Phil Bennett (American football)

Phil Bennett (born December 3, 1955 in Marshall, Texas ) is the defensive coordinator of the Baylor Bears college football team. Prior to this position, he served as the interim head coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers during their 2011 BBVA Compass Bowl win over Kentucky after serving as defensive coordinator of the Panthers for three seasons. Prior to coaching the Panthers, he served as the head football coach at Southern Methodist University from 2002–07. Before his stint at SMU, he served as an assistant coach at seven different colleges.

Coaching career
Bennett graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in education in 1978, and was a second-team All-Southwest Conference defensive end as a senior in 1977. He began his coaching career at A&M in 1979 as a part-time defensive ends coach. Since then, he has also held coaching positions at TCU (1982 & 1997), Iowa State (1983–'86), Purdue (1987–'90), LSU (1991–'94), a second stint at A&M (1995–'96) and Oklahoma (1998).

During his first season at Kansas State, in 1999, he was nominated for National Assistant Coach of the Year. During his years as an assistant coach he has coached many stand out players, including Dat Nguyen, Mark Simoneau and Terence Newman.

On October 28, 2007, SMU athletic director Steve Orsini fired Bennett. Orsini notified Bennett that he would be dismissed after the Mustangs' last game on November 24, 2007 against the University of Memphis.

University of Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt named Bennett his defensive coordinator on February 4, 2008. After Wannstedt's resignation in December 2010, he announced on January 3, 2011 that he was declining to coach in the BBVA Compass Bowl. Bennett was promoted to interim head coach of the team and lead the Panthers to a 27–10 victory of Kentucky.



On January 7, 2011, it was announced that Phil Bennett would join the Baylor Bears as Defensive Coordinator, replacing Brian Norwood who accepted the position of Associate Head Coach for Baylor.

Personal
On August 11, 1999, Bennett's 41-year-old wife, Nancy, was killed by lightning while she was jogging near their home in Manhattan, Kansas. The story of the Bennetts' relationship and the subsequent death of Nancy Bennett was the subject of a 1999 feature article in Sports Illustrated. Bennett has a son and a daughter. Bennett has since re-married and has two stepdaughters.