An old Pony's opinion (fer what it's worth)

[Rayburn]

I was very excited to find SMU was going to be on TV Saturday. I have been laid up with illness for much of the football season then my wife took sick and I had to take care of her so I haven't been able to get up to Dallas to see the new stadium or even follow the Mustangs very much except through the papers and an occasional net visit.

When the Flying Red Horses beat Kansas to start the season it almost cured me. I follow the Jayhawks because of past ties there and knew they'd have a fair team this year. So when the Ponies took a nose dive after the opener, I really was puzzled.

But what I saw Saturday disturbed me. The SMU-Nevada game was one of the worst contests I've ever watched! I've seen (and coached) high school teams that execute better than either of those squads. This Mustang team is playing in early season form.

Ford Stadium looked nice but the empty seats were depressing.

I'm sorry to be such a black cloud but, damn it, we can do better.

[SMUPonyFan]

Rayburn,
Great to see you back. It has been a long time since I have seen one of your posts. I always looked forward to seeing what you had to say. I, and some other PonyFans, were worried because of your absence. I hope you are feeling well, and same for your wife.

As far as what you have missed...
The Kansas game was awesome, by far the best moment in SMU athletics since the death penalty.
But after Kansas, it dropped off drastically. Don't worry about being a black cloud, you have a reason, we are not playing to our potential and there are a lot of flaws in our whole program. The stadium is awesome, but we need some W's to make it even better.
I hope to see much more of you on the board!
We can do better!

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Go Red, Go Blue, Go Mustangs, S M U

[ALL4SMU]

It is good to have you back. You were one of my favorite posters early on, I was sad when you were not coming around. I am sorry to hear you were having health problems.

I hope to see you again, soon!

[Rayburn]

Well, how nice it is to be missed! Thank you!

I am thrilled that the University has made a commitment to the football program through Ford Stadium now we need to get the thing in gear and do the hard work of building a consistent winner.

As an ex-coach I hate to carp about the coaching but what I saw on TV leads right back to the staff. I like Mike Cavin personally (I remeber watching him play at Georgia in the late 60s, oh! I'm old!) but we need a fired-up young coach with a lot of enthusiasm and energy to come in here and work his butt off to get SMU to the top again. We need another Ron Meyer (without the loose cash). We need a guy who will stick and not use the program as a stepping stone to some other job.

My idea is that we need to look toward a young Texas coach who either was a high school head coach or one who can establih a good rapport with the high school coaches in the state. I really have somebody like Allan Weddell, the A&M assistant in mind or, what the hell! Let's go after Hal Munmmie at Kentucky. He's a Texas boy (UT-Arlington) and I think he'd fit in perfectly here.

[No Quarter]

Rayburn, nice to see a couple of notes from you again. I'm sorry to hear about your wife's illness, hope things are better.