw that UAB slice out because you know full well they got to accept nonqualifiers and were allowed to have players practice for 2 years without using eligibility so they had a team stocked full of 24-25 year olds. The .500 record to the others is not bad. Old Dominion was just a disastrous game by any account but there was no opportunity for a rubber match.

I would have put Cal as a loss; FIU, LaTech, and ACU as wins; Navy as a loss; Temple as a win; Tulane as a loss; Memphis and UTSA as tossups; SMU as a loss; Tulsa as a win; and UAB as a tossup. So a 6-6 or 5-7 at worst record(although 8-4 was a real possibility) to start AAC play was my realistic assumption. Can you honestly say that you believe Eric Morris’ team can meet these expectations? Even the worst case 5-7 record?

Makes sense striving for mediocrity, your projections aren't trending up.  And that is with projecting games against UTSA and Memphis as toss ups? Aune is 34 according to what metric?   It kind of irrelevant anyway because I don't think anyone was expecting him to come back and play better in Seth's system. Also without context like only ranking apples to apples; ie FBS quarterbacks averaging 25 attempts a game versus FBS oppoments (9 complete games) his ranking is probably not in the top 30% of quarterbacks.  I think you are confusing his age with his ranking.  They easily could have lost to the FIU game with Seth's staff and no QB playing as well as Rogers did.  

And UAB practice time omg 🙄 the execuses

I don't have expectations of Morris.  I would not have hired Morris.  But I do know it would be silly to believe there wasn't going to be an upgrade in talent with Seth & company recruiting.  Recruits want to go to programs that are trending up, good already up or doing something new to get better (scheme change, new facilities, new charismatic coach.   The opening game attendance with all the new stuff going on should be interpreted as a lack of interest of what happening before. 

Even by the midpoint of your projections they let Seth go sometime during the season or at the end.  

And actually the only reason I mentioned Cobbs is because the leadership seems to think highly of them and retained him.   

Edited September 15, 2023 by Meangreen Fight