Copeland's AD Notepad

[BigEasyPony]

Copeland's 3/19/04 Notepad

Our search for a new men’s basketball coach continues and I am pleased to report that we are making great progress. The field has been narrowed and we will make a decision soon. For this week’s Notepad, I am moving away from that subject to address a column that was written in the Dallas Morning News on March 10th by Henry Tatum, titled “Will we ever let SMU live down its death penalty?” that impacts the public perception of our overall program. Please know that we have responded to the column with a letter to the Morning News.

I agree with some of the points made by Mr. Tatum in the column. It is obvious that SMU is always referenced in regard to the ultimate penalty in intercollegiate athletics since it is the only one to have received the “Death Penalty”. It is also notable that several other programs have qualified by NCAA definition for such a penalty but have not received it since SMU did in 1986. And, as Mr. Tatum suggested in his column, it is time for people to stop referencing SMU in that light.

It is time for those references to cease because SMU’s program has been a model of “best practices” for the last 17 years. Here are several examples: ·

Over 95 percent of student-athletes completing their eligibility have received their undergraduate degrees in legitimate, challenging majors.

The men’s basketball team was recently acknowledged as having the second highest graduation rate of any Division I basketball program in the country.

The PALS program was started in 1996 to assist student-athletes preparation for employment upon graduation. Since its inception, the program has helped over 1,445 student-athletes obtain summer internships and/or permanent jobs upon graduation. Over 125 companies in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex partner in the program.

SMU won the inaugural Western Athletic Conference Commissioner’s Cup, awarded to the top overall sports program in the league, last year and has also finished in the top 40 in the NACDA Director’s Cup standings in six of the last eight years.

Any prospective student-athlete that is considered capable of graduating from SMU is admitted provided they meet minimum NCAA standards. This has allowed our coaches more flexibility than is generally thought.

As Mr. Tatum said, NCAA violations have been minimal and violators have been dealt with quickly and severely.

Running this kind of program does not preclude athletic success. Unfortunately, the only thing that makes the sports pages are wins and losses, statistics and the negative stories about college athletes. Not that those shouldn’t be printed, but why not offer equal time to those programs that are run correctly.

In the long run, how a program is run and the benefit to the individual student-athletes – most of who will never compete athletically beyond college – is what is really important.

In this day of intercollegiate athletics, where negative stories about coaches’ behavior and recruiting scandals are commonplace, I would love to see an emphasis from the media on good news. We have great stories at SMU – our graduation rates, our PALS program, our move to a new conference (Conference USA) and our capital additions (Ford Stadium and the Loyd All-Sports Center, with more additions planned) are just a few. We are proactive in our approach to pitching these topics as story ideas but don’t control what is written and aired.

It is time the Death Penalty is buried. There are no remnants of that era on our campus anymore. Our athletics program is run in an upstanding way, the student-athletes are good citizens and the student-athletes graduate at a 95 percent rate after five years. Is there a better story than this in the country?

And for those of you who are only concerned about wins and losses in football and basketball, that will turn. It has just taken a little bit longer but I can assure you that the wins will come. The most important wins have already occurred. Legitimate students as athletes. Upstanding citizens. And staff, coaches, athletes and an administration that are soundly behind running the program the right way.

As always, thanks for your support of SMU athletics.

Go Mustangs!

Jim



Looks like we'll have a new HC soon!