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Just wanted you to know.

DALLAS (SMU) - SMU Director of Athletics Steve Orsini will be live in-studio with host Josh Roe for Southwest Kia SportsTalk on Tuesday, May 29. Orsini and Roe will discuss Orsini's first year on the job and the state of SMU Athletics starting at 6:30 p.m. tonight on Channel 52.

and the SMU ND game in two years.

nice find

One BIG thanks! It was interesting to hear him discuss the progress of the program. A LOT is expected of the football team this year. Let's pray that it gets done!

Ponymon wrote:One BIG thanks! It was interesting to hear him discuss the progress of the program. A LOT is expected of the football team this year. Let's pray that it gets done!

Still at work, please share what was said.....anything new.

Here's some of what Steve-O said. I didn't record it, so this isn't word-for-word, but here's the gist:

• Summer's going well, been on the Coaches' Tour. Reception at those events in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio and Houston is growing -- each was bigger than last year. But they all need to get bigger.

• Couldn't be happier with where we are (as an overall program, or at least that's how I took it), but we also realize that we still have a lot of work to do.

• Much of the first year was spent evaluating programs. Really enjoyable to work with young people. Academically, SMU is so strong, and has worked hard to balance academic and athletic success.

• Most proud: that SMU was able to attract a National Coach of the Year in Matt Doherty. Area that needs work: getting the results. SMU has worked hard for 20 years to balance academics and athletics. In Olympic sports, we're doing really well. In football and basketball, we need to do better.

• It's amazing what Coach Doherty has done. He came in and worked with "players who weren't his selections" (recruited by Coach Dement and Coach Tubbs). He raised their level of play throughout the year as he got them to buy into his system. We were No. 206, I think, in RPI at the end of the season, and he went out and got a nationally-ranked recruiting class.

• Surprising about Doherty: He's everything they said he was, and a lot of people aren't. We did a lot of homework on him, as anyone would when hiring a high-profile coach. He's a true professional, very motivated, he gets results and I enjoy working with him (or something like that).

• Sometimes there's a misconception about people based on who hired them (i.e. whether a coach is "my guy.") I'm constantly evaluating results, and "my guy" is the guy who delivers results. I believe Phil Bennett is the guy to do that in football. He set the goal last year of making a bowl game, and we fell short twice - literally fourth-and-1 - last year in Houston against Rice. I think we're championship-caliber .... I'll say that right now. We have a talented class coming back, led by Justin Willis, a record-setting quarterback. I want to see the streak of 23 years without going to a bowl game broken.

• (Construction on the Crum Center and other facilities is) fantastic. Things are coming out of the ground at SMU, across the whole campus and specifically in athletics. I invite anyone to come check out the campus. The Crum Center is on target to be ready for use by the first (basketball) practice in October...."

Again - not exact quotes, by any means, but that's a lot of what he said.

Thanks

Saw this post about 5 minutes before he was on. First impressions
is I like him beause of Doh's BB players rising to higher than their
talent level efforts last year. Kinda like Hayden Fry in football
in the 60s.

If he truly meant that PB is his guy in football, and it sounded
like it is, he just removed his prince status to the throne
of Copeland THE SECOND.

No more borderline Tom Rossley firings that set us back ten years
please

PlanoStang wrote: If he truly meant that PB is his guy in football, and it sounded
like it is, he just removed his prince status to the throne
of Copeland THE SECOND.

No more borderline Tom Rossley firings that set us back ten years
please

If you are proud of that comment, and judging by the ALL CAPS you are, it reveals to me some ugliness that is unacceptable and embarrassing. Be critical not low class. The above showed the latter.

He said he expects the Football team to be of "Championship Caliber" because that's what Phil told him on all 5 stops of the recent tour. Which brings of the issue of whether he settles for 6-6 and a trip to the Generic Bowl? Bennett probably saves his job with a 6-7 if it includes a bowl. Or are expectations-under the circumstances going to be raised.

After the Memphis game on Thanksgiving Weekend, we'll all know. And I guess the lack of progress surrounding building a new athletic staff and raising money for Crum, the tennis center, the golf center and Westcott would all fall under the Copeland category.

The characterization based on an interpretation of the inflection of someone's tone is really reaching.

It'll be interesting to see if Bennett's still his guy if he goes sub-.500 this year.

Two things about football, Orsini said his guy is one that gets results and the expectation is that the team will succeed this season. If we do not get results I think the implication, as we all expect, is that PB will not be Orsini's guy. Second, about balancing academics and athletics, that seems to mean we are under emphasizing athletics in football on a relative basis.

Since the 0-12 year, Bennett's teams have improved in wins and losses each year. If we improve this year, we go to a bowl. If we don't improve, we might go to a bowl. I suspect that 6-7 with a bowl appearance gets Bennett fired. 7-6 with a bowl appearance, he keeps his job. But that raises the bar for next year. Then 8-6 becomes the bar or a division championship. Unless or until we have the break-out year with a conference championship, Bennett will always be looking over his shoulder from here on out.

If SMU goes to a bowl, whether SMU goes 9-3 or 6-6, Bennett is not going to be fired.

SMU Football Blog wrote:If SMU goes to a bowl, whether SMU goes 9-3 or 6-6, Bennett is not going to be fired.

And if he doesn't?