According to the DMN....Copeland to retire

[youngalumpony]

Just thought I'd take a break at work to check on the high school realignment from the DMN website, needless to say this caught my attention.....

[Eddie P]

I was wondering where all the supposed insiders on the board where hiding...I figured someone would post that here first.

[ClassOf81]

Where do you see that? Just checked the DMN site ... clearly I'm looking in the wrong place. You'd think it would be on the SMU page.

[McClown27]

SCOTT SECULES!!!

[youngalumpony]

They dont have the story up yet, just go to the front page, it has it as breaking news

[ClassOf81]

While looking for it, I went to the recruiting page, and clicked on the "Signing Day Pictures" link. Great shot of Tim Crosby decked out in his SMU gear.

[Hoop Fan]

This makes sense, you cant really talk about retiring and not do it. Good luck to Mr. Copeland. Now lets get on with it. I have real qualms about an internal hire. Sometimes you need a jolt from the outside. I just don't think an internal hire will be any more effective in getting facilities funded etc than Copeland was at the end. We need a jolt and someone who does not accept the status quo of things.

[White Helmet]

In case anyone at SMU is interested, I am willing to listen to their offers for me to become the next AD.

[DiamondM]

Hoop fan, you may be right for a number of reasons. But you are wrong if you believe Secules, Copeland or anyone else in the athletic department "accepted" or "accepts" the status quo. All of them, if for no other reason than their own self interest -- their resumes and salaries sure look a lot better if SMU does well, don't ya think?, are not happy with the status quo, and have been working for change.

I'm sorry if some do not believe that to be true. But it is. And frankly, it's not just for professional and personal reasons. If you talk to Copeland or Secules or Heilbron or Chris Walker, all of them genuinely want SMU to succeed and to improve. Lack of success is not necessarily proof of lack of effort or desire.

[BUS]

Scott Secules will be new and fresh energy at SMU. I think he will be approachable to the media and look good doing it. He speaks well and he and his family like it here.

Maybe he will bring in even more donations for faciities and get changes faster at the school.

He has the " Want To" to do well.

[PonySoprano]

May 31 retirement date, according to a story just posted by the DMN. No speculation in the story on a successor.


SMU AD Copeland to retire

11:26 AM CST on Thursday, February 2, 2006
By CALVIN WATKINS / The Dallas Morning News


SMU athletic director Jim Copeland will retire May 31, according to university sources.

Copeland was thinking of retirement for several months. Sources said he grew weary of the job over the past few years.

He will depart the Hilltop with one year remaining on his contract. He reached a financial settlement with the university that wasn’t disclosed.

Copeland, 60, was hired in 1995 after serving as the athletic director at Virginia. At SMU, Copeland has made several changes within the athletic department, from building a new football stadium, streamlining the admissions process and decreasing the athletic department deficit by eliminating coaching positions to cutting back on travel and recruiting budgets. He also helped SMU leave the Western Athletic Conference for regionally aligned Conference USA.

Copeland also helped rebuild the trust between the faculty and the athletic department that was damaged when the football team was placed on the NCAA death penalty following the 1986 season.

He also fired two men’s basketball coaches and two football coaches. Copeland also struggled with marketing SMU as Dallas’ team and received criticism for eliminating the highly successful men’s track and field program for financial and Title XI reasons.

Copeland was unavailable for comment. SMU president Gerald Turner was also unavailable for comment.

E-mail [email protected]

[Hoop Fan]

I'm sure they do and I've never sat around here and taken shots at any of them.

Nothing against any of them, but ANYONE inside a particular situation for awhile is more susceptible to accepting its circumstances. Secules might be one of the most capable future ADs in the country. Very well could be, but that doesnt mean he is the best fit for our AD job at this point in time.

[Hoop Fan]

Scott Secules will be new and fresh energy at SMU. I think he will be approachable to the media and look good doing it. He speaks well and he and his family like it here.

Maybe he will bring in even more donations for faciities and get changes faster at the school.

He has the " Want To" to do well.

You make it sound like it is a 'done deal'. Is that the case?

[abezontar]

Deless (sp) Dodds, or the AD at Oklahoma......maybe we can get our T. Boone Pickens to pony up for the AD instead of another building.

[BUS]

I am not an insider but think SS would be great!

No, I have nothing official.