FINAL COFFEE WITH BENNETT

[Stallion]

No, No, No I believe I am just about the only one who has commented that we are recruiting from a small JUCO pie as opposed to Division 1A transfers. I have repeatedly stated that TCU, Baylor and others are getting higher quality JUCOs because they have great selection to choose from. As for when I will donate to the Mustang Club it will be when SMU clears up Problems Nos. 1(Curriculm), No. 2 (JUCO transfers) and No. 3 (Division 1A Transfers) and once again-SMU is "competing on an equal playing field with its natural and traditional rivals." Rumors are it could be next week or maybe never-its up to SMU. But that has consistently been my position since 1989 and it will be my position in 2089 until SMU makes the necessary commitment.

[SMU Football Blog]

Stallion, remind me not to hire you to paint my house. You paint with far too broad a brush and you tend to get it everywhere. You might have been one of, if not the, first to talk about this issue, but that was some time ago. Several people complain about the "transfer elective" issue as I have heard Bennett refered to it.

[Water Pony]

This thread has been run many times and Stallion and I have often disagreed, since I am one of sunshiners.

Although he is on target, this issue is how to get the Mustangs back on top. I wish he would be less concerned about being right; it interferes with his message.

[Stallion]

I wish all of you were a little less worried about the truth coming out about SMU's competitive disadvantages. I wasn't the one blowing The Commitment smoke in your face which damn never every one of you Mustang Clubbers bought hook line and sinker and you KNOW IT.

[The PonyGrad]

Geez, is there anything else to discuss about the breakfast than whether it confirms any particular persons agenda?

[Stallion]

you are very correct I do have a particular agenda which I bet I could articulate better to the DMN than our present AD. I seriously doubt than I would have to send a CORRECTION out to the SMU Community to announce that my Agenda is to excell at the highest possible level in Division 1A against our natural and traditional rivals.

[PonySnob]

you are very correct I do have a particular agenda which I bet I could articulate better to the DMN than our present AD. I seriously doubt than I would have to send a CORRECTION out to the SMU Community to announce that my Agenda is to excell at the highest possible level in Division 1A against our natural and traditional rivals.

Amen to that Stallion!!!! As usual, while our players are sitting around getting ready to go home for Christmas break, our biggest rival 30 miles to the west is preparing for ANOTHER bowl game after a 10-1 season.

[McClown27]

you are very correct I do have a particular agenda which I bet I could articulate better to the DMN than our present AD. I seriously doubt than I would have to send a CORRECTION out to the SMU Community to announce that my Agenda is to excell at the highest possible level in Division 1A against our natural and traditional rivals.

Leave Stallion alone, he is basically right. The Kenneth Pye model did more to ruin our tradition than did the death penalty.

[RGV Pony]

I wonder if anyone's ever walked up to Copeland on the Blvd or anywhere else and said, "so what's up with the comittment? What was all that crap about?"

I will admit I bought it when I first read the pitch. Started giving more $$ on the spot & became a season ticket holder then and there. Maybe that's what the overall goal was. Well, maybe not...because as was told in the DMN, season ticket #s are lower than they've ever been.

[DiamondM]

"Don't let perfection be the enemy of the good."

This is wise advice to Stallion and others. "The Commitment" was a five year plan, not a "commitment" to wave the imaginary magic wand and change everything overnight. Frankly, that simply would not be possible with the many constituencies that must be factored in at a university -- any university.

Should we have done it sooner? Probably. But if that is the excuse for not financially supporting the athletic department, that excuse will never go away. It's a backwards-looking, myopic look that notices all the things that have been wrong in the past and are not yet perfect, but ignores the good things that have happened in the first 4 years of The Commitment. Yeah, Stallion, you're right. Does that make you happy? But you're not totally right. Your carping about how we haven't yet finished everything you want to see done, which most don't deny should be done, is only half the story.

We are in year 4, with 1 year to go and lots of things have happened that are positive steps in the right direction, some of them large steps especially given where we have come from. We eliminated the restriction on visits before admittance of athletes, and streamlined the admittance process. Did you know that there is at least one admissions office employee whose JOB is to basically do everything she can to help coaches get the athletes they want admitted to SMU? We have loosened some of the JUCO transferability issues. Did you notice that SMU has several key JUCO and Div. 1 transfers playing key roles in basketball and football and a lot more JUCOs on the rosters lately? Probably not, because you are too concerned about what we don't have instead of what we do? Anyway, there is a reason for that. It's not coincidence.

Is it perfect? Is it where any of us want to end up? No. But there are a number of good things going on. And refusing to recognize and acknowledge the good because it is not perfect is just not constructive.

[Mexmustang]

My impression from listening to Coach Bennett, was that things were much improved concerning adminsion of JC athletes. Are they perfect? No, but it is something that he can work with and yet can still be improved upon. I doubt he would have said that two years ago. He said something to the point that SMU will never be a JC school, to the extent that some schools have become, but that we should expect to get 3-4, 4-5 per year.

[The PonyGrad]

Oh my gosh, an actual reference to the content of the meeting. Thanks.

[Stallion]

and DiamondM I can't tell you how silly a plan that is 16 years after the DP as SMU plays before an AVERAGE of 10,000 SMU Football Fans per game and what 1,000 SMU BB Fans per game. My point is that it is NO SECRET what our natural and traditional rivals have been doing for the last 16 years to beat us which I assume is what SMU's own athletic personel is telling the SMU administration right NOW. These are not Stallion's secrets but are as obvious as the tip of your nose to anyone who knows the first thing about athletics among our rivals. Don't need some SECRET study 16 years too late to figure this out. Some like you and several others have battled me every step of the way in simply acknowledging that SMU still has 3 major obstacles in order to fix this problem. When that commitment is made by the university is the day I make a Commitment to the Athletic Program.

[BUS]

Chris Phillis is moving to tight end.
That is something that was said at the morning PB talk.

[The PonyGrad]

Now that is BIG news. Something a lot of people have been wondering about. I guess his arm is really not all that well.