He taught me by example, and I watched how he persevered. It changed everything. Phil, does this work for you?’ ” Sam Bennett recalled. Bennett recently found a photo that included a former Highland Park teammate, Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw.
My uncles were coaches. Bennett and his wife, Stephanie, have a daughter, Scottie.The Dallas, Texas native got his first coaching job with Irving High School where he coached the offensive and defensive line and was the assistant wrestling coach.He worked under head coach Kliff Kingsbury and the offensive staff assisting with daily practice and game planning in all facets of the offense.Bennett comes to Manoa after spending last season with the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals as a coaching assistant.In addition, Bennett spent two years as an offensive graduate assistant at Rice University from 2014-15, where he worked primarily with the quarterbacks and offensive line.While at ASU, Bennett earned his master’s degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences in 2017.“Coach Bennett is one of the brightest coaches and best teachers I have encountered in my 30+ years of coaching,” Graham said. “We found ways to live a functional life. “I’ve seen all the angles.”“To this day, I’m 30-something years old, if there’s an issue and I call him about it, he’ll say, ‘hey, find a way,’ ” Bennett said. “My wife jokes that I try to be me, but I sound like him a lot of the times,” Bennett said. 1 thing was my belief in Coach Graham,” Bennett said. I was mowing the grass and painting the practice fields. “I said, ‘yes, that’s him.’ ”You're reading a premium story. “It was — I don’t want to use ‘fluke’ — but it was the only lightning strike in the area. “I said, ‘yes, that’s him.’ ”You're reading a premium story.
Bennett recently found a photo that included a former Highland Park teammate, Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw. She lived for 17 days afterwards, and passed away in the hospital. “I was a freshman in high school, and he said, ‘you’d better have a job if you’re coming,’” Bennett recalled. He also coached football, basketball, and track at Scoggins Middle School in Frisco, Texas.
While Bennett enjoyed working in the NFL, he could not refuse Graham’s offer to join the UH staff.Bennett said his father embraced the “victim-or-victor mentality.”That is the view from Sam Bennett, the son of widely respected football coach Phil Bennett.Bennett said he still relies on his father for advice.Bennett said he has learned his father’s teaching and motivational techniques. “But he didn’t,” Sam Bennett said. It worked out. As great as it was in the NFL, I missed the smaller aspects of college football that you don’t get at the professional level, which is the true development, not just as an athlete, but as a student. You would have never known what he was going through when he got out there with his players or when he was with us. Read the full story with our Print & Digital Subscription.Bennett said he was taught to earn his place. He was a coach. “I remember in eighth grade going up to bat against him,” Bennett said.
It worked out. 07/2019 - 06/2020: Cambridge United: Forward