More Beasley tweets

[StallionsModelT]

Beasley keeps changing the narrative.

First it was the SMU administration that didn't care about football b/c we don't offer athlete-friendly majors.

Next its the fans/students.

This kid is an idiot.

[ponyinNC]

That begs the question - why would casual sports fans in Dallas come to an SMU game when we can't even get our own students or fans to show up??? Heck we can't even get them off the Boulevard!

I know everyone's answer already - win the big games, put out exciting product and people will come. But will they? Are you sure? Because I don't buy that.

THE PROBLEM WITH MOST SMU FANS IS THAT THEY WANT TO HAVE BIG-TIME FOOTBALL, BUT DON'T WANT TO WORK TO GET IT. WE WANT BIG TIME FOOTBALL, BUT ONLY FOR THE TAILGATING ASPECT OF IT. NOT FOR THE GAMES THEMSELVES, NOT FOR THE PLAYERS OR THE TEAM. WE JUST WANT THE PARTY.

I've lived in many places, large cities and smaller, college towns. At ECU, fans pack the stadium even when the team is losing. The city rallies around the players and the team. At Clemson, only a short drive from my office in Greenville, SC, the entire town supports the Tigers. It is all they talk about.

Yes they don't have to compete with pro sports teams. Yes they also have huge enrollments. But we have to play with the cards we are dealt, don't we? And as a small, elite private school in an area of Dallas that most Dallasites can't find or have never been to, how can we claim to be anything but G5?

There are 17 private schools in FBS. Most are P5 schools. Our competition in G5 is Tulsa, Tulane, and Rice. Do you think of any of those programs as power teams? I know I do not.

We are in a unique position, and one that unfortunately only 3 other schools face. P5 private schools benefit from the conference teams and visiting fans. Northwestern is a founding B10 member. Without that, they'd probably have lower attendance than SMU.

[couch 'em]

Oh come on, you're right most at SMU don't want to put in work to have a team outside of a small percentage of diehards. Same is true at every school. That's not going to change, especially for a alumni population with real jobs like SMU. Berating SMU alumni to put in free work for a school that hasn't proved it even wants to win is not going to help.

Plus, random Dallasites not coming to games has zero to do with how many people stay on the boulevard. They don't come for the same reason nobody comes to UNT games or Midwestern State games.

[StallionsModelT]

That begs the question - why would casual sports fans in Dallas come to an SMU game when we can't even get our own students or fans to show up??? Heck we can't even get them off the Boulevard!

I know everyone's answer already - win the big games, put out exciting product and people will come. But will they? Are you sure? Because I don't buy that.

THE PROBLEM WITH MOST SMU FANS IS THAT THEY WANT TO HAVE BIG-TIME FOOTBALL, BUT DON'T WANT TO WORK TO GET IT. WE WANT BIG TIME FOOTBALL, BUT ONLY FOR THE TAILGATING ASPECT OF IT. NOT FOR THE GAMES THEMSELVES, NOT FOR THE PLAYERS OR THE TEAM. WE JUST WANT THE PARTY.

I've lived in many places, large cities and smaller, college towns. At ECU, fans pack the stadium even when the team is losing. The city rallies around the players and the team. At Clemson, only a short drive from my office in Greenville, SC, the entire town supports the Tigers. It is all they talk about.

Yes they don't have to compete with pro sports teams. Yes they also have huge enrollments. But we have to play with the cards we are dealt, don't we? And as a small, elite private school in an area of Dallas that most Dallasites can't find or have never been to, how can we claim to be anything but G5?

There are 17 private schools in FBS. Most are P5 schools. Our competition in G5 is Tulsa, Tulane, and Rice. Do you think of any of those programs as power teams? I know I do not.

We are in a unique position, and one that unfortunately only 3 other schools face. P5 private schools benefit from the conference teams and visiting fans. Northwestern is a founding B10 member. Without that, they'd probably have lower attendance than SMU.

Yes I absolutely believe that if we were to win consistently and play an exciting brand of football that we could have 25-27K SMU fans at every home game. That said, winning consistently and playing an exciting brand of football is something we haven't done since the death penalty so we have an entire generation of fans/alumni that have never seen us do it.

[ponyinNC]

Oh come on, you're right most at SMU don't want to put in work to have a team outside of a small percentage of diehards. Same is true at every school. That's not going to change, especially for a alumni population with real jobs like SMU. Berating SMU alumni to put in free work for a school that hasn't proved it even wants to win is not going to help.

Plus, random Dallasites not coming to games has zero to do with how many people stay on the boulevard. They don't come for the same reason nobody comes to UNT games or Midwestern State games.

I guess that is my point - at many other schools (like the few I mentioned), people DO show up for the games against the UNT's and Midwestern State's of the world. They show up to see THEIR team, no matter who they are playing. To root for their team.

Our fans want the tailgate. They could care less about the game. That is the problem...well, one of many.

[StallionsModelT]

Oh come on, you're right most at SMU don't want to put in work to have a team outside of a small percentage of diehards. Same is true at every school. That's not going to change, especially for a alumni population with real jobs like SMU. Berating SMU alumni to put in free work for a school that hasn't proved it even wants to win is not going to help.

Plus, random Dallasites not coming to games has zero to do with how many people stay on the boulevard. They don't come for the same reason nobody comes to UNT games or Midwestern State games.

I guess that is my point - at many other schools (like the few I mentioned), people DO show up for the games against the UNT's and Midwestern State's of the world. They show up to see THEIR team, no matter who they are playing. To root for their team.

Our fans want the tailgate. They could care less about the game. That is the problem...well, one of many.

ECU has an enrollment of what? What else is there to do in whatever town they are located in? They are the only show in town. There is no comparison to SMU whatsoever.

[ponyinNC]

Yes I absolutely believe that if we were to win consistently and play an exciting brand of football that we could have 25-27K SMU fans at every home game. That said, winning consistently and playing an exciting brand of football is something we haven't done since the death penalty so we have an entire generation of fans/alumni that have never seen us do it.

I like the positivity, but let's define "winning consistently" first.

I am no Jones fan - he has crippled this program - but he was the winningest coach since the DP. We did go to 4 straight bowl games. We did play for one conference championship. Out of the past 25 years, that is the most winning we have consistently had. Any how many fans did we average per game (not including the big former SWC games)? I think it was probably less tahn 25-27k SMU fans.

The next argument is that we need to win the big games against old SWC foes. Guys, in this new landscape, that is almost never going to happen. Get used to it. We cannot recruit against them and win those battles. We don't have the $ resources or fan base to land 5 star recruits. They do. And those recruits will usually beat our 2-3 star recruits. We can pull off an upset here or there, but if your answer to attendance woes is to consistently beat TAMU, Baylor, Tech, UT...you're going to be waiting a very long time.

Basketball is a different animal - one name coach and a few great players can take you very far.

[ponyinNC]

Oh come on, you're right most at SMU don't want to put in work to have a team outside of a small percentage of diehards. Same is true at every school. That's not going to change, especially for a alumni population with real jobs like SMU. Berating SMU alumni to put in free work for a school that hasn't proved it even wants to win is not going to help.

Plus, random Dallasites not coming to games has zero to do with how many people stay on the boulevard. They don't come for the same reason nobody comes to UNT games or Midwestern State games.

I guess that is my point - at many other schools (like the few I mentioned), people DO show up for the games against the UNT's and Midwestern State's of the world. They show up to see THEIR team, no matter who they are playing. To root for their team.

Our fans want the tailgate. They could care less about the game. That is the problem...well, one of many.

ECU has an enrollment of what? What else is there to do in whatever town they are located in? They are the only show in town. There is no comparison to SMU whatsoever.

Listen, I use those same excuses when I talk about our attendance. But nobody cares or wants to hear that. "Don't tell me about the labor pains - just show me the baby."

ECU enrollment is almost 30k. And they are an a hour and a half from beaches or the largest town from there (Raleigh). You are right, not much else to do. But that is an advantage we do not have...so what do we do to counter that?

I don't have the answers...and the only comparable schools to SMU are either Tulane/Tulsa/Rice and they have the exact same problems with attendance that we do.

[StallionsModelT]

Yes I absolutely believe that if we were to win consistently and play an exciting brand of football that we could have 25-27K SMU fans at every home game. That said, winning consistently and playing an exciting brand of football is something we haven't done since the death penalty so we have an entire generation of fans/alumni that have never seen us do it.

I like the positivity, but let's define "winning consistently" first.

I am no Jones fan - he has crippled this program - but he was the winningest coach since the DP. We did go to 4 straight bowl games. We did play for one conference championship. Out of the past 25 years, that is the most winning we have consistently had. Any how many fans did we average per game (not including the big former SWC games)? I think it was probably less tahn 25-27k SMU fans.

The next argument is that we need to win the big games against old SWC foes. Guys, in this new landscape, that is almost never going to happen. Get used to it. We cannot recruit against them and win those battles. We don't have the $ resources or fan base to land 5 star recruits. They do. And those recruits will usually beat our 2-3 star recruits. We can pull off an upset here or there, but if your answer to attendance woes is to consistently beat TAMU, Baylor, Tech, UT...you're going to be waiting a very long time.

Basketball is a different animal - one name coach and a few great players can take you very far.

I bet the loyal few thousand that supporters TCU in their dark days of the post-SWC were having these exact same discussions. They made a conscious effort to put things in place to win and win consistently. They had Heisman candidates, 10 win seasons, beat teams from power conferences, and regularly played for upper level bowls. The blueprint is in Fort Worth. Oh yeah, and they had coaches that loved the school and were relentless in their promotion of the program.

We can get people to attend our games if we do those things. It won't happen overnight like basketball but it will happen. The first and most crucial step to getting there is the coach. We will see if we can get it right.

[JasonB]

We don't have the large alumni base to cover us when the team isn't very good.

If the team is GOOD, Dallas will turn out to support it in bunches, regardless of who we play. We are ranked, the environment is great, and that is why they will turn out this year to watch us destroy the sisters of the poor in basketball before conference starts.

If we were in a top league, they would turn out to watch us even if we were finishing .500 in conference.

With us not being in a P5 conference, the public expectation is that we should dominate the league. Once we get to the point where we are not only fighting for conference championships but beating the crap out of bad teams, then people will come out.

[footballdad]

That begs the question - why would casual sports fans in Dallas come to an SMU game when we can't even get our own students or fans to show up??? Heck we can't even get them off the Boulevard!

I know everyone's answer already - win the big games, put out exciting product and people will come. But will they? Are you sure? Because I don't buy that.

THE PROBLEM WITH MOST SMU FANS IS THAT THEY WANT TO HAVE BIG-TIME FOOTBALL, BUT DON'T WANT TO WORK TO GET IT. WE WANT BIG TIME FOOTBALL, BUT ONLY FOR THE TAILGATING ASPECT OF IT. NOT FOR THE GAMES THEMSELVES, NOT FOR THE PLAYERS OR THE TEAM. WE JUST WANT THE PARTY.

I've lived in many places, large cities and smaller, college towns. At ECU, fans pack the stadium even when the team is losing. The city rallies around the players and the team. At Clemson, only a short drive from my office in Greenville, SC, the entire town supports the Tigers. It is all they talk about.

Yes they don't have to compete with pro sports teams. Yes they also have huge enrollments. But we have to play with the cards we are dealt, don't we? And as a small, elite private school in an area of Dallas that most Dallasites can't find or have never been to, how can we claim to be anything but G5?

There are 17 private schools in FBS. Most are P5 schools. Our competition in G5 is Tulsa, Tulane, and Rice. Do you think of any of those programs as power teams? I know I do not.

We are in a unique position, and one that unfortunately only 3 other schools face. P5 private schools benefit from the conference teams and visiting fans. Northwestern is a founding B10 member. Without that, they'd probably have lower attendance than SMU.

You've finally nailed it. Play good teams, play bad teams; have a winning team, have a losing team; play in the morning, in the afternoon; it doesn't matter, always an excuse as to why our 'fans' don't show up.

[ponyboy]

If the team is GOOD, Dallas will turn out to support it in bunches, regardless of who we play. We are ranked, the environment is great, and that is why they will turn out this year to watch us destroy the sisters of the poor in basketball before conference starts.

If we were in a top league, they would turn out to watch us even if we were finishing .500 in conference.

Yep. I think that fact eluded JJ, shocked him even. You can see the same disappointment in the former players who thought the dramatic turnaround would bring legions of faithful.

I'm ok with Cole venting. Not my favorite, but there's passion there.

[SMU 86]

We never made the top 25 and it seemed like Coach Jones thought we did.

[ponyboy]

True, though we did knock on the door a couple of times.

[LA_Mustang]

True, though we did knock on the door a couple of times.

In week 7 of 2011 we were 9 spots away from the top 25 at #34. I believe that was the highest ranking we had under JJ.