Time for Turner to Go

[mustang1992]

Mex - you are wrong on many fronts here. US News has us about 60 - TCU and Baylor 30-40 pots in th "major university" rankings - significantly below us. I can tell you from having my own and other students having just gone through this process that almost EVERY SINGLE student at HP that ended up at TCU and Baylor got rejected by SMU. Our incoming freshman SAT is over 1300 - higher than everyone in the state but Rice. TCU has a higher number of applicants, but they are very poor quality - our average ATHLETE stats are the same as TCU's average student. It is not even close.

I can also say that this is true for Southlake Carroll. Of the top 10 graduating in this years class, at least half of them applied to SMU, including the valedictorian. I'm not aware of any applying to TCU, I know that one did apply to Baylor and will most likely attend that university. But this is because they applied to the Baylor medical program, which gets them automatic admission to Baylor med school. Of the group applying next year, probably the percentages will be higher for applying to SMU, again, including the valedictorian. I teach Advanced Placement classes and work with the top kids in the school and there is a huge difference between students applying and attending SMU v. TCU / Baylor / A&M from Southlake Carroll.

[JoeKidd]

This Gerald Turner criticism is just ridiculous nonsense. If June played the Dallas community like Gerald Turner plays the SMU community then SMU would be sitting pretty. June Jones not Gerald Turner is the Head Football Coach of the SMU Mustangs

RGT has and always will be part of our problem until he is removed. He does not fully support football and would rather position us like an eastern lily white school that is competitive in sports like soccer and field hockey. He views football as barbaric and an inherently corrupt sport-He Must Go!

[gostangs]

Joe - you have no idea what you are talking about, are woefully misinformed, and could not be more incorrect.

[orguy]

Just ridiculous.

Turner has the support of the large majority of the alums including myself. I remember how bad things were under Pye. No need to belabor that here but it seems many on this board lack perspective.

[78pony]

Orguy, there are fans of RGT no doubt, just very few 100%ers I know. Most like me, who feel Turner has done some really good things, are also honest enough to admit that when tcu, Baylor and the rest of the world figured out the financial aspects of a first class athletics program, Nero (RGT) was still fiddling.

Oh, I also like the "well, he's better than Pye" angle. Because RGT isn't as bad as Pye, then that means Turner has to be good.

[Mustangs_Maroons]

I think Turner has done some really good things at SMU, but I'm a strong believer in bringing in new leadership very 10 years or so, as this brings new ideas and initiatives with each dean or president. That is how UChicago operates, and sometimes you have mixed feelings when someone really good has to leave his leadership as a result. I hope hat after the campaign is over, RGT is ready to leave, and we have a list of top candidates in place.

I certainly sorry about bringing in someone that will not take us to the next level, but I firmly believe we are a very attractive option for say some provosts at top academic schools. We need someone who can finally bring us to the top 50 rankings in USnews (we've flirted with this for too long) and understands the importance of athletics to the visibility of a the athletic programs and the school. Easier said them done, but these are our key challenges, and RGT has not shown he can get us there, notwithstanding all the good he has done to position us for this next key phase in our U.

[Topper]

I've visited Oxford. Did not get to a game as it was in the Summer back in the 1980's. Good times. The Faulkner history etc. Quite impressive. However, reading what I have over the years about the practices and traditions practiced by the fan base (as eluded to by Stallion) it always amazes me that African American athletes would even consider that place. They snagged a couple of 5 star Defenders a year or two ago and I was shocked that given a choice they chose Ole Miss. For many years the top high school talent in that state had either gone to Southern Miss or left the state completely.

Your comments about June are true. Guy looked like comatose pineapple this past season.

Ole Miss is not the same place it was even in the 80s. In recent years an African-American co-ed was elected student body president. The greek organizations are as integrated as the ones at SMU, perhaps more so. African-Americans make up about 17% of the student body as opposed to about 6% at SMU and about 5% at UT.