Well gang, it's been...

[Greenwich Pony]

...something else. I am just so sickened by the track thing, which I think was a real bag-over-the-head punch in the face, I've had it. Title IX? It's not like we support a baseball program here. We've been fighting a steady retreat that seems to have become a death march ever since I came on board with SMU, and we have gotten little to nothing on either side of the ledger in return. This isn't just about the track team, oh, right AND the cross country team, this goes to a bigger issue of how the school is run and what message we have sent out to the community in general.

All I have left to say is that I hope that what remains of SMU's athletics program wins national championship regularly. If not, than this move has been for naught.

As for me, I shall return when the track team does. I bid you a sad farewell. I will not be upping any of my alumni dues nor contributing to the annual fund any longer.

[LA_Mustang]

GP, I think many of us share your frustration. When I returned to Dallas from sunny So Cal in 02 I thought we had reached the bottom...shortly after, we hired Bennett to resurrect the football program and we then signed potentialy our best bball recruit in history. Things were looking up. Now, two years later we are still going down. I dont know, maybe this will be the year football turns it around?? And bball, who knows where that is going?? But we have now killed one of the most successful programs we have, men's track.

I have been suffering for 10 years of no bowls, no NCAAs, hiring and firing of coaches. I feel really bad for those who have been around 20+ years and seen this go from the top to the very bottom of D1 athletics. Its all very sad. Obviously, the problem is much deeper than one coach or one recruiting class. I dont know if that will ever change....but I do keep hope.

Sorry to see you and OP go.

[Johnny Rock]

Well said and ditto!!! In response, I will start off by saying this will be my last post on this board. I have been very disappointed in SMU despite the recent news regarding the track team. My comments have not been taken well by many on this board. I have been responded to with insults and profanity. Those people (and you know who you are can kiss my rear and we may meet one day so you can do it in person) In reality, the truth does not look good for SMU. A few of us voice their displeasure by posting on this board. Unfortunately, there are too many who voice their displeasure by not attending events. It makes me sad when the football and basketball stands are empty aside from when we play a Big 12 school. Copeland, recently, said he was suprised by this. Unbelievable! I, along with many, believe it is a time to change regimes at SMU. Copeland has failed miserably at his job. We need to either find another AD or not have an AD at all (that would save money). For the past two seasons, I have not attended one basketball game out of protest for allowing Dement to continue to coach and for not upgrading the facilities. I am still debating whether or not to protest the entire school. The SMU today is not the SMU I graduated from. Every year SMU continues to screw it up. Maybe I will trade my SMU diplomas and fanfare for TCU or N. Texas. Oh by the way, I quit my Mustang Club membership. The end and good night.

[Dooby]

JR, if you refuse to post again or associate yourself with SMU, then this will all be worth it. You are either a troll or a moron. Good riddance.

As for Greenwich Pony, please log on as I left you PM.

[MrMustang1965]

Good riddance to JR. Oddly, one of the reasons stated by Copeland for the demise of the track team is precisely one of the reasons JR has not attended any games at Moody! Copeland told those in attendance at today's 7:30 a.m. meeting that it would help in the remodeling of Moody Coliseum!

I think it's a sad day for SMU athletics. The only other days that I can think of that were worse than this: the announcement of the DP, the end of baseball and the deaths of Doak Walker and Kyle Rote.

[Stallion]

Long Live to Loyal 1,498! The people ignoring the anger of these posters are a BIG part of the problem. This thing will continue to circle the drain unless the essential problems are addressed. You may not like what we say but the reality is manifest at every single SMU athletic event in the last three years that many of the people which this school will need to rebuild the athletic department simply have lost patience or long ago lost interest. There are not enough of you to sustain this little Southern Ivy League dream mentality this school was infected with 16 years ago. There has been no doubt in my mind for years that SMU WILL eventually compete on an even basis with other Division 1A schools or drop down in classifications-and quite frankly many of us can live with that possibility if the alternative is the crap that's gone on around here for the last 15 years.

[MrMustang1965]

What's 1,498?

[PlanoStang]

I think he means the approximately 1500 members on here - the 2 above that have quit the board......again

[The PonyGrad]

That could not have been JR. There was nothing about the model being all wrong (for the first time.)

[EastStang]

Sorry to see you go GP. I, too am frustrated by the track thing. I do think in this PC world Copeland couldn't say that it was 90% Title IX, 10% finances. The fact on the finance side is that we can't afford to add one or two women's sports to meet Title IX objectives. Thank you Congress. W, I thought you were going to fix this.

[gostangs]

Yeah right - fixing title 9 should be a the top of W's list of things to do - I don't think so.

How many of you belly-aching about Track have even been to an SMU meet in the last 5 years? Me neither.

WE ARE A REALLY SMALL SCHOOL!! One of the smallest who trys to field 1-A sports. We cannot afford any luxurys - and the track team was a great, wonderful, tradition-filled, successful luxury that nobody outside the 1,498 knows about or cares about.

Our future rests on football, followed by at least making a buck or two on basketball. We pay Copeland to make the tough decisions, and they don't get any tougher then this. Its sad, but nothing to depart SMU over.

Can't wait for the season to start. Bring em on in 04!! As for jr - I don't believe you are really gone, but if so that almost counters out the track team bad news.

[Charleston Pony]

For those who haven't followed the discussions on SMU's message boards since their inception, Stallion's reference to the "1498" was his way of saying "the fifteen hundred" has just lost two members.

As my late good friend, Jim Crist (aka the "Old Mustang"), used to say as he would rant about our attendance woes...SMU has for many, many years now had a hard core group of about 1500 fans who could always be counted on to buy season tickets and actually attend all our football and basketball games. The Old Mustang coined the phrase "Long Live the Fifteen Hundred" whenver he would talk about another pathetic turnout by our "fans"

Don't think Greenwich or JR probably qualify as being among those 1500, but Stallion's point is that SMU can ill afford to lose a single supporter at this point in our history.

Does anyone feel the pressure being applied to coaches Bennett and Dement's throats right about now? The time to win and lure more butts into those empty seats at Ford and Moody is NOW. We need to see year over year improvement until these two programs are qualifying for post season appearances. Time is running out on SMU's ability to compete at Division I

[EastStang]

Freeing up $4.5 Million to go to improving our maquee sports indicates to me that someone is about to have the last year of his contract bought out unless some dancing happens. I'd say that pressure knot is being tied real tight. Also says that they might be willing to spend some money to get a name coach in here. Money talks, B.S. walks.

[Joyous]

I too think about Jim (Old Mustang) often. Ohhhh, the good old days. What would we do without Happy Memories....
Take care!

[Scoops]

Full disclosure up front: I have never run track at any level, and do not know much about the sport, although I have enjoyed seeing Mustangs like Kajsa Bergqvist at international competitions and saying "hey, she went to SMU."

OK, with that out of the way, can someone explain to me how the hell operating a track team costs over $1 million a year -- for the men only? Do we spend that much on women's track, too? I realize that the recruiting budget is spent entirely overseas, which is where we get jumpers like Bergqvist a few years back, and all the massive throwers who make us one of the best -- if not THE best -- throwing program in the nation. But still .... that sounds like a huge savings for the next four years. It's not like we're shutting down the women's program, too -- I mean, we need to keep maintaining the track itself, and there are .... starting blocks and javelins to supply, I suppose. But that's a huge savings. What are we doing, purchasing diamond-encrusted spikes for the runners?