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While many posters on this forum say "Fire the Coach", "Fire the AD", "This team is really bad", and "There is no future at SMU", there are many readers and posters that believe just the opposite.

Coach Bennett is on the right path, but it will take time. Adjustment of the Pye model is long overdue (about 10 years), but change has been made and I hope more changes are forthcoming.

Yes, it is tough going right now and who is to blame is a real history lesson. But, the support of the Mustangs is still here. It might be 10K to 15K in the stands on Saturday, but those who really love and support this program will be there. The "fair weather fans and supporters" will not.

I just want to say to the players, coaches and supporters - Keep up the fight and better days will follow.

And to those posters who are threatening to pull their Mustang Club support and cancel their season tickets, YOU ARE THE PROBLEM, not the solution. Without the financial support and enthusiasm of the Mustang Club and season ticket holders, this program is doomed.

Please tell me what changes have been made by the athletic program and what changes will come?

Rock,

The administration has lowered the academic requirement of student atheletes, no longer require the athlete to apply and be accepted to the university before an official visit, lowered the requirements for JUCO's. Just to name a few of the major changes.

Like I said, I hope more changes are forthcoming, ie: JUCO course credits acceptance and PE Majors.

DiamondM75 wrote:It might be 10K to 15K in the stands on Saturday, but those who really love and support this program will be there. The "fair weather fans and supporters" will not.

There are very few, if any, fair weather fans that post on this site. The majority have been going to (or listening) to games for for a decade and a half of no "fair weather" at all. The reason for outrage is the program is in worse shape today than before we built Ford and changed admissions standards, and there has been no accountability for that, and no signal that anything will be done about it.

DiamondM75 wrote:Rock,

The administration has lowered the academic requirement of student atheletes, no longer require the athlete to apply and be accepted to the university before an official visit, lowered the requirements for JUCO's. Just to name a few of the major changes.

Like I said, I hope more changes are forthcoming, ie: JUCO course credits acceptance and PE Majors.

These are good things, but they won't help Bennett prepare a team and coach them on Saturday. Anybody that has seen a reasonable number of games under his tenure is likely aware that this is the case.

My understanding was that the requirements for admission weren't lowered. I thought the changes were that you can visit before admission, and that more classes were being accepted for transfers/JUCOs (although those players still have to meet the same academic standards....) Not true?

DiamondM75 wrote:While many posters on this forum say "Fire the Coach", "Fire the AD", "This team is really bad", and "There is no future at SMU", there are many readers and posters that believe just the opposite.

Haven't you been watching?? This team IS really bad.

Casey wrote:My understanding was that the requirements for admission weren't lowered. I thought the changes were that you can visit before admission, and that more classes were being accepted for transfers/JUCOs (although those players still have to meet the same academic standards....) Not true?

Not true would be a correct statement. Dr. Turner told a fellow pony supporter and myself in a telephone conversation that they were now taking "academic risks" they had never taken before. Started last year.

DieHard Pony-just playing Devil's Advocate-if it "just started last year" and 11 of our 12 freshmen from that class are redshirting and even Lindley rarely gets on field-why do you expect SMU to be more competitive.

Stallion,
The "academic risk" thing that I referenced above is actually accepting the NCAA minimum in some cases. A true freshman playing this year was one of them. Required SATs and the like were reduced from the Pye years gradually over the last several years (3-4) according to Dr. Turner.

Not to sound like a broken record, but my biggest problem with what is going on is that we are playing at a substantially lower level then before we had Ford Stadium; before the SAT requirements were lowered; before "the Commitment"; and before "academics risks" were being taken. I recognize the last one is the least impactful since that standard only applies to one class, and only one of those players is on the field currently.

I hope this answers your question.