Mexmustang wrote:Some of you have formed your own opinion of June and I can't change it one way or another.
But, we are a mid-major (a have not) and it effects everything from attendance, to conference membership, to our investment in facilities dedicated to football. Our facilities are comparable to a major Texas high school program! and guess what? We did it to ourselves. June wasn't even here for the majority the almost 30 years that we put ourselves in this position.
These are a few of the quotes I overheard when I was heavily involved with SMU during the first years of our new governance and administration :
"In two years I will have eliminated all the vestiges of big time football at SMU", Kenneth Pyle, President.
" We will never play another game off campus again, especially in Texas Stadium. We want to disconnect from all aspects of professional football," Kenneth Pyle to the AD of the University of Texas when the Longhorns came to play us at old Ownby Stadium. What was its capacity? 12,500?
"We cannot allow our football team to use the NCAA admission standards. Our goal is to improve our SAT average scores and football really hurts this effort", Chairman of the Board, SMU, spring game 2010 to me. Well obviously, SMU never offered statistics!
"Athletics continues to negatively effect our SAT average SAT scores and our budgeting process", current Provost 2013 presentation to the faculty.
Leadership starts at the top. You want to kill the messenger? Well that hasn't worked in 30 years.
June was clearly suggesting that as long as the Big won't share the revenue, won't let us in their little tournament, why provide them the fodder to pad their records--let's just play in the spring and have a separate game. Sounds silly, but have you ever negotiated using rhetorical positions?
Now let's get serious for a moment, SMU isn't on anyone's short list for a major conference membership... that's right! On no one's short list. After 30 years of effort, we have successfully made ourselves irrelevant. Our reputation is the reason. We were kicked out of three conferences, the SWC, the WAC (Mountain West), and the Big East (what was it 17 schools left or did "touch and goes" since we were invited? We had an extremely well connected AD and fired him over stating the truth. Believe me or not, we missed the tournament because of this--it is a 'who do you know, play golf with world, go to dinner with, have a drink with world. There was reason he was able to get tickets for a friend of mine next to the SEC Commissioner during the Final Four!
With all the complaining I read on this board, I haven't heard one valid suggestion . Someone needs to wake up the 'haves' and threaten their comfortable positions.
Here is a little example...A&M that new major power in the SEC
Last year they played these 'have nots': Rice, Sam Houston State, SMU and UTEP. Without them their overall record would have been 5-4, 1-4 against top 25 teams. Two of their wins were against Duke and Vandy. You really believe Sumlin could keep his job with that record? That record would give the a major bowl invite? If we beg out of the game, the a average career of coaches in the Big Five would be about 18 months. Remember I am talking about A&M, not the bottom half of schools in these conferences. ESPN where will your TV market go? 'Let's get a beer and watch two 2-8 teams for a place in the Outback Bowl'.
But, not to worry, A&M will play Lamar, Rice, SMU, and U.L. Monroe this season and Sumlin and ESPN will be safe again for a other year! And you guys will go on trying to fire a coach and believe the next one, the one just over the horizon can put Humpty Dumpty together again!
You are the biggest effing idiot I've ever seen. How do I ignore this moron?