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According to the DMN....Copeland to retireModerators: PonyPride, SmooPower
69 posts
• Page 3 of 5 • 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
If those guys were doing it, it wouldn't be cheating, it'd be protecting national security.
Excuse my ignorance but who is Brad Thomas?
OK. Can't resist this one. Why waste the job on GW? We need to hire Teddy Kennedy. Think of the great recruitment parties he would throw. 
I like SS, but the problem is whether or not hiring another former football player translates into more marketing exposure for SMU, or more donations from alumni. Perhaps, I don't know. I would not be unhappy with SS. I do think we deserve to inquire into other possibilities.
Who is Brad Thomas? I do not recall (not MM fame is he?)
A quarter-century later, Thomas can look back at the days of Mustang Mania with as much bemusement as he felt when he was living it.
He thinks back to all the Mustang Mania bumper stickers – he's sure more than a million were in circulation – and the plan to distribute them far and wide. It was one thing that they were simply everywhere in Dallas. He never expected them to be spotted in so many faraway hinterlands. He remembers Potts' plan to invite Jerry Lewis at the height of the comedian's popularity to attend a game and receive a donation to his muscular dystrophy telethon. He remembers meeting '70s divas like Cheryl Tiegs and Morgan Fairchild as they attended SMU games, and letting loose 175,000 balloons before a game just to get in The Guinness Book of World Records. "It was a phenomenon – you can't explain why it happened," said Bob Condron, then SMU's sports information director who is now media director for the U.S. Olympic Committee. Condron had already been at SMU for seven years when Potts and Thomas arrived from the University of Maryland. They hatched their plan – a plan to increase awareness of SMU athletics and create excitement about a yawn-inspiring football team that coach Ron Meyer was fighting hard to turn into a winner. Making a difference Little did they know that the concept might actually affect the outcome on the field, as well as the fans in the stands. "No question, it affected us," said Mike Ford, the Mustangs' quarterback at the time, who would throw for 3,007 yards in 1978 (second in the nation). "A player that age just wants to play in front of somebody with passion for the game, whether they're rooting against me or for me. "Our freshman year, we were lucky to have 8,000 people in the stands." In '78, the Mustangs averaged 51,960 after averaging 25,644 the year before. It was the largest single-season attendance jump in NCAA history. It came with every cheap marketing ploy in the book. But in '78, there was no book. Thomas, 24 at the time, was writing it. He had corporations sponsoring T-shirts, caps, pins and, most of all, tickets. "I remember doing a thing with the Ford dealers in town," Ford said. "We promoted it till I was sick of it, but because we were the Mustangs and my name was Ford and I was the quarterback, we got the Ford dealers to give away two tickets to anyone who test drove a Mustang. "It was always stuff like that." "The plan was to do everything we could to get people in the stands," said Thomas, who still makes Dallas his home even though he hasn't worked at SMU since 1983. He now works in commercial real estate. "We came up with the idea Mustang Mania, and looking back, it's hard to believe some of the things we did." Condron said the athletic staff was suspicious at first. "There was nothing that resembled mania going on with our football team," Condron said. "But any reason to get excited was something we were willing to support." 'With bells and whistles' The first was the "Jerry Lewis Bowl," the brainchild of Potts, now a Virginia state senator. The Mustangs would give a portion of the gate receipts to Lewis' telethon if he were there to accept the check. More than 41,000 fans – twice the normal attendance for an SMU-TCU game at the Cotton Bowl – watched as D.K. Perry took SMU's first kickoff 94 yards to a touchdown. The Mustangs won, 45-14, Lewis accepted a check for $51,000, and Mustang Mania was ready to roll. "I've never seen anything like it anywhere else in my life," Condron said. "We really didn't have the team to produce mania, but it happened. Not with a 10-1 record, but with bells and whistles, a good quarterback and a good coach, and an outstanding guy like Brad." The Mustangs, themselves, soon began to believe. Consecutive games at Florida, Penn State, Ohio State and Baylor produced a 2-1-1 record, and when they returned home, almost 65,000 fans awaited them for an October game against Houston. They lost five of the next six, but the good news had already been delivered. SMU was a serious football school. " I actually think it helped the entire university – it went past the football team," said Condron. "The university took more pride in itself. There were more functions around football. "And it was because of Mustang Mania that we were really good later. That set up the 1979 'Superclass,' with Eric Dickerson and Craig James and all those guys. "Without that, those guys never would have been at SMU." Those guys went on to win Southwest Conference championships in 1981 and '82, capped by a New Year's Day Cotton Bowl win over Pittsburgh before 65,101 fans. Mustang Mania left almost as fast as it came. By 1981, listed attendance was down to 33,000. Even the co-SWC championship of '84 was unspectacular in the stands after 58,206 came to the September TCU game. "Like Atlantis, it just disappeared under the ocean," Condron said. The bumper stickers have long been scraped off the side of Chicago's Sears Tower and countless other landmarks. But the memory lived long. "Barely a day goes by that somebody doesn't say something to me about Mustang Mania," said Ford, who owns a produce company in Dallas. "I even saw a T-shirt in the mall not long ago. It's pretty humbling to realize what took place back then."
Well put, Mrydel. That is why I want nobody associated with the past Copeland regime, which was a complete failure in terms of men’s FB/BB. It will be extremely illuminating what our new AD says from the get-go. If he cannot candidly acknowledge the problems with our Model but instead parrots the company-line we are in big trouble. I am tired of this ‘silent, patient commitment’. The TCU’s and Memphis’ should be placed on notice…our goal is to field the best non-BCS FB / BB teams in America.
Forget Secules. I want to spend the money on someone who is really worth it - a PROVEN figure who has had success in the AD position, or has had major success dealing with media and running business. I'm sick of the typical "hire an 'up and commer' and hope he does well." Someone who will get things done.
Yeah, why would we hire someone that helped turn the program around? Who has working relationships with two pretty good coaches? Nonetheless, if Bennett gets to handpick the new AD, expect an assistant AD from KSU or Secules. Willis to slot receiver!
Relax, M27. Coach Bennett will not be hand-picking the next AD. They might ask him his opinion on someone, if they know each other, but he doesn't have the clout here to hand-pick anyone. Seeing the struggles the athletic department has had with some on the academic side of the school, I'm not sure ANY coach, even someone of Forrest Gregg's stature in SMU history, would be able to hand-pick the new AD.
Just for the sake of argument, say Coach Snyder (late of Kansas State) calls President Turner and asks to be considered for the SMU athletic director's spot. Don't you think it would be wise to get feedback from Coach Bennett, considering how long they worked together and how well they know each other? Doesn't mean they should hire him if Bennett gives a thumbs-up, and it doesn't mean they shouldn't hire Snyder if Bennett gives him a thumbs-down. But it would be foolish not to at least consider Coach Bennett's opinion if he has a real base of knowledge for his insight.
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