Grooming for Long Term Success: Exclusive to Every Game Counts
By Phil BennettUltimately as a head football coach, you’re judged by wins and losses. In reality, we’re responsible for so much more. In addition to winning on the field, I think that we’re responsible for graduating our student-athletes and helping develop the young men we have been entrusted to guide. We groom our players for long-term success.
I am always talking to our players about making good choices, avoiding bad decisions and bad influences that confront them on a daily basis. They understand that their integrity and the integrity of our program come first. Whether they like it or not, they’re role models and representatives of SMU.
In the classroom we stress and preach success. I’m very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish at SMU. Earlier this season, we won the AFCA’s 2006 Academic Achievement Award after we recorded a 100 percent graduation rate. That’s a testament to our tremendous academic support staff, our faculty, and our student-athletes that value educational success. This is something I hang my hat on as SMU’s head coach.
Building a complete program has been my focus here. That includes success both on and off the field. It’s been slower than I have hoped, but I know we’re doing things the right way around here. We’re building something special - brick-by-brick – and it will be something that will make everyone associated with SMU proud. These standards are what will help return SMU to greatness.
I also wanted to take the time and reach out to someone that has been very dear to our program. I’m sure that everyone knows by now of the passing of Lamar Hunt. Most people knew Lamar as the founder the American Football League and owner of the Kansas City Chiefs. Lamar played football here at SMU and was longtime supporter of the school and a member of our Board of Trustees. He and his wife, Norma, have given SMU more than $7.4 million and $5.5 million toward the building of our football facilities - Ford Stadium and the Loyd All-Sports Center. His support was well beyond dollars. He and Norma were true fans, cheering us on at many, many home games. He was truly a great friend of Mustang athletics. He has left a lasting impression here, and my sympathy and prayers go out to his family. SMU and all of American sports have truly lost a great friend.
posted by NCAA Football at 8:48 AM
1 Comments:
As a fellow Mustang and former football letter winner(91-95) I applaud Coach Bennett for not giving in to the pressure of winning at all costs. But I will ask that in the future he would reach out a little more to those of us who chose to play at SMU directly after the death penalty. So much about the campus and program has changed since our days there, and it seems they're trying to leave our hard work and many acccomplishments in the past. The young men that you have there now are standing on the shoulders of those of us who struggled during the very lean years. It was tough, but we kept the program afloat when many people told us to give up and to scrap the program. Please do more to reach to us when you travel to Texas cities...San Antonio, Houston, Beaumont and others. We feel the program only highlights the Dickerson-James era when games were being won, but also the time when things began to go wrong. Without those of us willing to forego scholarships to other D-1 schools and attend SMU, the program would not even be around. Our hearts and souls are on the Hilltop and always will be there, but the credit we deserve for our many sacrifices in still lacking.
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