June Jones on Norm-a-thon on 1310

[CalallenStang]

Mexmustang's assertion that we do not have a board of trustees is an interesting one.

June was a fraud that quit in 2011 and delayed the construction of an IPF because crossing a street is too far of a walk (for someone that doesn't wear socks)

[smusportspage]

Thanks you guys. I am sad now.

[Charleston Pony]

I get tired of all the "blame the administration" when the simple truth is that SMU has a very small percentage of it's alumni and even actively enrolled students that really care enough to support our football program. I get that there were issues coming out of the death penalty but we have "cultural" issues that go far beyond any real or perceived lack of administrative support.

[ponyinNC]

CP - while I agree with you in theory, the simple fact is that we really haven't been consistently good at football since the DP, when we were cheating our butts off. Yes we made 4 bowls under JJ and even reached the CCG, but we have never built on even the smallest success and have never gained traction the way TCU did in the 2000's in the CUSA and MWC days. That isn't the fault of the fans. And I can't blame fans for not showing up given our track record.

However, I will say that the lack of fan support during a sunny day against defending champ UCF, when we had just knocked off a ranked TCU at Amon Carter was a black mark on the fans, and the beginning of the end for JJ and that squad. That is where I see the cultural issue - which is simply that many smu students don't care about football, or do not recognize SMU as their home team. Given an already small student base that consists of many non-Texans, it is certainly an uphill battle.

[skyscraper]

Blaming the fans is stupid. There has been nothing to the equivalent of what has happened in basketball for people to rally around.
JJ failed to make the most of his opportunities. I'm excited to see what Chad can do in Year 3.

[Treadway21]

The fact this threads has a few posts as it has shows how far we have come since Mustang Mana and the days of Liberty and Justice.

As Tommy Duncan says, "Time Changes Everything":

[mtrout]

So if Chad wins 9 and leaves, does that show that "we can win!" or does it show that smu is such a pain in the [deleted] empty promise green acres lala land that no sustained success will ever happen?

If that description is poor, think chad/rgt handshake video on the field.

[Charleston Pony]

Blaming the fans is stupid. There has been nothing to the equivalent of what has happened in basketball for people to rally around.
JJ failed to make the most of his opportunities. I'm excited to see what Chad can do in Year 3.

Nobody is blaming our fans. I have always maintained that SMU fans are among the most loyal in the entire country for having supported a program that has not been very competitive for the better part of the last 30 years and has been frequently embarrassed on the national stage. The point is that we are a small private school that comes across as "elite" and does not have the support of the average unaffiliated DFW area sports fan so we just struggle to compete in today's world of college football against programs that can fill 80,000 seat stadiums. Can't compare football to bball because you can get by with 6-7,000 fans in bball and create a great environment that kids want to play in but when we can't half fill our 32,000 seat football stadium, it can make it a tough sell for our coaches to convince top H.S. talent to play at SMU.

But back to the point of blaming the administration for our failures...the only argument I can accept is the overreaction to the death penalty and the hiring of Ken Pye who was very "anti-athletics" and may have been instrumental in creating a culture at SMU that lead to what amounts to a lost generation of students/alumni who support SMU athletics. Given the relatively small number of alumni we have living in the DFW area, we really need a strong percentage to care and that just is not the case. Even winning isn't going to bring someone out who doesn't realize and doesn't care that his/her school is winning football games again.

[Insane_Pony_Posse]

The great justice to the June Jones at SMU Story is that no one will ever hire this guy again

Too late...somebody already did hire June...
in fact it looks as though he is already the "Head Coach In Waiting"!

"If Cal Lee steps down as head football coach,
Jones is expected to assume that position as well"

http://www.staradvertiser.com/2016/12/02/sports/sports-breaking/june-jones-joins-saint-louis-school-as-athletic-director/

[PlanoStang]

Anybody that thinks that Chad is doing that much better than ol JJ, or hasBennett is wearing
rose colored glasses.

SMU TCU

2002 #69 #80
2003 #62 #69
2004 #144 #89
2005 #82 #54
2006 #110 #60
2007 #99 #81

2008 #91 #97
2009 #81 #46
2010 #76 #46
2011 #50 #26
2012 #90 #37
2013 #71 #30
2014 #99 #50

2015 #74 #31
2016 #74 #20
2017 #75 so far

[Stallion]

Its not even close-June never had a Class with 200 FBS offers-you're going to look pretty silly real soon. In fact just go to Spring Game this year and watch. I've told you guys Rivals blew it last year. This freshman class is easily the best at SMU in 3 decades. Plus we haven't had 12 nonqualifiers like in June Jones first 2 full classes. Those June Jones classes are an illusion because so many never stepped on campus. All of Chad Morris' recruits enrolled and I don't think any have left except for medical retirements

Rivals has completely lost its mind with their inconsistent star ratings . One year 280+ 3+ stars in Texas-then another year 150 3+ stars.

[mtrout]

But but but. Chad uses social media! Chad grams with the mayfair filter where jj used the desk phone and a vcr.

Perception is reality. Facts don't matter anymore.

[Stallion]

Facts

June never had a class approaching this:

2016 Class
Total FBS Offers: 194
Total P5 Offers: 65
% with P5 Offers: (18/24) 75%

ALL of Morris's Classes are ranked better than in June Jones' first 3 classes based on your numbers even BEFORE you discount for the numerous June Jones non-qualifiers. Chad has also recruited his classes off of 3 wins in 2 years.

June: 91-84-76
Chad: 74-74-75*

* this last class is going to have only about 17-18 signees and has to be analyzed by average where SMU is presently No. 66

Right now SMU is 4 deep with quality recruits at QB, RB, WR
3 Deep at DE
If they hold Howerton, Ali and add Huhn they have the best nucleus (Freshman/Sophomore) of Offensive Lineman in decades since at least Tom Rossley's last year

Sit back and watch-this is going to to be so delicious

[JasonB]

Anybody that thinks that Chad is doing that much better than ol JJ, or hasBennett is wearing
rose colored glasses.

SMU TCU

2002 #69 #80
2003 #62 #69
2004 #144 #89
2005 #82 #54
2006 #110 #60
2007 #99 #81

2008 #91 #97
2009 #81 #46
2010 #76 #46
2011 #50 #26
2012 #90 #37
2013 #71 #30
2014 #99 #50

2015 #74 #31
2016 #74 #20
2017 #75 so far

I think I have been pretty well established as trying not to "overhype" Morris or his recruiting classes. Keeping that in mind, I would like to point out the following:

1) When evaluating the classes, it is important to take a look at all 4 of the recruiting services (Rivals, Scout, ESPN, and 247). As Stallion mentions, the quality and ratings of rivals goes up and down, so just depending on one source isn't very accurate.

2) June's classes were way better than what Bennett did, even at the end.

3) Chad's recruiting classes to this point are way better than June's. One reason, as Stallion mentioned, is the non-qualifiers June recruited, which often inflated the classes. In fact, when you look at the drop in the rival's ratings year by year under June, one could argue that the difference at the end was that he stopped recruiting non-qualifiers. The reason the team went downhill was missing on or not developing the diamond in the rough players.

Another reason is that Rivals tends to look at top recruits in one light and then shoves everyone else in the same category. June would get a couple of guys that were really well regarded by a service, but then have a ton of guys that nobody knew anything about. But the way the Rival's system works, having a few guys at the top and a bunch of unknowns is essentially equivalent to having a consistently strong class. When you are building a football program, however, it is much better to have the depth.

I have a spreadsheet where I built this out in pretty strong detail, looking at ratings across the various services as well as offers. When you evaluate the players that were on the roster when June left versus what Chad brought in the first two classes, what you find at almost every single position is that June would have a player who was the highest one or two players at a particular position. But then the next 5 would be Chad guys, and the rest of the June recruits would be at the bottom of the list.

When you look at the difference between our 5-7 team this year and June's successful second season, it basically comes down to:
- we are playing in a tougher conference now
- June's starting QB and starting RB didn't get hurt
- June recruited better linebackers that came in and played immediately

Outside of that, looking at the rosters after year 2 of CM versus JJ:
- we have way more depth at QB now
- we have way more depth at RB now
- Receiver is a wash, maybe a nod to JJ until we see the redshirts in the spring
- JJ was a year ahead of CM on the OL because of pre-JJ recruits; we will see how much we caught up in the spring
- we have way more depth at DL now
- we have way more depth in the secondary now
- JJ was way ahead of CM at LB because of JD and Reed.

If the OL and LB groups come together before the fall, our team next year will easily be the best team we have had since the DP. And that is mostly due to Chad's recruiting.

[longbuzzer]

"Stallion wrote

Sit back and watch-this is going to to be so delicious


I'm not going to sit back. All of us hard core fans have been so starved for a top season for decades that we look like a bunch of stick figure ponies walking around. Dinner's on, time to dig in. Ding, ding, ding, ding.