At any other University...

[Arkpony]

Dement would be gone by now. This is inconceivable that Copeland would hang on to a coach that has produced such miserable results during his tenure. I am at a total loss as to what is going thru that man's head. What on earth!

[yesindeedydoody]

For Copeland to fire Dement, he would have to admit that he made a mistake and hired a mediocre coach. Copeland is not willing to admit that he makes bad decisions about hiring coaches.

[Spaz]

Originally posted by yesindeedydoody:
For Copeland to fire Dement, he would have to admit that he made a mistake and hired a mediocre coach. Copeland is not willing to admit that he makes bad decisions about hiring coaches.

Amen. But maybe it's time that someone admit they made a bad decision about hiring COPELAND!

[PonySnob]

Copelands last three major hires:

Cavan - downward spiral of football program
Dement - at least Shumate won a conference championship and got SMU to the NCAA tourney
Bennet - 3 wins in two seasons including 0-12 this year.

The performance of the programs that he has hired coaches for pretty much speaks about his ability to hire good coaches.

[Stallion]

ITS JUST THAT EASY! Let's see we've got the Committee to Fire Dement, the Committee to Fire Bennett, the Committe to Fire Copeland, the almost universal Committee to Fire Cavan, the Committee to Fire Shumate, the Committee to Fire Rossley. YEAH that's the TICKET. Let's Fire Everybody down there at Moody and Ford. And then go get some coaches who will discipline and motivate the boys!

<small>[ 01-21-2004, 06:46 AM: Message edited by: Stallion ]</small>

[Arkpony]

Ummmm..Does this mean Stallion thinks Dement is a good coach?

[ponyboy]

Nope. Stallion believes with his whole heart that coaching doesn't matter.

You know, I figured out the source of why I baffle the guy. It hadn't occurred to me until just now. One word: LOYALTY.

Loyalty is a virtue which taken to excess can become a vice. Perhaps I take it that far.

[Stallion]

You just called for the firing of our 16th straight coach and you call yourself LOYAL? Way to pat yourself on the back Benedict Arnold. Now who are the GOOD GUYS and who are the BAD GUYS that the loyal people are supporting this week? Once again little boy the words "Coaching doesn't matter..." have never come out of my lips. What has lead to the driest streak in the History of both SMU Football AND SMU Basketball has nothing to do with Coaching-it is the failure to compete on an even playing field with our natural and traditional Rivals.

<small>[ 01-21-2004, 07:25 AM: Message edited by: Stallion ]</small>

[ponydawg]

Stallion, normally I agree with you and talk about equaling the playing field......but last night we were playing RICE. Not JUCO State, Rice. Many times I would agree, but Rice does not load up on JUCO players, Rice is Education first and Atheltics second school.
Dement's teams have let me down many times, but last night was a different let down. The 40 point loss to RICE had a lot to do with the coach. We are the same playing field as Rice......in fact I bet there restrictions are a lot worse. I hate to say it but I put a loss like that......80-40....on the coach.

[ponyboy]

Right on, Ponydawg.

And that's loyalty to SMU, Stallion. Not to coaches, players, or staff who aren't getting their jobs done.

[Stallion]

No people like you and GoRedGoBlue are always the ones touting each and every coach that comes through here until the expectations are unreasonably high-and then when they inevitably fail you backstab them. You lead the Fire Coach X Parade each and every time. That ain't LOYAL! As for Rice Dement hadn't lost to Rice in over 3 years. You don't hire or fire based on a single blowout. The fact is that Dement's teams have overachieved in comparison to the FB team in the WAC each and every year. Fire the Coach! Next Victim! Hey Ponyboy-is Copeland getting to job done considering this is the longest dry spell in both FB and BB in SMU history. And Copeland chose the last two FB coaches and Dement. Shouldn't we fire him too? I guess we can wait until next year to fire Bennett. So we can spread this out. Fire Dement in March, Fire Copeland in August and then Fire Bennett after another losing season in November. Is that about right -oh Loyal fan?

<small>[ 01-21-2004, 10:20 AM: Message edited by: Stallion ]</small>

[EastStang]

Look, Stallion, you have consistently stated that the Rice model is all wrong and we were wrong to go down that road after the death penalty. Well the Rice model just handed us our heads last night. They have a good team, but the fact is our team quit last night. No baskets in the final 10 minutes. I don't know why. Perhaps they were saving their strength because the outcome was clear early on. If that is the reason, then either they or the coach should be gone. That is unacceptable. You play hard until the final buzzer. If you don't, you don't play at all. Now Dement is in a bind, he can't bench his starters for the rest of the season because he knows he has to perform. But unless he does, this team is history anyway. Bryan Hopkins was the new model, everybody's All American. But he wouldn't start on half of the major college teams right now. The model isn't the problem for this team its heart.

[Diehard Pony]

Stallion, I think you would have to agree that comparing the performance of the basketball team to that of our FB team is an extremely low bar. There is no doubt Dement has had talent on his teams, particularly the last 5 years. He has had 9 years and we have not sniffed a WAC Championship (the lowly WAC), not to mention the NCAA's. As someone earlier pointed out, even Shumate got us to the NCAAs in a much shorter tenure. I have heard from two people who were in attendance last night that said the team absolutely quit against, at best, an equal opponent. He has let a team deteriorate from one that beat Tech and Purdue, and took Wake to the wire to where we are now, and this same pattern has occurred in several prior seasons.

In my opinion, Mike Dement has given great effort, but the results of almost a decade are not there. It is time to move on.

<small>[ 01-21-2004, 11:55 AM: Message edited by: Diehard Pony ]</small>

[ponydawg]

I have never once said we should fire Dement in the past, but this season has shown me something about him and our basketball team. We obviously have the talent, we can beat big teams like Texas Tech, Purdue, Miami of Ohio.....but then we lose to teams like App. State, San Diego, get BLOWN OUT by Rice (who is a good team without jucos). Then there are the games that we don't start playing until we are down by 16 points with 7 minutes to go and then we make a great comeback and have a 50% chance to win in the last minute. I just don't think Dement can get our guys ready to play. You never know what team is going to show up. A good coach always has his team ready and focused to play. I have supported Dement thru all of his years, but this season has shown me that the talent is here, but the Coach might not be. I truely hope he can turn this around. See you @ the next game.

[lbloomiii]

Totally agreed with the prior post. I was at the game last night (I must have been the only SMU fan in the house) and the Rice fans sitting around me could not fathom this SMU team beating Texas Tech or Purdue. Having seen neither game and having only seen the OSU game this year, I cannot fathom it either. Is it possible that our players are trying to send a message? You would almost have to TRY to have a season that has been as up and down as this one has.