DMN Long after death penalty SMU still lifeless

[OldTimer]

Long after death penalty, SMU still lifeless

01:32 AM CDT on Wednesday, September 28, 2005

UNIVERSITY PARK – At Southern Methodist University, Land of Diminishing Football Expectations, the Mustangs are getting ready for a road game, which is another way of saying they are preparing for another defeat.

That's not what coach Phil Bennett has in mind, of course, but he knows Marshall is a difficult place to play. And he knows the Mustangs have lost 13 road games in a row.

And he knows his record since replacing Mike Cavan is 7-32, but he can't say exactly why.

And he knows that his athletic director, Jim Copeland, said after a rather embarrassing 31-10 home loss to a homeless Tulane team that Bennett's job is not on the line.

Why would that be the case?

In the business world, isn't everyone's job pretty much on the line at all times? If a salesman was good two years ago, does he get to stop selling and keep collecting salary?

Unfortunately for Bennett, a genuinely good man, he has been little more than a salesman since he arrived at SMU and promised his team would contend for conference titles right away.

SMU hasn't contended for anything. Bennett has produced two seasons of three wins and one of none. The Mustangs are 1-3 this year, should be favored to beat Rice for a homecoming victory, might sneak up on Tulsa on the road or trip up East Carolina at home.

That's it. Three-and-out, for most teams, is a bad offensive series. For SMU, it's a season.

Bennett said Tuesday he is surprised that success has been so far from his grasp at SMU.

"I knew this was a tough job," he said. "A lot of things you don't know until you get here. But this is a good place. It's a place where you can build. I never go into games expecting to lose. I just haven't got it on track yet."

Bennett said there is more talent at SMU now than when he arrived. That may be true. Probably is. But it's not better enough to make a tangible difference.

Five games into the season, he's unsure of which quarterback to play and might make a second change at that position before long. It's hard on a young team when there is no understood leader at that spot.

It's even harder when those quarterbacks are both seniors. If either Jerad Romo or Tony Eckert finally grabs the reins of this team, it's going to be in their final weeks of eligibility.

We are 17 seasons removed from the death penalty at SMU. Forrest Gregg and Tom Rossley combined to win seven of the team's first 39 games after the NCAA shut down the program. More than a decade later, Bennett has managed to do no better than that.

Rossley was dismissed by Copeland after his second five-win season.

Cavan, who replaced Rossley, had his best year (6-5) with Rossley's leftovers in 1997. After that, he had two four-win seasons in four tries and was shown the door.

If Bennett gets SMU to four wins this year, it will be progress. It may also be a miracle, given what we have seen thus far.

He never sounds that way, of course. Bennett sounded as surprised to be 1-3 this year as he is surprised to have a winning percentage under .200 since coming here from Kansas State.

"I'm not up here to make excuses," Bennett said. "We've got to start playing better on the road. After the way we played Saturday, we've got to be ready for a challenge."

Marshall, which barely lost to Kansas State, will be a challenge. So will UAB, a seven-point loser at Tennessee. So will Houston. So will UTEP.

If he doesn't get SMU to four wins, I'm not saying he should go. Bennett seems to have the right ideas about how to get SMU at least on the map as a contender in Conference USA. But what he says and the optimism he conveys never seem to translate into much on Saturday afternoons.

If that doesn't start happening next season, then we need to ask if the man whose first three big hires were Cavan, Mike Dement and Bennett really has this coach-finding thing figured out.

E-mail wtcowlishaw@dallasnews.com

[SouthernMustang]

Lifeless? Boy is that the understatement of the decade.

I hope to God that Ford, Hunt, Laura Bush, and the Dedman and Fondren families all read this article .... WAAAAAAKE UP!!!!!

Put pressure on Pres. Turner and the board to CHANGE their ways --"The Commitment??"... it AIN'T working. Copeland must go, Bennett must go.

Bring in a business minded person who is energetic and excited and connected to the DALLAS community ... not some dude who was hanging on for dear life at UVA.

3 consecutive poor hires ... in the major revenue generating sports. Non-revenue sports are about even, and some have even fallen below (Swimming in Top 25 now instead of Top 10 for instance).

Ford was going to donate the $ for that stadium anyways, we were a shoe-in for CUSA b/c they had no other options, and CUSA wanted to locate to Dallas- so why not take SMU?? ... I don't think Copeland deserves the credit for those things.

I'm sure Copeland is a great person -- I know Bennett is ... but they aren't good ADs or Coaches. Time to change things from the top. First that starts with the Board taking their collective heads out of their @$$e$ in regards to admissions policies, then getting an AD who actually cares about SMU, and then having alums wake up and realize that we have a good model in place, and having them pony up $ to get someone like RC Slocum or Neuheisel on the sidelines...

Now I am off my soap-box.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

---Ex-Govenor Bill Clements [ first GOP Texas governor in over 100 years ] ought to be made to attend every SMU game. He is the person that was largely responisble for the death penality at SMU by being the chairman of the committee that was funneling money to the SMU players.

---He should be forced to witness first hand what his crooked actions has created.

---Clements is listed on this ESPN site as the fourth biggest-liar of all time behind Pete Rose, Steinbreiner, and Avery Brundage, and before Daniel Almonte's father.

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/lies.html

Edited September 28, 2005 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[CorinthEagle]

with our luck they "find life" and turn their program around a couple of hours before they play NT next year

[DallasGreen]

with our luck they "find life" and turn their program around a couple of hours before they play NT next year   

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Don't bet against it--- that 2006 game with SMU at home looks more scary with every game we play in 2005.

[SouthernMustang]

Don't bet against it--- that 2006 game with SMU at home looks more scary with every game we play in 2005.

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I don't know... that depends on who is coaching SMU. If it is Bennett, he will likely still NOT start Phillips and we will lose. If Copeland is gone, Bennett goes, and a nice breath of fresh air comes in. I like our chances. We'll see what happens when we play Tulsa later this year- a common opponent.

TCU looks like it was just a fluke. Bennett's lost the team it appears, as an article a few days ago talked about them beeing "a step slow" and not "playing with fire." Seems like the same ole song Dement sang about the basketball team after starting off 6-3 with wins over TCU, Texas Tech, and a 10 point loss to Wake Forest. They went on to finish 12-18 under him with 40 pt. losses to Rice and Boise State... in football I'd say 1-10/2-9 is an equivalent record. Time to cut him loose. I said I'd bite my tongue until after the Tulane game and I did -- 31-10 is NOT acceptable. Going for terrible plays on the 2 yard line when you're down 14-0 in the 3rd quarter is just plain bad coaching. Not getting the team motivated for Parents Weekend against a winnable opponent is plain bad coaching. Bennett is a wonderful person for recruiting and off the field, but all he is shown on the field is just ... plain ... bad ... coaching.

[pollock]

Not getting the team motivated for Parents Weekend against a winnable opponent is plain bad coaching.

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[NT80]

Not getting the team motivated for Parents Weekend against a winnable opponent is plain bad coaching.

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Hey, we resemble that remark!