Pete Bennett joined the North Carolina Central University football coaching staff as special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach in March 2022.
Prior to NCCU, Bennett was a senior analyst at the University of Memphis for the 2021 campaign. He served as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at both the University of South Alabama (2018-20) and the University of Central Arkansas (2014-17), following a six-year stint as the wide receivers coach at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (2008-13).
Bennett played quarterback and receiver at North Carolina Wesleyan College (2004-05).
In 2018, he helped Jamarius Way set one school season record with 61 catches and tie another after hauling in eight touchdowns as he would be named second-team all-Sun Belt Conference for the second year in a row.  Bennett’s efforts also aided Kawaan Baker in earning honorable mention all-league recognition after the sophomore matched South’s season mark with 13 total touchdowns while posting 33 receptions for 494 yards, both totals that stood second on the team. In 2017, Baker was once again an honorable mention all-conference selection after leading the team with career-high totals of 35 catches and 574 receiving yards, while Jalen Tolbert emerged to haul in 27 receptions for 521 yards — an average of nearly 20 yards per catch — while setting a school game record with four touchdown catches in a season-ending victory over Arkansas State.  Four of the five Jags to finish with a double-digit reception total in 2019 came from Bennett’s group, with the unit accounting for all but one of the team’s touchdown catches. In 2020, Baker became a seventh round NFL Draft pick by the New Orleans Saints after earning Second Team All-Sun Belt Conference honors with 51 receptions for 659 yards and eight touchdowns. Baker finished his career as school’s all-time leader in receiving yards with 1,829. Alswo in 2020, Tolbert captured First Team All-Sun Belt Conference recognition after setting the school record with 64 receptions and 1,085 yards. He became the first player in school history to register more than 1,000 yards receiving in a season.
In his recruiting role, Bennett helped the Jaguar coaching staff put together a 2019 class that included seven three-star prospects — including the top dual-threat quarterback and fourth-rated inside linebacker at the junior-college level in the country — as South climbed two spots in the Sun Belt team rankings.  USA’s second recruiting class under his direction featured 24 individuals, the most in program history, who received three stars from 247Sports.com.
Off the field, Bennett was selected to take part in the American Football Coaches Association’s 2020 35 Under 35 Coaches Leadership Institute —a program aimed to identify and develop premier, future leaders in the football coaching profession — that was held at the organization’s annual convention in Nashville, Tenn.
He spent four seasons at Central Arkansas, where he helped the Bears go 33-15 overall and 24-3 in the Southland Conference including picking up the 2017 league championship. Â UCA went to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs each of the last two years while he was on the staff, with individuals receiving all-Southland recognition on seven occasions during that stretch.
In his final season with the Bears, Bennett had one receiver named first-team all-conference and another be chosen honorable mention all-SLC as UCA won the Southland title with a 9-0 mark and finished 10-2 overall after earning the No. 4 seed in the FCS playoffs.  Desmond Smith finished his career as the school’s all-time leader in receptions (226) and receiving yards (2,828) and was fourth in receiving touchdowns (20) after working under Bennett’s direction his last three years, also setting the program’s single-game record with 14 receptions against Stephen F. Austin in 2015.  Bennett also aided Dezmin Lewis during his senior season, with the wideout playing in the 2015 Senior Bowl before going on to be selected in the seventh round of the National Football League draft that spring by the Buffalo Bills.
He worked as wide receivers coach at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College from 2008-13, during which time the Bulldogs finished in the top 10 of the final National Junior College every year, played in four postseason bowl games, claimed four Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) South Division titles and twice won the league’s championship contest.  Three times in six seasons under Bennett’s direction MGCCC receivers were named NJCAA All-Americans including D’haquille Williams, the top-ranked junior-college recruit in 2013 who would sign with Auburn.
Bennett first coached at Webber International during the 2007 season, working with tight ends in his only year at the school.  He played both quarterback and wide receiver at North Carolina Wesleyan before going on to earn a degree in sociology from Florida Southern in 2008, adding a master’s degree in sports management in 2011 from Southern Mississippi.
Bennett and his wife Megan have one son, Jack, and one daughter, Emma.
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