ASU football: Phil Bennett’s unique coaching style aids Sun Devils

(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)

Phil Bennett has been around a long time.

That’s not a knock on the veteran assistant coach’s age — he’s a spry 61 — but rather a testament to Bennett’s experience in the game of football. With that experience comes depth of knowledge, and with that knowledge comes a demand for excellence.

Ask any player on the ASU defense; they hear Bennett’s demands every day on the field and in the film room. His hoarse, boisterous voice is unmistakable.

Linebacker Christian Sam has Bennett in his ear more than most. He said it’s all an effort to help the ASU defense get better.

“I love him, but nobody likes to get yelled at,” Sam said with a smirk. “It might look like I don’t like him, but I know he wants the best out of me. At the end of the day I know he’s doing it to help me get to where I want to be.”

Bennett, a former defensive end at Texas A&M, is approaching his 40^th year in coaching. He’s a player’s coach through and through, finding individual guys that he doesn’t believe are reaching their potential and giving them a little extra motivation.

Some players need a motivator like Bennett to light a fire under them. Bennett believes that it’s a necessary personality trait if you want to be a successful coach.

“You don’t want a guy that doesn’t challenge you to be the best you want to be,” Bennett said.

Sam is one of Bennett’s favorite players to berate and motivate. There’s no malicious intent behind Bennett’s words, and Sam acknowledges that it’s helped him. After dealing with nagging injuries and struggling to adjust to a new scheme, one of ASU’s most athletically gifted players is steadily returning to form.

Bennett has a unique view of the way he motivates Sam.

“Christian and I have a love-hate relationship,” Bennett said with a laugh. “I love him and I think he hates me.”

“He’s a guy that you’ve just got to maintain his focus. I’m grinding him to say the least.”

Bennett’s relationship with the rest of the defense isn’t much different. His brutal honesty about a young and inexperienced secondary has been there since Camp Tontozona. That group has shown visible improvement along the way, too.

Much of that improvement can be attributed to Bennett’s coaching experience. Bennett said that Todd Graham has full trust in his staff now, which has translated to higher quality development of a young roster.

Young and veteran players are improving steadily, molding into Bennett’s system and gaining valuable experience along the way. With its hard-nosed defensive coordinator on the sideline screaming out instructions and providing plenty of constructive criticism, a group that has struggled all season has an opportunity to continue getting better.

Sam hopes he and his teammates can take Bennett’s advice to heart.

“It’s a good defense, we’ve just got to do a better job executing it,” Sam explained. “You play free — there’s not too much thinking.”

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