WOW! READ THIS

[Charleston Pony]

I'm constantly amazed by all the emotion that enters into the equation when a coach moves on. Graham reportedly gave Rice an opportunity to match the Tulsa offer. Rice chose not to compete. Simple as that. All this loyalty talk is garbage. Does anyone think Rice would remain loyal to Graham if he went 1-11 the next 3 years? Last time I checked, most people on this planet look out for #1. We all long for that break-thru year when Bennett finally leads SMU to an 8-4 season and bowl bid, but just don't call him a traitor when someone else comes calling and offering him a bog pay increase after it happens. We all know how close he came to being shown the door this year.

[mr. pony]

Certainly, coaches don't HAVE to remain loyal, and certainly they can and should take advantage of better opportunities.

But they DON'T have to LIE and INTENTIONALLY mislead. That's wrong. Just SHUT UP if you can't be honest.

[BrianTinBigD]

In some respects, this is not much different than what this "class act" did in Allen. Of course, in a relatively small town when you earn the Scarlett "A" you are not really that welcome anymore. This does not surprise me in any way when you talk about TG. The man has no morals, ethcis, or class. It is all about TG and nobody else. I seriously doubt that he wants to be closer to his daughter. Someone should ask her or the ex-wife how they feel about TG being within 100 miles of them.

[Water Pony]

QUOTE "I think they should kiss his butt on his way out the door and thank him for showing them the light at the end of the tunnell."

Ponyfans, with quotes like this the future of College FB is worse than I thought. To justify this behavior by saying it is Rice's fault is beyond comprehension.

- $4M/yr. to Saban
- $2M for a BCS conference coach
- $1M for a Mid-major coach
- Coaching carosuels
- Investment$ in facilities which are drawing the attention of Congress, based on tax free donations by corporations
- Low graduation rates by most successful BCS programs

Rice is a class act and I wish them only the best in recovering from the loss of a one year coach that they made a commitment to. I wish the best for Vanderbilt, and Northwestern, and Stanford, and Duke and, my all time best, the service academics.

My proudest moment will be when SMU makes it into the Top 25 while graduating its players and not reverting to the expeditent.

The college game is on a slippery slope and SMU won't be able to compete, if they only prequisite is $. A deal with the Devil is not for me.

Good luck Owls and Go Mustangs!

[Stallion]

TCU, Tulsa and UCF are hardly BCS and yet they all have made the decision to hire Million Dollar Coaches. Its a matters of economics-basic supply and demand. That's now the market rate for the bright young star. I guarantee you if we ever get a Coach that gets us to the promised land SMU would likely have to join that Club especially if we really believed he was the one that could build a long term success. Rice got its money's worth. They got about 5-10 million in donations to the athletic department, its first bowl game in 45 years and plenty of positive publicity in about 11 months. How much was that worth-I believe they should matched or at least counteroffered. They have one of the country's largest endowments-they never even bothered to counteroffer even at a lower amount. Football really ain't that important to Rice.

[PonySnob]

Football really ain't that important to Rice.

Given how many years our administration has put up with non-winning seasons, is football all that important to SMU?

[PK]

You may be right Stallion, though I will withhold a final determination on that judgement until some future date. For someone who will not even spend $50 to support the Mustang Club which helps make it possible to pay coaches big bucks by covering other cost, you sure are quick to spend other peoples money. But if you really think it is important that we have a million dollar a year coach...then pony up some cash, Jack.

College football barely lives up to its name anymore. In many cases the fact that the players are "student" athletes is really not much more than a sham. The colleges have become farm clubs for the pros and as such the pros should be the ones paying for it including the big time salaries. Obviously this is just my opinion, but I don't think I am too far off from the truth.

[DickerJames]

QUOTE "I think they should kiss his butt on his way out the door and thank him for showing them the light at the end of the tunnell."

Ponyfans, with quotes like this the future of College FB is worse than I thought. To justify this behavior by saying it is Rice's fault is beyond comprehension.

- $4M/yr. to Saban
- $2M for a BCS conference coach
- $1M for a Mid-major coach
- Coaching carosuels
- Investment$ in facilities which are drawing the attention of Congress, based on tax free donations by corporations
- Low graduation rates by most successful BCS programs

Rice is a class act and I wish them only the best in recovering from the loss of a one year coach that they made a commitment to. I wish the best for Vanderbilt, and Northwestern, and Stanford, and Duke and, my all time best, the service academics.

My proudest moment will be when SMU makes it into the Top 25 while graduating its players and not reverting to the expeditent.

The college game is on a slippery slope and SMU won't be able to compete, if they only prequisite is $. A deal with the Devil is not for me.

Good luck Owls and Go Mustangs!

Doherty bailed out on Florida Whaterever U after 1 year to double his salary at a more prestigious school. Does he meet your high moral standards or is he a slimeball?

[mr. pony]

[quote="Water Pony"]Rice is a class act and I wish them only the best in recovering from the loss of a one year coach that they made a commitment to. I wish the best for Vanderbilt, and Northwestern, and Stanford, and Duke and, my all time best, the service academics.

My proudest moment will be when SMU makes it into the Top 25 while graduating its players and not reverting to the expeditent.

The college game is on a slippery slope and SMU won't be able to compete, if they only prequisite is $. A deal with the Devil is not for me.

Good luck Owls and Go Mustangs![/quote]

Amen and Amen. I agree totally.

[gostangs]

If that is what it takes for you to be proud of SMU then you can give up now - it aint happenning. We get better when we play by the new rules better then everyone else - (lots of Juco's/easy degree path to stash players/full time tutors/million dollar up and coming coach/great facilities). It ain't gonna happen any other way.

[Water Pony]

If you can't write the check$, then call the former governor. Money talks, bull $hooting walk$.

Check book sport$ isn't my idea of college athletic$. Beside private schools, as a group, will always $uffer, when the competion is based on primarily on revenue$ and an arm$ war of money.

Unless you are ready to write personal check$ with seven digit$, be careful want you insist on.

[Ponymon]

If you can't write the check$, then call the former governor. Money talks, bull $hooting walk$.

Check book sport$ isn't my idea of college athletic$. Beside private schools, as a group, will always $uffer, when the competion is based on primarily on revenue$ and an arm$ war of money.

Unless you are ready to write personal check$ with seven digit$, be careful want you insist on.

I think SMU may be relying on a Ford Mustang, Gerald Ford Mustang to be precise!

[SMUstang]

I'm sure Todd Dodge has personality problems, a lot of head coaches do...they are the man at their university, and they want to act like it. Say what you want about Phil Bennett, he IS a class act. But don't think for a second that if he was offered a job at a bigger school for more $ that he wouldn't take it!

I thought we were talking about Todd Graham here, not Todd Dodge.

[bigdaddy08091]

I have said it before. We have got to compete at another level, because we will never compete at the money level. Even TU is tosing millions around, and getting some good players. Have you seen that school. It does not compare to the hilltop. We have to get players on campus. Everyone on the site would have taken that job for 1 million. Graham got Rice up and running, they should be thankful for that and get someone in to keep it going.

[bigdaddy08091]

When my sn and I visited TU, Todd was the only coach in the group who was not likeable by myself and my son. His behavior was all about him. The only thind is, he is a great defensive minded coach, we seen this. He will never land a big job. We have the players coach at SMU, the admin needs to help the coach get some players!

well, we're glad JWill's here, so maybe Graham helped us in that regard. Who was the coach at SMU who had the opposite effect of Graham (i.e. who did ya'll like the most, who was the anti-Graham)?

I was told JWill took the visit and seen the hilltop and that was it. He signed on the dotted line. His dad had nothing to do with it. His father wanted to go to Tulsa, to possibly win games. JWill wanted the opportunity the hilltop offers and just play football. But at 6-6 in 06, we will win plenty games in the years to come.