Friday, Oct. 30, 2009

Bennett back to the beginning

Clemson still holds a special place in heart of Chanticleers' coach

CONWAY -- Now decades removed from his childhood, David Bennett's early experiences with Clemson football still hold a place in the not-too-distant recesses of his memory.

"I can still remember the smell of the stadium," Coastal Carolina's coach said this week. "Peanuts. Popcorn. I don't know how many Coca-Colas we drank.

"My godfather, I remember, [had tickets] in section G, row GG. Those were pretty good tickets about the 35-yard line, but we couldn't sit there since we were little boys. ... I remember making paper cup footballs, and going on the hill and playing. You couldn't wait to see the team run down the hill."

The memories brought a smile to Bennett's face this week. He'll know sometime this evening if the memories from his homecoming will be as sweet as the ones from his youth inside of Clemson's Memorial Stadium. Bennett grew up as a Clemson fan and later served as a graduate assistant for two years under legendary coach Danny Ford, but he'll walk onto the turf at 1:30 p.m. today as the enemy.

His Chanticleers meet the Tigers for the first time in either program's history.

This is not the way that Bennett pictured his return to Death Valley. His team is 3-4 and is staring the program's second three-game losing streak in the face. Yet, he still appreciates the role that Clemson played in his development as a coach.

"I owe a lot to Clemson," he said. "If I hadn't gotten a masters degree from there, I wouldn't have had a chance to be the head coach at Catawba College back in '95. So, I'm very loyal to Clemson."

Bennett spent two seasons at Clemson (1985-86), learning how to coach Xs and Os and how to lead college men through life during his time under Ford.

Though he helped the Tigers win the 1986 ACC championship, Bennett served Ford and his assistants in whatever manner they saw fit. That meant many afternoons washing cars and picking up dry cleaning and children from school. Graduate assistants, who sat on the floor in staff meetings, had little power - if any.

But Bennett never had a chip on his shoulder, said Scott Enzor, a linebacker from Green Sea during Bennett's tenure with the Tigers.

"You could always tell that David was different," said Enzor, the pastor of West Myrtle Beach Baptist Church. "He was real. He was simple, but he was very effective because of who he was. He carried himself like a man, and he separated himself from others.

"Even as a grad assistant, he accepted everybody for who they were. I was a walk-on, and they didn't have to treat you like you're anybody, but he always treated you like you were somebody and pushed you to get the best out of you."

Bennett was a "diamond in the rough," Enzor said, but he fully expected him to become a successful head coach one day.

Ford, a man of few words, said this week that Bennett was an asset to his staff as an on-field coach and a recruiter.

"He did a really fine job with his responsibilities," said Ford, who bides his time these days tending to his Clemson-area farm.

Many believe that Ford's work ethic is what separated him and his team from the rest of the pack. That rubbed off on Bennett.

"[They both] had that dogged determination to win and a work ethic that was never ending," Enzor said. "That's why we won. I don't know if we were better than anybody else, but we wore them down. It wasn't anything exciting back then. It was 3 yards and a cloud of dust, but that's what won. [Bennett] took that drive and that determination. That's what coach Ford instilled in all the guys under him."

And that's what Bennett, whose older brother Jay was a trainer on Clemson's 1981 national championship team, remembers most about his time in Tiger Town.

"I was blessed to be a grad assistant on coach Ford's staff," he said. "There are two things walking on this earth that are the closest to Bear Bryant. Coach Ford is one of them, and Gene Stallings is the other. To be there and be a part of that [was great]. ... He was a good ol' country man that I was blessed to be around for a couple years."