The Real Questions

[OldPony]

The immediate questions are 1) How will these frosh and sophs handle the adversity? Will they see what they have to do to compete and work to get bigger and tougher or will they just ride out their scholarships? If they are as good a class as we thought and hope, they will be busting their butts for the rest of this year and in the offseason to gain some swagger. And 2) Can the players help to keep the dream alive and help Bennett and his staff recruit some more quality players. 3) Will Bennett look at what he did candidly and put the coaching house together so that we don't have the dissention mentioned by many amoung the assistant coaches. It takes some time to learn to be a head coach and hopefully Bennett will be better than this year. 4) Will The Commitment become more than words. That means competing for athletes and improving facilities for basketball. If the faculty continues to deny the coaches the full arsenal they need to compete and Turner can't get buy-in throughout the school, more money will only help a little bit in basketball. These coaches need larger recruiting budgets as well as relaxed recruiting guidelines. If the answer to any of these 4 questions isn't positive, we will wallow at the bottom of football and be mediocre in basketball for many years until all support has dried up and sports will ultimately be dropped. We need to get these things done now because the boosters that have any memory of SMU competing are getting older by the day. Get the money in the next few years or it won't be there. Some of those who are able to give large amounts (and some that already do) must extract promises from the faculty leaders to help or face smaller budgets for their own departments. I truly beleive that this must be accomplished within 3 years if we are going to survive as a well-rounded university where anyone on this board would want their kids to go to school. Sports can be a great part of the college experience and is a platform to bind alums to the school. No one ever came back to Homecoming for the debate team.

[Hoop Fan]

well said. SMU can't rest on the laurels of CUSA or Ford Stadium. Conferences have not changed for the last time. We're basically a free agent that has to prove itself. The biggest worry as you point out is the lost generations of fans from not being competitive. And how much would it take to endow the athletic program? $250 or $300 million? Does billionaire Gerald Ford have any kids? That sounds cold, but estate planning of wealthy alums is a big part of college fundraising these days.

[Arkpony]

I went to SMU because of Doak Walker and SMU football. My son went to SMU becuase he was raised watching the Pony Express run wild over all opponents in Texas Stadium. His kids would also go there IF..IF football remains a viable sport. I say this because if the faculty does not understand the importance of bigtime football to a major university, then we are doomed as a football school and as an important university.