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I have been an SMU fan since I first enrolled in 1955. I have seen all the good times (the Don Meredith years, the M&M Boys, the Pony Express, the Jim Krebs basketball etc) but the years since the Pye debacle have been difficult on SMU fans. We are constantly encouraged only to seen it come crashing down (letting Larry Brown get away; disastrous re-seating) and coaches come and go, but the one constant is the administration. No major school would have let coaches stay in their position with the results we have seen. But our administration continues on. The one constant in our many, many disappointments and failures is our administration. I am beyond discouraged.

Reduce the number of Trustees and get some passion back to our leadership.

Ditto Judge.

Arkpony wrote: The one constant in our many, many disappointments and failures is our administration. I am beyond discouraged.

Well put.

Arkpony wrote:I have been an SMU fan since I first enrolled in 1955. I have seen all the good times (the Don Meredith years, the M&M Boys, the Pony Express, the Jim Krebs basketball etc) but the years since the Pye debacle have been difficult on SMU fans. We are constantly encouraged only to seen it come crashing down (letting Larry Brown get away; disastrous re-seating) and coaches come and go, but the one constant is the administration. No major school would have let coaches stay in their position with the results we have seen. But our administration continues on. The one constant in our many, many disappointments and failures is our administration. I am beyond discouraged.

Agree

Sadly nothing will change until we have new leadership.

redpony wrote:Sadly nothing will change until we have new leadership.

Define "New Leadership"

If you say "President" do you really trust our board, that has allowed this complacency to exist for 20+ years, to do the right thing?

Arkpony wrote:I have been an SMU fan since I first enrolled in 1955. I have seen all the good times (the Don Meredith years, the M&M Boys, the Pony Express, the Jim Krebs basketball etc) but the years since the Pye debacle have been difficult on SMU fans. We are constantly encouraged only to seen it come crashing down (letting Larry Brown get away; disastrous re-seating) and coaches come and go, but the one constant is the administration. No major school would have let coaches stay in their position with the results we have seen. But our administration continues on. The one constant in our many, many disappointments and failures is our administration. I am beyond discouraged.

When RGT took office 27+ years ago:

SMU was ranked higher academically than today
SMU's Endowment was ranked #40. Today, UCLA is ranked #40 with $4B. We have $2B.

My frustration is more on the academic than athletic side. Combined it becomes anger.

The whole relationship between Turner and the Board is circular. Turner essentially brought them all in so he basically has friends within the Board. He has been here so long that he is absolutely insulated and can do whatever he wants, and leave when he wants. It's crazy to have a university president for this long. One thing would be if we were doing better academically and in sports, but we're not doing that well academically (and worse as Socal Pony mentioned since he took over) and on the athletic front, the two big sports (football and basketball) are failing miserably...

Sonny Snaykes was 5 - 7 here his first year.

agree with the board issue. IMO part of the problem is that some of those members who lack passion are also graduates. I believe the board should be half the size that it is and should be required to have at least 50% of those members graduates of SMU plus a term limit of 10 yrs.
Sadly we lack the Tilman Fertittas that cougar high has.

redpony wrote:agree with the board issue. IMO part of the problem is that some of those members who lack passion are also graduates. I believe the board should be half the size that it is and should be required to have at least 50% of those members graduates of SMU plus a term limit of 10 yrs.
Sadly we lack the Tilman Fertittas that cougar high has.

But we do have…David Miller! Oh wait, one of RGT’s best friends. Never mind.

Yep, yep, yep. I agree with the assessment of the situation. Unfortunately, what are we sports fans to do? I intend to honor my commitment to the current capital campaign, but I'm done giving money to SMU after that unless and until we get a new administration that cares about athletics to the same degree that we who post on this and other boards do. I've expressed this to the development folks and they confidentially agree, but Turner is a dinosaur that needs to go for the long-term sake of the school, IMO.

I stopped giving because of Turner 2 years ago.

Arkpony wrote:I stopped giving because of Turner 2 years ago.

I regret that I didn't do the same.

PlanoStang wrote:Sonny Snaykes was 5 - 7 here his first year.

Yup......... and it wasn't his first year as a head coach. Lashlee will grow and improve. I'm optimistic with him at the helm.