Question: How many universities did Mike Cavan's successor serve as assistant coach before his stint at SMU?
Context: The 1998 SMU Mustangs football team represented Southern Methodist University in the 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season as members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in the Mountain Division.  They played their home games at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas.  Head coach Mike Cavan returned for his second season leading SMU, following a 6–5 season in 1997, SMU's first winning season since the 1987–88 SMU "death penalty" was handed down by the NCAA, the highest punishment possible in the association.  SMU finished the season 5–7 (4–4 WAC), but SMU vacated 10 games after Steve Malin was found to have been ineligible due to academic fraud. Mike Cavan was the coach of the Southern Methodist University's football team from 1997 to 2001.  He compiled a 22–34–0 record, and was succeeded by Phil Bennett. Mike Cavan (born April 15, 1948) is a former American football player and coach.  He served as the head coach at Valdosta State University (1986–1991), East Tennessee State University (1992–1996) and Southern Methodist University (1997–2001), compiling a career college football record of 89–83–2.  Cavan played as a quarterback at the University of Georgia from 1968 to 1970 and was an assistant coach there from 1977 to 1985. Maura McHugh (born June 20, 1953) is a former basketball coach who has coached at the college level, in the WNBA and ABL.  She was a four-year starter at Old Dominion University in the early 1970s.  She was one of the first women's basketball players in the nation to receive a scholarship.  She began as a graduate assistant coach at Penn State University before being promoted to assistant coach for two seasons.  Her first head coaching position was at the University of Oklahoma where she coached for seven seasons.  She followed up her time at Oklahoma with six years at Arizona State University.  She also coached the now defunct Long Beach Stingrays of the ABL for one year in 1997–98 and followed that up with a stint as both assistant coach and head coach for the Sacramento Monarchs of the WNBA.  Most recently, she served as head coach of the women's basketball program at Stony Brook University from 2003–07. Mike Garland (born May 31, 1954) is an American former head college basketball coach at Cleveland State University.  Before being named head coach at Cleveland State he was an assistant at Michigan State under current head coach Tom Izzo.  He was named Cleveland State head coach on April 17, 2003.  He was relieved of his coaching duties on March 31, 2006.  Garland spent one year as an assistant coach at SMU under head coach Matt Doherty, before rejoining the Michigan State basketball staff in 2007. Tom Rossley was the coach of the Southern Methodist University's football team from 1991 to 1996.  He compiled a 15–48–3 record, and was succeeded by Mike Cavan. Phil Bennett (born December 3, 1955) is an American football coach and former player.  He is the defensive coordinator at Arizona State Sun Devils.  Prior to this position, he served as the defensive coordinator for the Baylor Bears from 2011-2016, and was 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 (SMU) from 2002 to 2007.  Before his stint at SMU, he served as an assistant coach at seven different colleges. John Trask is the head men's soccer coach at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.  He was announced head soccer coach on January 20, 2010.  From 2005 to 2009, he served as the head men's soccer coach at UIC.  At UIC, his teams advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2006, 2007, and 2008.  From 2000 to 2004, he was a top assistant coach in Major League Soccer (MLS).  In 2004, he was an assistant coach for Dallas Burn, and from 2002 to 2003, he was an assistant coach for D.C. United.  From 2000 to 2001, he was an assistant coach with the Miami Fusion.  From 1993 to 1999, he was an assistant coach at Indiana University.  Trask was tutored by USSF Hall of Fame Coach Jerry Yeagley and former NASL great Ray Hudson. The 1997 SMU Mustangs football team represented Southern Methodist University in the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season as members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in the Mountain Division.  They played their home games at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas.  Under first-year head coach Mike Cavan and ten years after the NCAA's 1987 "death penalty" on SMU football, SMU finished the 1997 season with a 6–5 record and completed their first winning season since the football program resumed operations in 1989. Quin Price Snyder (born October 30, 1966) is an American basketball coach who is currently the head coach of the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA).  Snyder was an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks for the 2013–14 season following his time with Euroleague's PBC CSKA Moscow for the 2012–13 season and the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers during the lockout shortened 2011–2012 season.  Prior to that, he was in charge of player development for the 76ers starting in June 2010 after coaching the NBDL's Austin Toros for three seasons.  Snyder was the head coach of the Toros from 2007–2010, the head coach at the University of Missouri from 1999–2006, an assistant coach at his alma mater Duke under Mike Krzyzewski from 1993–1999, and an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Clippers under Larry Brown from 1992–1993.  On June 6, 2014, Snyder was hired as the Utah Jazz's eighth head coach in franchise history.
Answer: seven