Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009

Coastal Carolina football coach David Bennett backs coaches

Says staff can turn Chants around

CONWAY -- Despite the recent struggles of his program, Coastal Carolina coach David Bennett reiterated Monday his trust in his assistant coaches and himself to lead the Chanticleers back to prominence.

The Chants (3-4) are coming off two of the toughest losses that Bennett has had to stomach in his eight-year reign. First, Liberty hammered Coastal by 45 points and then the Chants sputtered again offensively in a 16-10 loss at Stony Brook on Saturday. It was the second consecutive year that Coastal, sans a mistake here and there, could have beaten the Seawolves.

Coastal hasn't won a road game in more than 11 months and would suffer the program's second three-game losing streak with a loss at Clemson this weekend.

"I feel the pressure that we put on ourselves as coaches to be successful," said Bennett, who signed a 10-year contract in 2007. "We've got to continue to do the things we need to do to continue to grow this program. That is continue to add strength coaches and weight equipment and budgets for supplements. Our [field house] is coming, so we'll have a nice facility that's on the way.

"I think when you lose games you think you should win, you can't quit. You've got to grind. Get through the grind."

Bennett is 14-16 since 2007, one year after the program went 9-3 and reached the FCS playoffs. It was Coastal's defense that drew criticism in 2007 and 2008, but the offense, which is under the direction of first-year coordinator Kevin Brown, has been the major hindrance this season.

Despite giving up 58 points and 575 yards against the Flames, Coastal's defense has been solid for the most part, limiting its six other opponents to 262 yards and 14.2 points per game. The Chants gave up an average of 355 yards and 24 points a season ago.

Even after the Liberty debacle, the Chants still rank 41st nationally in total defense and 35th in scoring.

Despite the return of starting quarterback Zach MacDowall, the team's second and third leading receivers and three interior linemen, the offense has not been as productive as last season. The Chants are averaging 60 yards and 6.2 points less per game and have thrown almost twice as many interceptions (11) as touchdowns (six). Coastal ranks 80th in total offense and 101st in scoring.

The Chants combined for just 352 yards against Liberty and Stony Brook. There are 42 teams in FCS that are averaging more yards per contest than that two-game total this season.

Bennett has criticized his players for their inability to avoid mental mistakes that have killed many drives at key moments this season. However, he said he challenged his coaches to appraise themselves.

"That's what we are trying to ask," Bennett said. "Are we asking too much of them? I told our coaches, 'It's not how much you know. It's how much they know.' That's an old thing in coaching - don't try and do too much."

Bennett has maintained faith in Brown, who was promoted in the offseason after seven years as Coastal's quarterback coach, and the rest of his offensive staff.

"What I told Kevin was, 'Quit beating yourself up,'" Bennett said. "Kevin was a good player. I told his daddy way back then he'd be a good coach. He had the demeanor for it. Now he's getting a little frustrated, because we're not executing and doing the things we need to. But he can't play anymore. We've just got to get them in the right situation."

Bennett is hoping that Coastal's offense rebounds like it has for Clemson and its first-year coordinator Billy Napier, who drew criticism after the Tigers' offensive woes during a 2-3 start. The Tigers have responded by scoring 78 points and compiling 792 yards in wins over Wake Forest and No. 8 Miami.

Brown has tried to simplify the offense over the past couple of weeks, but that hasn't yielded results yet. Still, he's hopeful that his unit will come around against a remaining schedule ranked the 106th toughest in FCS.

"We're going to fight through this and learn from it," Brown said. "We'll learn who has got character, who wants to fight and who wants to get better everyday. Those kids we'll rally around.

"We've got to get some more reps on our part [as coaches]. [The players] have to take a little more ownership. I've addressed that. We need more vocal leaders to try and push through this hard time."