FACE OF THE PROGRAM: JUNE JONES

[NavyCrimson]

College sports in the 21st century

[RednBlue11]

Its DOAK!!!

[RednBlue11]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/face/team?teamId=2567

and the death penalty is leading the poll for the face of the program because?....it was a pivotal moment but it does not define the legacy of a legendary and storied program in my mind.

[Stallion]

actually it probably does define the legacy of SMU Football for most people alive today across the country. The success of the 1970s and 1980s because were cheating our asses off with 5 probations in 10 years and the pathetic losing of the post DP period as well.

[StallionsModelT]

As much as it pains me to agree with the slithering afterbirth that is passing itself off as a human, Stallion is right. There is no question anyone who is older that 24 associates SMU football with the Death Penalty. Its legacy still lingers on and off campus.

[couch 'em]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/face/team?teamId=2567

and the death penalty is leading the poll for the face of the program because?....it was a pivotal moment but it does not define the legacy of a legendary and storied program in my mind.

Doak was very nice (or so I imagine. Most people alive today were born after his time) but a lot of schools have had great players. The death penalty is what is unique to SMU, and what everyone thinks of. Very few people, students included, have any idea SMU was ever any good outside of the context of "they were cheating".

[StallionsModelT]

I'm 25 and the only recollection I have of SMU being good was from my dad. He used to go to SMU games back in their hayday in the 80's. Hell even then he said everyone knew SMU was cheating their asses off.

[RednBlue11]

i'm 20 and i grew up in Austin looking at framed SI covers at Huts Hamburgers of Doak Walker and Erik Dickerson...thats what i knew about SMU... while the death penalty still casts its shadow it is only a part of the 60+ yr tradition and history of football at SMU, not all.

[PonyLove]

Very few people, students included, have any idea SMU was ever any good outside of the context of "they were cheating".

Those people and especially the students might want to wander over to Heritage Hall.

[ponyboy]

Death penalties don't have faces.

[couch 'em]

Very few people, students included, have any idea SMU was ever any good outside of the context of "they were cheating".

Those people and especially the students might want to wander over to Heritage Hall.

If it were up to me all incoming students would have an aggie-esque indoctrination including a trip to Heritage Hall, but then again, they keep refusing to make me Emperor of SMU.

[SMU Hockey 2010]

It's tough for new students, particularly young ones, to appreciate the level of grandeur our old program had. If it was simply "We used to be awesome, now we're not," a la Marshall, Ole Miss, A&M, then that'd be one thing. We'd have "glory days." But SMU's time on top was one that wasn't gradually eroded but cut off completely because we got caught blatantly and repeatedly cheating.

Since no young SMU students ever hear about the good ole' days without hearing about cheating and the death penalty in the same sentence, it's small wonder no one bothers to really get into it.

Baylor, for instance, is a shadow of its former self. Yet Baylor students by and large know more about their program when it kicked [deleted] because they can talk about it without the disclaimer that it got that way as a result of cheating (which it did...).

[ponyboy]

If it were up to me we'd never mention anything that happened after Ron Meyer showed up on campus. Our true glory years when we were a diamond on the crown of college football was the time from the 1920's until when Doak Walker left. After that, but before the DP happened, we were a less than average player in a top conference.

[MrMustang1965]

If it were up to me we'd never mention anything that happened after Ron Meyer showed up on campus. Our true glory years when we were a diamond on the crown of college football was the time from the 1920's until when Doak Walker left. After that, but before the DP happened, we were a less than average player in a top conference.

Way to go, ponyboy...did you forget about Kyle Rote, Forrest Gregg, Don Meredith, Jerry LeVias, Chuck Hixson, Arthur Whittington and a host of others who were GREAT players for the Mustangs prior to the Pony Express Days?

Wouldn't it be great if JJ stood before the incoming freshmen at orientation this year and told them that he wants them to be in Ford Stadium on gameday to support the Mustangs?

[ThadFilms]

It was nice to see Doak's face on the front page of ESPN.com, granted it was in the "cycle through" section underneath the main story section.