Ownership would never publicly announce that a GM can't do what he wants. Benning was brought in by Linden because he wanted to do a full rebuild from the get go hence bringing in Benning, someone who has a good reputation for drafting. Ownership obviously didn't let that happen at the pace Linden or Benning wanted so he left. So subtracting the first 3ish years of Benning's tenure (Ownership set us back), I'd say Benning hasn't done terribly in 4 years. I'd imagine if he was given the green light at the get go, the team would be a contender by now.