Dusters announce Bennett as head coach
October 15, 2008 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Amarillo Venom News Release
Amarillo, TX 10/15/08 - The Amarillo Dusters of the arenafootball2 league announced Ben Bennett, formerly of the Austin Wranglers and Florida Firecats, as their new head coach Wednesday.
During a press conference at the Amarillo Civic Center, Coach Bennett was formerly unveiled as the Dusters' new leading man. A veteran of six seasons as an af2 head coach, the Sunnyvale, California native will assume the reins of a Dusters franchise that earned a trip to the National Conference finals just last season.
"We are excited to be able to bring in a quality head coach like Ben," said Dusters majority owner Randy Sanders. "To have a coach that has a winning record on the field and gets the community involved off the field is a great asset to our organization."
Bennett began coaching in af2 during the 2002 season, when he led Florida to ArenaCup III in just his first season at the helm. Just two seasons later, in 2004, he won the ArenaCup with the Firecats, going 10-6 in the regular season and defeating Peoria to win the championship.
"I'm excited to be with a couple of guys at the top that want to do the right things that right way for both the team and the fans," said Bennett. "I knew (Dusters Vice-President Joe Morgado) from when we won the 2004 ArenaCup in Florida, and Randy was a season ticket holder in Austin last season. Both guys want to improve the team as we go forward."
Before his time as a head coach, Bennett earned accolades as one of the best quarterbacks in Arena Football history. A graduate of Duke, where he played under Steve Spurrier, Bennett was taken in the sixth round of the 1984 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons. He went on to play with Chicago, Dallas, Orlando, San Jose, and Portland in the AFL, compiling 14,168 passing yards and 267 touchdowns over his ten year career. Three times he earned First-Team All-Arena accolades from 1988-1997 and was named to the AFL Hall of Fame in 2000.
Bennett last coached with the Austin Wranglers in the af2's Southwest Division. He led the Wranglers into the playoffs in 2008, finishing just one game behind Bossier-Shreveport for the regular season Division Championship.
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