Speaking of Tulane....

[HixsontoLeVias]

...1). What is OUR athletic department annual deficit? 2). What is OUR season ticket sales for the 2003 season? 3). What is our Mustang Club fund raising total? 4). What is OUR athletic program's endowment? I would be VERY interested in some good, solid, realiable feedback here....my point, to be educated, for YOU to be educated, because quite frankly, we basically ARE Tulane. "O.K...O.K..." for ALL you folks who have a Grandson named Doak and used to have lunch on Thursday afternoons with Hayden Fry and who were IN Austin in 1980...I'm with ya..but some REAL hash and hard REALITIES are unfolding (OR, already have unfolded), SMU has been MARGINALIZED on the NCAA / BCS / Big Time College Football / Huck n Buck landscape..the TRUTH, REAL. "Well, thank God President Turner built Ford, he should be praised, what vision.." I say, so...it can sit EMPTY!! Some quotes on this site about "joining this conf. or that conf. might be our best shot at the BCS.." I say, pass the crack pipe, what??!? BCS..SMU??!!? Let's watch the Tulane thing..maybe we can learn something....long live Gary Hammond.

[Bergermeister]

Relax, dude. Call in your re-fill for paxil, prozac or zoloft... the people who control our destiny don't read this stuff.

[HixsontoLeVias]

..engage me in debate, not the "typical" retort of "relax dude", "Mr. Doom and Gloom", "glad the powers that be don't this junk..", "etc., etc." I hope they do, I hope they realise what's going on, I hope we have a strategy, that is realistic...I don't like it any more than you, and I DON'T need prozac to show and tell me what's going on...."Ring Ring, Ring Ring...SMU Mustangs, this is your 6 a.m. wake up call.."

[Charleston Pony]

I don't know how anyone can deny we are perilously close to Tulane right now. SMU's "Commitment" to athletics, as I recall, was basically to "endow" athletics by subsidizing the $4 million annual operating deficit (and that's conceding the cost of scholarships is not a real cost). I may be wrong about those numbers. PX or someone close to those in the know?

One major difference is Ford Stadium. No question about that, but unless we are able to sel out all those boxes, club seats and find a way to put 25-30,000 butts in the seats EVERY time out, our football program is not going to be a revenue sport...especially playing in a conference like the WAC with it's tremendous travel costs.

I agree with the BCS comment. SMU (and TCU) should have realized years ago that we had been cast off by the big boys, who simply grew weary of subsidizing our existence; at least as their conference "equal". The best we can hope for from UT and A$M in the future is an occasional invitation to their place to collect a paycheck and gauge how competitive our program might be. People can say what they want about Baylor. The Bears were either lucky or unfortunate (depending on your point of view) to be included in the Big XII alignment. Baylor will always be the "little guy" in that league and will have difficulty ever competing in football, given the disparity in budgets they compete against.

Let's just hope our administration realizes that whatever happens in this next round of musical chairs, our 1st priority must be to convince the decision makers at Houston & TCU that they should be competing with SMU & Rice in the same conference. Then we all need to decide whether it's in our best interests to stay local, or continue to try to make long distance relationships work.

[This message has been edited by Charleston Pony (edited 06-08-2003).]

[HixsontoLeVias]

..well put, as always, CP. The WAC is not the answer, jumping back into the MWC is not the answer..you know, one thing I DO like about our schedule, we are playing regional rivals, we are playing folks we should be PRAYING to hook up with one day (o.k., I have SOME Sister Mary Sunshine in me...sorry), a conference that makes regional and "rival" sense, coupled with out of conference games that make regional and "rival" sense, is a good FIRST step..secondly, we need to RUSS POTTS this thing, NOW....third, as my bro Clint has said, "a man's got to undersdtand his limitations..", and until we do, we are just foolishly dreaming....long live Hayden Fry.

[Charleston Pony]

Here's some numbers of interest taken from a post on the WAC board. These numbers are a little misleading because I believe they include the "cost" of scholarships, which brings private schools like Miami, Duke, TCU & SMU to a deceptively high level compared to some of the state schools in our neighborhood on this list.

<A HREF="http://chronicle.com/stats/genderequity/2002/operatingresults.php?comparetype=Division&searchtype=I-A&Order=tot_op" TARGET=_blank>http://chronicle.com/stats/genderequity/2002/operatingresult s.php?comparetype=Division&searchtype=I-A&Order=tot_op</A>

[This message has been edited by Charleston Pony (edited 06-08-2003).]

[DandyDon]

Somebody needs to be seriously working on something like this, now, hard, real, focused..do it

SMU TCU UTEP Tulsa Houston Rice NTSU So Miss UAB memphis(?) Tulane LaTech

This concept coupled with OOC games versus OSU, OU, UT, Tech, Baylor, Mizzou, A&M, LSU, KU, KSU, etc. is the ticket..MR. Copeland..get busy!!!

[SoCal_Pony]

IMO, the separation between haves (BCS) and have-nots will only widen over time and a regional only conference consisting of Ark St, LA-Laf, (maybe Houston?) is doomed to failure. For those of you advocating this, read your earlier posts from less than 2 months ago. Not only was Tulane was on everyone’s list, but usually at the top of that list along with TCU. I understand the benefits, mainly cost reduction, but someone please explain were the revenues will come from.

I would much rather see us in a super conference with BYU, Fresno State and TCU, divided into 2 regions to reduce travel costs and reduce the number of conference games so we can schedule at least 1 more non-conference game each year (actually 2 if TCU becomes a conference mate). A conference championship game between SMU and BYU would have enough appeal to merit broadcasting on ESPN.

[Charleston Pony]

SoCal: a conference championship game between SMU and BYU would draw national interest? Maybe if it was played on a Tuesday night and was not competing against any other game! Do you need to be reminded why we are not BCS? We don't draw flies. Sorry, but that's the truth.

Let's go back in time to remember why the SWC broke up...the year is 1981 and the Dicker-James Pony Express goes 10-1, the only loss being that 9-7 heartbreaker against who else? Texas! But we still win the SWC championship and finish in the top 25. The only problem is, nobody seems to care. We draw 28,750 for Rice, 24,410 for TTech, 33,110 for Baylor and only 20,000 for games against local wannabes UTA and NTSU. Good thing we had Texas at home that year (60,777) and had a much hyped home game against Grambling (45,700). Our game in Ft Worth with cross town rival TCU draws 25,862.

Now...flash forward...the year is 1997 and SMU, coming off a promising 5-6 season and with a new head coach (Mike Cavan) and enthusiasm, takes on #23 BYU at the Cotton Bowl. Only 23,701 turn out to see what was actually a very entertaining 19-16 BYU win in OT. We average 21,484 that year with a home schedule that includes Arkansas, Navy, Wyoming, Rice & UTEP. Once again, we play on the road at TCU in front of a whopping 19,094.

The fact of the matter is that we are at a point in our history where we can't afford to be thinking BCS or national TV. I've got to believe SMU has to be thinking regional. Let's try to get back on a regional map, then allow ourselves to think on a larger scale. I'd like nothing more than for SMU/TCU to be a game that gets played on national TV because it gets to be known as the annual battle for the SWC championship. Even if the winner plays host in the Ft Worth Bowl to TTech, the 5th place finisher in the Big XII. That's about all these far flung non-BCS conferences bring any hope of today!

[SoCal_Pony]

CP,

I was at every single one of those 1981 games you referenced so I fully understand our attendance problems. I agree it is a real problem, but how will Ark St, LA-Laffy, LA-Tech or Rice solve it? You are only reducing expenses, but ignoring the other side of the equation, revenues. What type of TV deal will this conference generate? To me, a regional only conference including these above schools will only lead to a slow death. Maybe Tulane and Houston have come to this same conclusion. If Tulane does indeed drop DI football, apparently they too are not sold on a regional-only format. It will be interesting to see.

I think we both agree on the importance of TCU in our conference, if for nothing else than to free up another non-conference game.

And by the way, a Tuesday night conference championship game against BYU on ESPN sounds terrific to me. It is better than the numerous second and third tier BIG 12 games they broadcast here on the west coast on Fox Sports. And I have the perfect solution for any attendance problems to that championship game…schedule it in UTAH.

[Charleston Pony]

So how does an 8 team "Gulf Coast Conference" grab you? Put SMU, TCU, Rice, Houston, Tulsa, La Tech, S,Miss & Memphis together and you have the opportunity to schedule 4-5 non-conference games. With only 8 teams, every other year you only have 3 home conference games, so sceheduling can pose a challenge, but for SMU it means trying to lock in home/home series with TTech, Baylor, Okie St, Kansas St, Ole Miss and even UNT. Those games would pretty much assure the 15k average we need to maintain. In years where you get a 12th game, schedule a payday game on the road against a top team from the Big XII or SEC if you can. Otherwise, visit an ACC or Big 10 team for that payday. The goal of this kind of group would have to be to schedule BCS programs that will give you home/home dates. The problem is, Memphis & S.Miss showed us once before that they really don't want to have anything to do with us. Given the option, my guess is they'd rather stick with UAB & ECU and hope to pull in Marshall & C.Fla. The other problem with an 8 team league is whether the schools have a good mix...do enough play soccer? baseball? golf? tennis? track & field? swimming & diving? While football may drive the bus, there are a lot of other considerations.

[MeanGreenGem]

If I live another 52 years, I will spend some of that time to try to figure out what strange stronghold WAC filler school LaTech has with all of you as to make it where you always want to include a "small enrollment/no population/no TV market" school in every "written on kitchen napkins" league configuration with some of you on this and other WAC boards?

Are smaller schools in no population or TV markets the sudden rage or something? In what needs to happen with the upcoming new NCAA attendance criteria, I'd highly doubt that.

LaTech is a small school in a small market. SMU is a small school in a large market! Big difference there... Sorry, but I just don't get it/others don't either and they all don't just wear green, either.

BUT.......before the WAC, did any of you on the Hilltop ever give 2 thoughts to a school in Ruston, Louisiana, called La Tech? How about even 1 thought? You never scheduled them so I'd say they hardly were on your minds.

In fact, I know SMU never scheduled them in your entire football history until they were sudddenly thrust into the same league with you all post TCU leaving for CUSA, but my gosh, how successful they have been with smoke and mirrors with some of you WACsters. Heck, they have a smaller athletic budget than a couple of SBC schools. Why would they even be hinted as a player in any new D1-A league? Have I missed something about their school or something? Is there a population explosion happening in Ruston that we are not aware of?

I'm through now...

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Charleston Pony:
<B>So how does an 8 team "Gulf Coast Conference" grab you? Put SMU, TCU, Rice, Houston, Tulsa, La Tech, S,Miss & Memphis together and you have the opportunity to schedule 4-5 non-conference games. With only 8 teams, every other year you only have 3 home conference games, so sceheduling can pose a challenge, but for SMU it means trying to lock in home/home series with TTech, Baylor, Okie St, Kansas St, Ole Miss and even UNT. Those games would pretty much assure the 15k average we need to maintain. In years where you get a 12th game, schedule a payday game on the road against a top team from the Big XII or SEC if you can. Otherwise, visit an ACC or Big 10 team for that payday. The goal of this kind of group would have to be to schedule BCS programs that will give you home/home dates. The problem is, Memphis & S.Miss showed us once before that they really don't want to have anything to do with us. Given the option, my guess is they'd rather stick with UAB & ECU and hope to pull in Marshall & C.Fla. The other problem with an 8 team league is whether the schools have a good mix...do enough play soccer? baseball? golf? tennis? track & field? swimming & diving? While football may drive the bus, there are a lot of other considerations.</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>



[This message has been edited by MeanGreenGem (edited 06-08-2003).]

[SoCal_Pony]

CP,

How about taking your 8-team Gulf League and combine it with a modified 8-team Mountain West (maybe include Fresno State and/or Hawaii) and form a Mountain-Gulf league. Each year you play 5 teams within your own league, 2 from the other league and 4 non-conference games. That means our schedule could include:

Home Conference: TCU, Houston, Colorado State, So. Miss
Away Conference: Rice, BYU, Memphis
Home Non-Conference: Texas Tech, NTSU
Away Conference: Baylor, Arkansas

Per decree of CP, Championship game is played on Tuesday night on ESPN at school with the highest home attendance during the year.

One final note. Mean Green Gem is correct. LA Tech does not have anything on NTSU.

[Charleston Pony]

O.K., So Cal, let's take it a step further. Why not a "true" CUSA, with the "best of the rest" stretching coast to coast. Start with Pitt, W.Va, Va Tech & ECU, pick up Louisville, Cincy, Marshall, S.Miss, TCU, BYU, CSU, Boise, Fresno & Hawaii. Oops, we're not in that group. Neither is La Tech or UNT. If you want to think national, we aren't even on the radar. Remember the topic of this post...we are Tulane!

[EastStang]

La. Tech has a great women's basketball program which generates a paycheck for the conference from NCAA tournament. It is competitive in men's basketball, and in football. It's also already with us in the WAC.