Our Esteemed JJ

[redpony]

the bag guy at the Ft. Lauderdale Westin knew all about it. Shockingly, he wanted to talk about Dickerson, Jones and football. He didn't seem to inclined to discuss the school's improving average SAT score.

Don't tell RGT that - he might have your degree rescinded.

[blackoutpony]

the bag guy at the Ft. Lauderdale Westin knew all about it. Shockingly, he wanted to talk about Dickerson, Jones and football. He didn't seem to inclined to discuss the school's improving average SAT score.

Don't tell RGT that - he might have your degree rescinded.

I just laughed out at work... I gotta stop doing that...

[Mexmustang]

Frustration, frustration, frustration.

Firing the head football coach will not fix the problem, it will just bring on another "[deleted]", another failure in five years. To fix the problem you have to fix the administration and hold them accountable. Basketball has a very strong powerful group of financial backers. Football doesn't. $100,000 per year, doesn't even get you on the board. $15,000,000 does. When was the last time the President was told to get rid of the Provost if he is an impediment to recruiting and admitting basketball players? And he listened? You remember the Provost--the guy Orsini infuriated.

Quick, who was the last head football coach to get a raise after leaving SMU (after Ron Myer)?

Answer, Phil Bennett. He almost doubled his salary by leaving the head coaching position at SMU and becoming the defensive coordinator at Baylor. But, of course, he technically got a demotion.

We don't pay our assistant coaches and [deleted] around with their contracts every two years. Did it again this year. Really makes you want to recruit for ole SMU doesn't it? To go into the first week of the season and still not have your annual contract renewed? Really exciting for a private school to let the administrators and faculty on the permanent employment and tenure system screw with the only people on campus hired and fired based upon performance. But, you have to be able to bully someone! How we treat our football coaches especially our assistants has gone ballistic in the coaching community and it is not good.

I think we are lucky to have what we have, we have not had better in along time and it is sad we won't do better when they leave. If you can't see better players and better freshman on the field, you are blind. The coaches are furious they let the Tech game get away. But, you have couple of injuries, a couple of kids disqualified from playing on an already thin squad and throw in four really bad calls by the refs on a field over 115 degrees, you are going to get beat!

But, the recruiting pool for a school like Tech is 100,000, the pool for SMU is less than 10% of that number. It is not just a question of getting them in, but keeping them in and providing a course of study that can help them in the future.

If the press accounts of our basketball assistants salaries is correct, they get 2.5x's what a football assistant gets. Between them they have to sign less than one player per year! But, even if you don't believe in "you get what you pay for", it is not "apples and apples". From the conference, to travel expenses, to recruiting budgets, to salary, to the size of the recruiting classes, to the football tradition that SMU doesn't have.

Let's begin with the football conference. Next year we go back to CUSA. That's right, except for Rice, our football schedule won't be any different than in the last six years. We will never be successful recruiting against those schools in the Big 12. Got that! Never! Most recruits will never consider CUSA!

But, basketball is different, we play in a very big time basketball conference, U of H, UConn, Memphis, Cincy, Louisville (temporarily) all have some major basketball accomplishments Final Fours, NCAA Championships, etc. But, as a conference football is just not going to attract big time recruits. Name the teams that have finished in the Top Ten in the last ten years--none, the last three decades--none?

Get prepared for failure. Fire June and the press will have a field day. You fired a coach with four bowl appearances after a draught of 25 years? Fire June and no respectable coach will come here. They will simply ask June for the truth--where was it and where wasn't it! Fire June and Copeland II will be in charge of hiring! Good luck!

[mrydel]

the bag guy at the Ft. Lauderdale Westin knew all about it. Shockingly, he wanted to talk about Dickerson, Jones and football. He didn't seem to inclined to discuss the school's improving average SAT score.

Don't tell RGT that - he might have your degree rescinded.

I want to hear more abut meeting a bag man in Ft Lauderdale.

[redpony]

MexM- I can understand some of your frustrations and agree with a lot that you say. I also know that you have issues with RGT (as many of us do). My main issue with him is that he was here for over a decade before anything positive happened in fball. So he obviously doesn't have much interest in a top 25 program.

My question is - what can be done to get fball on the same level of support as bball. I was unsure of the LB hire until I saw his 'action plan' and how he was approaching building a program.. Now I am totally on board with him. JJ much less so. How can the fball program get the financial where-with-all that the bball program has. Is the C of C so much less interested, financially unable or 'hamstrung' in getting a continued upward movement in fball than our bball supporters are?

[SMU2007]

If smu doesn't have a chance to recruit against the big 12, how was tcu able to amass solid (not elite) talent and compete with just about any team they played? It was a combination of a damn well prepared and coached team with a group of capable players. I think we have a mentally weak, underprepared team, comprised mostly of people no other d1 school wanted.

I think there is something inbetween getting all the top talent in Texas, and what we are currently doing.

I'm not saying we should beat out Texas for every (any) recruits, but there's no reason for us to be competing with some of these schools we're currently competing with.

[RGV Pony]

If smu doesn't have a chance to recruit against the big 12, how was tcu able to amass solid (not elite) talent and compete with just about any team they played? .

Started with a meeting of the minds the equivalent of our hoops boosters. Ironically, that took place right after they beat SMU to finish 1-10 in the Sullivan era. They mapped out a commitment and plan for what they thought they needed to do to win a national title within, as jfk would say, '' a de-CADE''. And they damn near did (rose bowl)

[SMUer]

Bowl games are participation awards for not being super-[gary patterson]ty. They are shiny, sound impressive but 50% of all teams have them. Cross out "bowl games" and put in "0.500" and it tells a more honest story. We should be aiming higher.

Uninspiring offense, embarrassing road performances, dump-face and apathy on the sideline, apathy in recruiting...on June, on June, on June, on June. He controls all of this and does nothing. The only statue he deserves is one on front of Moody, arm over-the-shoulder with Larry Brown. Greatest thing he's done and the only thing in the last 3 years that has convinced me he isn't completely apathetic about SMU. And don't "Hawaii Bowl...", he only tries there to impress his friends. He clearly puts less effort, with more time, toward our season-openers.

[Insane_Pony_Posse]

Firing the head football coach will not fix the problem, it will just bring on another "[deleted]", another failure in five years. To fix the problem you have to fix the administration and hold them accountable. Basketball has a very strong powerful group of financial backers. Football doesn't. $100,000 per year, doesn't even get you on the board. $15,000,000 does. When was the last time the President was told to get rid of the Provost if he is an impediment to recruiting and admitting basketball players? And he listened? You remember the Provost--the guy Orsini infuriated.

Great informative post Mex! Thanks!

[skurtn]

Great point. Comments from friends are always the best gauge of a coach's performance.

. When I talk to people at work they ask "who is smu?" That is equally relevant to your argument.

When these friends and family are on the boards of schools like A&M and Notre Dame, I'm pretty sure I can hold their input higher than the likes of random people on the net.

[Mustangsabu]

Bowl games are participation awards for not being super-[gary patterson]ty. They are shiny, sound impressive but 50% of all teams have them. Cross out "bowl games" and put in "0.500" and it tells a more honest story. We should be aiming higher.

Uninspiring offense, embarrassing road performances, dump-face and apathy on the sideline, apathy in recruiting...on June, on June, on June, on June. He controls all of this and does nothing. The only statue he deserves is one on front of Moody, arm over-the-shoulder with Larry Brown. Greatest thing he's done and the only thing in the last 3 years that has convinced me he isn't completely apathetic about SMU. And don't "Hawaii Bowl...", he only tries there to impress his friends. He clearly puts less effort, with more time, toward our season-openers.

.500 ball for SMU is a miracle in the eyes of the sport. We can feel entitled to better all we want but the facts are the facts.

[mustangxc]

I have a lot of family and friends east of Louisiana (mainly in the southern states), and without a doubt, when I talk about SMU football, they all start with something along the lines of, "Isn't your coach June Jones? He's done a good job over there".

So, it's really difficult for me to take many of the things on here with much more than a grain of salt.

Do we want things to get better? Of course.

Great point. Comments from friends are always the best gauge of a coach's performance.

. When I talk to people at work they ask "who is smu?" That is equally relevant to your argument.

If that is the case then it is a moot point because they should know SMU based on academic reputation or based on what Larry Brown is doing in basketball.

[SoCal_Pony]

You know, as a life-long SMU fan, I truly appreciate these last 4 bowl appearances, I really do.

I also think JJ is a good coach, my issue with him is recruiting. But I agree with SMUer above regarding bowl games. To provide you a little more perspective on this, look at our 2010 season. We played Washington State that year at Ford and defeated them 35-21.

Washington State would go 2-10 that season, only winning games against Montana State and a 5-7 Oregon State team. SMU would go 7-7, eventually losing to Army in the Armed Forces Bowl.

Yet if you look at the season ending rankings per Sagarin, Washington State was ranked HIGHER than us, Wash St #79, SMU #83. Outside of Tulsa, we didn't defeat anyone with a winning record, simply low-tier CUSA teams + Wash St.

So if your criteria is Bowl Games, that is a pretty low bar in my estimation.

[mustangxc]

Frustration, frustration, frustration.

Firing the head football coach will not fix the problem, it will just bring on another "[deleted]", another failure in five years. To fix the problem you have to fix the administration and hold them accountable. Basketball has a very strong powerful group of financial backers. Football doesn't. $100,000 per year, doesn't even get you on the board. $15,000,000 does. When was the last time the President was told to get rid of the Provost if he is an impediment to recruiting and admitting basketball players? And he listened? You remember the Provost--the guy Orsini infuriated.

Quick, who was the last head football coach to get a raise after leaving SMU (after Ron Myer)?

Answer, Phil Bennett. He almost doubled his salary by leaving the head coaching position at SMU and becoming the defensive coordinator at Baylor. But, of course, he technically got a demotion.

We don't pay our assistant coaches and [deleted] around with their contracts every two years. Did it again this year. Really makes you want to recruit for ole SMU doesn't it? To go into the first week of the season and still not have your annual contract renewed? Really exciting for a private school to let the administrators and faculty on the permanent employment and tenure system screw with the only people on campus hired and fired based upon performance. But, you have to be able to bully someone! How we treat our football coaches especially our assistants has gone ballistic in the coaching community and it is not good.

I think we are lucky to have what we have, we have not had better in along time and it is sad we won't do better when they leave. If you can't see better players and better freshman on the field, you are blind. The coaches are furious they let the Tech game get away. But, you have couple of injuries, a couple of kids disqualified from playing on an already thin squad and throw in four really bad calls by the refs on a field over 115 degrees, you are going to get beat!

But, the recruiting pool for a school like Tech is 100,000, the pool for SMU is less than 10% of that number. It is not just a question of getting them in, but keeping them in and providing a course of study that can help them in the future.

If the press accounts of our basketball assistants salaries is correct, they get 2.5x's what a football assistant gets. Between them they have to sign less than one player per year! But, even if you don't believe in "you get what you pay for", it is not "apples and apples". From the conference, to travel expenses, to recruiting budgets, to salary, to the size of the recruiting classes, to the football tradition that SMU doesn't have.

Let's begin with the football conference. Next year we go back to CUSA. That's right, except for Rice, our football schedule won't be any different than in the last six years. We will never be successful recruiting against those schools in the Big 12. Got that! Never! Most recruits will never consider CUSA!

But, basketball is different, we play in a very big time basketball conference, U of H, UConn, Memphis, Cincy, Louisville (temporarily) all have some major basketball accomplishments Final Fours, NCAA Championships, etc. But, as a conference football is just not going to attract big time recruits. Name the teams that have finished in the Top Ten in the last ten years--none, the last three decades--none?

Get prepared for failure. Fire June and the press will have a field day. You fired a coach with four bowl appearances after a draught of 25 years? Fire June and no respectable coach will come here. They will simply ask June for the truth--where was it and where wasn't it! Fire June and Copeland II will be in charge of hiring! Good luck!

Don't let facts get in the way of a good rant. Houston and Tulane have both had top ten finishes in the last 30 years. If you are going to use Louisville as a plug for basketball then you have to keep it for football too. I realize that AAC basketball is a major player and AAC football is not quite at the same level but you do not need to fictionalize your argument to make your point. Doing so simply debilitates your argument.

[SMU2007]

I have a lot of family and friends east of Louisiana (mainly in the southern states), and without a doubt, when I talk about SMU football, they all start with something along the lines of, "Isn't your coach June Jones? He's done a good job over there".

So, it's really difficult for me to take many of the things on here with much more than a grain of salt.

Do we want things to get better? Of course.

Great point. Comments from friends are always the best gauge of a coach's performance.

. When I talk to people at work they ask "who is smu?" That is equally relevant to your argument.

If that is the case then it is a moot point because they should know SMU based on academic reputation or based on what Larry Brown is doing in basketball.

Yes. Because the average person (let alone average sports fan) follows our basketball recruiting and knows about Frazier and Mudiay...

And I know we all think SMU is the same as Duke, but it's not. It has a good, not elite academic reputuation. Do you know where Yeshiva, Fordham, and Northeastern Universities are? Because they are all ranked ahead of SMU for what it's worth (if you give a crap about us news rankings, which I don't).

Not trying to hate on SMU. I'm thrilled about basketball, but I think it's delusional to think that LB has already put us in the limelight.