daily campus article "runaway budget"

[Dooby]

Glancing at the 2006 list of the “best colleges”, I must say that I have either never heard of or I have no interest in being associated with the non Ivy League schools that don’t compete at the highest levels of college athletics. I really have no interest is being associated with University of Rochester, Worcester Polytechnic Institute or Case Western Reserve University. I dare say that if Gerald Turner announced that he hoped SMU would someday be on the same level with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, most alumni would retch.

My favorite part.

When I was crunching stress numbers for Boeing, the guy at the desk next to me was an RPI grad. I think he may have been insane. But did I mention he was an RPI grad?

Where is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute? And ...what they hell is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute?

[that's great raplh]

" We claim to be the Ivy League of the South, yet still retain this antediluvian notion that a school’s worth is measured by its athletics programs."

I like how he preceded use of a big word - antediluvian- with a grammatical error - SMU claims to be IN the Ivy League of the South, not comprise it isn its entirity.

[Dooby]

" We claim to be the Ivy League of the South, yet still retain this antediluvian notion that a school’s worth is measured by its athletics programs."

I like how he preceded use of a big word - antediluvian- with a grammatical error - SMU claims to be IN the Ivy League of the South, not comprise it isn its entirity.

You want to know what "antediluvian" is? It is a word used by morons that want ot look smart so they use the thesaurus on Microsoft Word. "Antiquated" would have been a better choice under the circumstances.

[PonySnob]

Todd does mention that Phil Bennett makes “almost half a million dollars a year.” The fact is Phil Bennett makes what the market bares for his services. The fact is Phil Bennett makes less money than nearly every Division I football coach in the state of Texas.

So far, it is clear that Phil Bennnett should be paid less than all of the other D-1 coaches in Texas. He was brought in to improve our program and while many "sunshiners" say that he has, it has yet to be shown in the won-loss record. Phil has set 2 records while at SMU in the longest losing streak and the longest road losing streak......and we are paying him more than Mike Cave-In.

How large is SMU's budget?

[Dr Jeske friend]

The question that I have is in a lot of posts when comparing SMU to other local schools mainly TCU, it is always said that it has a superior location, superior facilities superior resources.

I don't doubt that to be true, but it begs the question???

Who is letting Athletics stay in the shape it's in, and why haven't there been a change. Seems easy given the stated superiority

Heck even Tulsa has figuered out how to win, seems to me you might be resting on past laurels.

Have the Ponies ever won without cheating??

[jtstang]

Where is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute? And ...what they hell is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute?

RPI is in Troy, NY. It's an engineering school. Not as highly regarded as an MIT, but pretty highly regarded.

By the way, the Red Hawks compete in the Div-3 Liberty League and are 4-1 on the season. Must be nice to have that kind of record, whatever the division.

http://www.rpiathletics.com/

[that's great raplh]

You want to know what "antediluvian" is? It is a word used by morons that want ot look smart so they use the thesaurus on Microsoft Word. "Antiquated" would have been a better choice under the circumstances.

exactly - i did not think that SMU football was around a few thousand years ago

[Charleston Pony]

I agree Todd needs a lesson in at least finding some numbers to support his theory/argument. I wonder what the statistics would show if you were to compare increased spending on athletics (that translated into more wins...TCU is a good example for comparison) versus increased alumni giving to the university?

I know I have a few classmates who have openly stated they will not give anything more until we fix the state of our highly visible athletics programs. Some wonder why I continue donating.

I hope things haven't changed and at least the business school guys "get it". We need to get them more involved in the marketing of SMU. Do we have any marketing students on the board? We should have b-school students doing projects on improving attendance at football/bball games

[RGV Pony]

RPI is also D1 in hockey, I believe. Pretty good program too.

[PK]

Have the Ponies ever won without cheating??

Yes...but then has any faculty member or "friend thereof" ever bothered to research and answer that question themselves? Sounds like a question from someone with a preconcieved notion as to the answer.

Given a level recruiting field and a decent coach, winning shouldn't be that big a problem. And, oh by the way...a winning football program damn near pays for itself, so that even less than less than 1% of the university budget would need to go to the athletic department.

[EastStang]

My guess is that Phil Bennett is probably one of the lowest paid Div 1 coaches in Texas. Maybe the UNT coach and Hatfield make less, but that would be about it. Also, the fallacy of the argument that monies that go to athletics would go to academics is clearly documented. I would send the same amount to the annual fund that I do now regardless of what I sent the Mustang Club. Also, football is not the only sport in the athletic budget. Are you going to get rid of all the women's sports which also drain the budget? And yet, these sports opportunities have been widely viewed by liberal feminists as something that helps women compete in the work world in life after school. How about men's basketball, swimming, soccer, tennis, and golf? They produce no revenue to speak of. A winning football and basketball program could be profitable and add additional funds to the athletic budget to afford the Olympic and non-revenue sports. It is a drain on the budget not because football is expensive, its because we have not been interested in spending what is needed to make it profitable. Its sort of like a car company that sits back and does not invest in R&D, sooner or later that car company is gasping for air. GM meet SMU.

[ponyte]

The article is simply an old argument about allocation of resources. One allocation of resoures is not appropiate as it doesn't meet the needs of the many. This is a dysfunction argument meant to elicit a desired behavior by those that use this technique. Unfortunately, this type of argument persuasion is often effective. The author wants resources diverted from the athletic department to other departments. However, based on the logic that the monies spent on athletics do not generate an adequate ROI, the author needs to seriously look at the entire budget allocation.

There is little doubt that the monies spent on the dance department are of little consequence to the overall goal of enhancing the academic experience at SMU. If SMU had the #1 dance department in the entire world, would it move SMU up to a top 50 academic institution? Of course not. Does a significant number of SMU students benefit academically form the dance department? Absolutely not. Few students even know it exist and even few have ever attended a dance production.

Would SMU benefit form a better investment in the Politician science department? Would SMU be a nationally recognized academic institution if SMU had the best Political sceience department in North America? Of course not. There is little to gain either in monetary return or academic recognition from a political science department at SMU.

Are the monies SMU puts into the arts and theater department and the Political science department worth the drain of resource? One could argue that the monies do not advance the schools image, prestige or academic standing and should therefore be eliminated. In the name of ROI, the school should only fund those departments with adequate ROIs. The author’s arguments break down as he has not adequately defined the financial criteria for ROI. Thus, his argument boils down to a subjective opinion without facts or measurements. The opinion is selectively applied to one facet of the whole university experience. Is it any wonder that a sophomoric piece such as this would be written by no les than a sophomore?

[SMU Football Blog]

Someone wrote a nice rebuttal that was published today.

http://www.smudailycampus.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/10/21/43586533cf0a6

[covok48]

It's not a bad response, I mean it's not as well written as the others I've seen on this thread but it does fine.