Another program withdraws a scholie offer - FL

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

You have no idea what you are talking about...while I agree that the Dews situation is something the player and Owens should have been aware of, you are naive to think that some sorriness is not involved when SMU had a 70+ day coaching search and they yank a kid's only Division 1 offer three weeks before signing day. I am not saying SMU technically did the wrong thing, but those of you who claim SMU is completely in the right and that Dews or Owens have no reasson to be pissed is unreal. Just look at it objectively and with some common sense and I think you can at least understand where they are coming from.

I know Mike Owens very well. Mike Owens (my high school football coach) is an honorable man and a great coach and is the furthest thing from a redneck I could imagine. So shut up and don't insult people you know absolutely nothing about...again, just look at this issue with some perspective. While SMU was within its rights to revoke the offer and I can totally understand the argument for why they did, I don't think it is a bad thing that a coach stands up for one of his players and doesn't like when he is wronged...and whether you like it or not, there was some wronging done here by SMU...

Why didn't this honorable man and great coach help his kid line up an alternative plan when the coach who extended the offer was canned? And especially of it is true (and I don't know if it is) that the athletic department sent out a letter reserving the right of the new coach to withdraw the offer? I mean, it looks bad what sMU did, no doubt. But why did this coach wait until three weeks before signing day to make it known to the world that they had no back-up plan for this kid? If his is as concerned about his kids' welfare as you say, seems he'd have been exploring other options a long time before that.

JT - I truly am not saying what SMU did was wrong...in fact, even though I am torn about it, I ultimatley support SMU's decision, given the current landscape of college football. I am just trying to make sure we all look at this with some perspective so we can at least appreciate where Owens and Dews are coming from.

While I have no idea what effors were actually made, it does seem that Owens might have been able to do more to make sure Dews had back up options. But it is purely speculative as to what Dews and Owens did after receiving the letter. I am not familiar with Dews or his playing ability. I know I have read on this board that SMU was his only D-1 offer and that many people more in the know than me thought Bennett should not have offered in the first place.

I stand by the things I said about Coach Owens...and by all accounts from the people I have talked to in Tyler Dews is a great young man that comes from a very poor family...it is just an unfortunate situation that has no winners...

Again, I am not saying what SMU did is wrong...it just ain't perfectly right either.

[jtstang]

I think the coach had the right to defend his player, but he looked selective in doing so.

To defend his kid from what??

His tactic of blaming SMU could just as easily be viewed as an attempt to deflect criticism from himself for failing to work on a backup plan as soon as Bennett was fired.

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

I think the coach had the right to defend his player, but he looked selective in doing so.

To defend his kid from what??

His tactic of blaming SMU could just as easily be viewed as an attempt to deflect criticism from himself for failing to work on a backup plan as soon as Bennett was fired.

Definitely true...However, I played for Owens, my brother played for Owens, and I have been around him several times the past few years and in my experience Owens is not worried about covering his own [deleted] here. Owens has earned so much respect in Tyler due to his continued success in the playoffs and the recent 5A state championship, as well as the way he runs his program and treats his players.

JT, you could of course be right...but in my experience that just does not seem like the type of man Owens is. Now, he might have not done nearly as good a job preparing a backup plan for Dews as he should have, but again, by all accounts on this board Dews might not be a very good player and Owens could have been trying very hard to get other offers with no success..

One thing I do know for certain...there is only one man in charge of Athletics in Tyler and that is Mike Owens...not the AD, not Bergfeld, not any prominent member of the Circle of Champions...Mike Owens ultimatley makes the decisions and I have never met a man that would be more unphased by politics and/or money.

[Junior]

according to Dale Hansen he has friends in Florida who are not very happy with the situation....

A+

How is that an A+?

Grades only count when I assign them.

Man, you couldn't be much more wrong than that. I am an excellent source for rating comedy.

[me@smu]

Did all of Bennett's commits get their offers revoked when JJ came on board, or was it just Dews?

In essence yes...every committ that Bennett had lined up received the same letter that said all committments would be reviewed and decided upon by the new staff. Unfortunately for Dews, JJ didn't find the same factor that PB had found in him and the letter was excercised.

While I agree that SMU is not completely innocent in these proceedings, certainly making the father call to find out that the scholie had been revoked was horrible, JJ was within his rights to deny the committment from a previous coach. And while I applaud Mike Owens for standing up for his kid, he simply took it too far. I can understand hurt feelings but I feel that he singled out SMU because we don't have hte power of a UT or any other BCS school. I doubt he would be so quick to say that LSU would not be welcomed into his school if they had denied a marginal player under the same circumstances. If I am wrong, then all the better for the kids that play for Mike Owens.

AS for your prospective side, when I was graduating from SMU common practice amongst consulting firms was to offer a graduate with the idea that they would start in 6 months, essentially giving the economy enough time to recover and "projects" to be available. With about three months before the start date, I got a letter saying that the economy wasn't responding like they hoped but that most likely they would have a spot for me in January if I would wait it out. You can guess what happened when the economy didn't recover. But thankfully as soon as I got that letter, I looked for other options. This episode with Owens is sad, but sometimes sure things don't come through and you have to have a back up plan especially when the writing it quite literally on the wall.

[ponyboy]

Good points and it bears repeating that JJ started the job the week of Dews' father's phone call and the decision had apparently just been made when dad dialed the phone. You do have to give the SMU staff more than a matter of hours to place the call before you throw them under the media bus.

[jtstang]

Man, you couldn't be much more wrong than that. I am an excellent source for rating comedy.

If that's true, then come up with your own funny bit. The humor grade thing is mine.

[jtstang]

Now, he might have not done nearly as good a job preparing a backup plan for Dews as he should have, but again, by all accounts on this board Dews might not be a very good player and Owens could have been trying very hard to get other offers with no success.

First, I agree with you that having a kid's father make the call to find out looks bad for SMU, timing issues notwithstanding. But this coach did not do a good job of helping this kid out in my opinion. I think that is apparent, especially if he is a marginal prospect. He should have been making calls to Shunnedbelt schools and the like to try to find a spot for this guy somewhere, and if he couldn't, been making inroads into a lower division school. What did he do? On the surface it appears that he did nothing and then blamed SMU for being the cause of this kid's downfall. Given all appearances, I'd still say this goy Owens's attack on SMU was way over the top and uncalled for.

[Junior]

Man, you couldn't be much more wrong than that. I am an excellent source for rating comedy.

If that's true, then come up with your own funny bit. The humor grade thing is mine.

Then what would you have given it?

[jtstang]

So far it's an incomplete. But nobody who tries fails.

[mrydel]

Man, you couldn't be much more wrong than that. I am an excellent source for rating comedy.

If that's true, then come up with your own funny bit. The humor grade thing is mine.

Then what would you have given it?

Jtstang has always been the official grader. He is tenured. His grades are not given out lightly, and he feels those that have displayed a good sense of humor (as has Junior) are held to higher standards than those who merely try from time to time and hit a home run on occasion.

I strive to obtain good grades from Jtstang as should we all who learned long ago that a sense of humor is essential to being a true SMU supporter.

[Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex]

Jtstang has always been the official grader. He is tenured. His grades are not given out lightly, and he feels those that have displayed a good sense of humor (as has Junior) are held to higher standards than those who merely try from time to time and hit a home run on occasion.

I strive to obtain good grades from Jtstang as should we all who learned long ago that a sense of humor is essential to being a true SMU supporter.

I too strive to obtain good grades from Professor JTStang.

[jtstang]

Any use of Oscar has high marks without regard to the remainder of the content.

[mrydel]

Any use of Oscar has high marks without regard to the remainder of the content.

I guess that makes Oscar the Teacher's Pet.

[jtstang]

Any use of Oscar has high marks without regard to the remainder of the content.

I guess that makes Oscar the Teacher's Pet.

B+.