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1. Have better tradition than SMU?

2. Have better facilites?

3. Have a better natural recruiting base?


There's a lot of stuff we don't have on our side. Recent tradition. Admission policies. etc. But, the fact that there's, at most, a school or two that could compete with us in the three categories above tell me that this is far from a dead-end job.

Of course,

the answer to all three in No, save for UCF in Florida since N. Florida is also a recruiting hotbed....but that kind of hides the real problems....

Our "tradition" going on the last 20 years is one of the worst teams in College Football....The glory days are getting very close to ancient history that doesn't mean anything to anyone outside the die hard fans.

Sure, we have great facilities....but we also have a ton of empty seats. Teams like ECU and Southern Miss fill their stadiums while we can't even come close to half full. We have one of the smallest fan bases in CUSA, probably only beating Rice in that category.

We are in a recruiting hot bed and this should be our best asset, but we also have state and national competition. We need to start winning and have a coach that will go after some top local talent....PB always took the attitude that top recruits would not be interested and never even tried.

Danny Noonan wrote:1. Have better tradition than SMU?

The Pony Express was before current college students were even born. To them, we have a tradition of being a god-awful joke.

2. Have better facilites?

Irrelevant. Everyone has a nice weight room. Athletes don't care how nice the stands or concourses are. They WILL notice that Ford stadium is tiny and we can't even fill it half way.


There's a lot of stuff we don't have on our side. Recent tradition. Admission policies. etc. But, the fact that there's, at most, a school or two that could compete with us in the three categories above tell me that this is far from a dead-end job.[/quote]

we have good facilities, but i dont see why people think we have great ones. has anybody seen any of the facilities besides the inside of Ford and Moody? its just above average, in my opinion. just because we have a lot of money at SMU, it does not automatically mean we have the best facilities.

as for where we rank in terms of c-usa, we win with tradition hands-down but facilities and winning attract recruits. as of now, we dont have the winning and our facilities are about middle of the pack in c-usa

Yeah what about an indoor facility have you guys been to OU and seen the facility...it is awesome! UCF has a great facility...we went there for recruit before my son chose SMU.

sweetlady wrote:Yeah what about an indoor facility have you guys been to OU and seen the facility...it is awesome! UCF has a great facility...we went there for recruit before my son chose SMU.

Lucky for us, we have the man who put that into motion at UCF, so who knows what we can do!!

sweetlady, what made your son choose smu over some of these other schools?? might help us understand what we do offer thats better and what we are lacking...

couch 'em wrote:They WILL notice that Ford stadium is tiny and we can't even fill it half way.

It's small but not tiny. Only 5 schools in CUSA play in stadiums bigger than 45K.

UAB - Legion Field (old and run down, not owned by the school)
Memphis - Liberty Bowl (same deal)
Rice - Rice Stadium (I think we've all been there )
UTEP - Sun Bowl (Has had work done recently, not bad)
Tulane - Superdome (probably still smells funky)


Not filling it is another matter. However, most of these stadiums are comparable to the Cotton Bowl and I think playing at Ford is more attractive than playing at the Cotton Bowl

ponyinNC wrote:

sweetlady wrote:Yeah what about an indoor facility have you guys been to OU and seen the facility...it is awesome! UCF has a great facility...we went there for recruit before my son chose SMU.

Lucky for us, we have the man who put that into motion at UCF, so who knows what we can do!!

sweetlady, what made your son choose smu over some of these other schools?? might help us understand what we do offer thats better and what we are lacking...

In his recruiting process which was very tiresome...and stressful....I told him to search for comfort in the place and look at what they offer on the education side(Law is his choice)...Talk to the players and see what they thought about the coaches and the team as a whole.....He liked Sawyer, Gush and PB....They all seemed real and honest (tht is until he signed but tht was sales)...we missed tht part. He really liked O'Leary and I thought he was a nice guy he came to my house...he just felt more at home here at SMU...and the end result I am sure was the girlfriend ...(dang love thing ruins it everytime...lol)...But really he loved the coaches and the school offered a great education...there is a small window of oppurtunity for the league but he has the brains to get an education first....so he is a smart kid.

sweetlady wrote:

ponyinNC wrote:

sweetlady wrote:Yeah what about an indoor facility have you guys been to OU and seen the facility...it is awesome! UCF has a great facility...we went there for recruit before my son chose SMU.

Lucky for us, we have the man who put that into motion at UCF, so who knows what we can do!!

sweetlady, what made your son choose smu over some of these other schools?? might help us understand what we do offer thats better and what we are lacking...

In his recruiting process which was very tiresome...and stressful....I told him to search for comfort in the place and look at what they offer on the education side(Law is his choice)...Talk to the players and see what they thought about the coaches and the team as a whole.....He liked Sawyer, Gush and PB....They all seemed real and honest (tht is until he signed but tht was sales)...we missed tht part. He really liked O'Leary and I thought he was a nice guy he came to my house...he just felt more at home here at SMU...and the end result I am sure was the girlfriend ...(dang love thing ruins it everytime...lol)...But really he loved the coaches and the school offered a great education...there is a small window of oppurtunity for the league but he has the brains to get an education first....so he is a smart kid.

sounds like he's got a good head on his shoulders...as someone who went to both undergrad and law school at smu, he made a great choice..(and though i got scholarships to other law schools, i stayed at smu for a girlfriend too!!) of course we broke up a few months later, but thats another story!

MustangStealth wrote:

couch 'em wrote:They WILL notice that Ford stadium is tiny and we can't even fill it half way.

It's small but not tiny. Only 5 schools in CUSA play in stadiums bigger than 45K.

UAB - Legion Field (old and run down, not owned by the school)
Memphis - Liberty Bowl (same deal)
Rice - Rice Stadium (I think we've all been there )
UTEP - Sun Bowl (Has had work done recently, not bad)
Tulane - Superdome (probably still smells funky)


Not filling it is another matter. However, most of these stadiums are comparable to the Cotton Bowl and I think playing at Ford is more attractive than playing at the Cotton Bowl

Is it really? I'd like to get a player's opinion on how much the condition of the stadium influances a recruit's decision. The Cotton Bowl is a crap hole (although after the upcoming renovation it'll be much nicer) but does a smaller stadium look more small-time? "We don't fill the cotton bowl yet, but if you help us rebuild the program we can draw 80k!" vs "We dont' fill Ford yet, but if you help us rebuild, we can expect to draw up to 35k". I'm sure the lockerrooms in Ford are nice, but I don't see how they could be that much nicer than the CBs which is really pretty average.

It would be interesting for some former players to respond to this.

ponyinNC wrote:

sweetlady wrote:

ponyinNC wrote:

sweetlady wrote:Yeah what about an indoor facility have you guys been to OU and seen the facility...it is awesome! UCF has a great facility...we went there for recruit before my son chose SMU.

Lucky for us, we have the man who put that into motion at UCF, so who knows what we can do!!

sweetlady, what made your son choose smu over some of these other schools?? might help us understand what we do offer thats better and what we are lacking...

In his recruiting process which was very tiresome...and stressful....I told him to search for comfort in the place and look at what they offer on the education side(Law is his choice)...Talk to the players and see what they thought about the coaches and the team as a whole.....He liked Sawyer, Gush and PB....They all seemed real and honest (tht is until he signed but tht was sales)...we missed tht part. He really liked O'Leary and I thought he was a nice guy he came to my house...he just felt more at home here at SMU...and the end result I am sure was the girlfriend ...(dang love thing ruins it everytime...lol)...But really he loved the coaches and the school offered a great education...there is a small window of oppurtunity for the league but he has the brains to get an education first....so he is a smart kid.

sounds like he's got a good head on his shoulders...as someone who went to both undergrad and law school at smu, he made a great choice..(and though i got scholarships to other law schools, i stayed at smu for a girlfriend too!!) of course we broke up a few months later, but thats another story!

awww one can only hope for the same result.... I hope he will take the blinders off before its to late and a baby surfaces...he is smart but not thinking with the right head and she is smart enough to trap him into it...geezzzzzz..."THE TOWN NEEDS AN ENEMA" The Joker...from Batman.

Are we onto something?

Give scholarships to the girlfriends of all 4 stars and above football recruits. Then the boys will follow. Worked on CJ.

Gary Barnett approves of that strategy!

bagice wrote: but we also have a ton of empty seats.

That's a function of winning. We'll fill Ford when we win. People want to support this team but have had very little to hang their collective hopes on. A new coach and the return of Justin Willis next year will help a lot, at least early next year.

couch 'em wrote: I'm sure the lockerrooms in Ford are nice, but I don't see how they could be that much nicer than the CBs which is really pretty average.

The locker room at Ford is very nice, at least it was when the stadium opened and I assume it has been kept up well. I cannot imagine that the Cotton Bowl's locker rooms are anything close but I don't recall ever going in there.