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1. Find a coach that can evaluate and develop talent
2. Find a coach that makes football fun and creates a team atmosphere.
3. Fire a coach if he goes 0-12. Immediately. Once you go ofer you have the stench of death on you and recruits avoid the school like the plague.
4. Fire a coach who loses more than 80% of this games over 2 years. CUSA is so cream puff that a good (not great) coach should win at least 20% of the games.
5. The AD should survey the team and their parents (all teams) every year to get their pulse.
6. Give 2 for 1 on season tickets. Buy a season ticket and get one free (based on availability) before each game. Pick it up at will call. Reward season ticket holders and put more people in the stands. Send an e-mail before each game that a ticket is available.
7. If the team wins, call out the alumni and hold them accountable for supporting the team. If we have a winning team over a 5 year period and support has not improved, then threaten to disband the program.

SMU does not have the luxury of "give him a chance", "he's a nice guy", "0-12 is bad but he'll improve once he gets his players", "if we fire him now we will never attract a quality coach" .

This is it. The fan base has dwindled to a die hard few. SMU - Rice looked like 7-8000 fans. If not for Ford, our program would be finished. Can you imagine how bad it would be if we were in the Cotton Bowl. My gosh, we would only play in front of the custodial crew. We should introduce Gerald Ford before every game and give him a standing ovation.

I don't want to be overly dramatic but this is probably the most critical hire in SMU history. No longer will our past pull us through, the strength of our league will not pull us through, and our fan base is on its last legs.

I could not agree more. The only thing I would add is to hold the students accountable. The Greeks should have attendance levels at games tied to their rush numbers. It is embarassing how few of them bother to show even at Homecoming, and they all left after halftime. We have to do something to increase student attendance.

as much as i usually hate firing a coach immediately after 1 bad season - i'm going to have to agree with you on this. we need to bring someone in here who can start winning immediately. how many top 25 teams are there this year that were very mediocre last year?

we can turn this thing around with the right coach. and we desperately need that to happen

Pony81 wrote:3. Fire a coach if he goes 0-12. Immediately. Once you go ofer you have the stench of death on you and recruits avoid the school like the plague.

Your Rules would make the people at Rutgers laugh.

guess you didnt know they went 0fer a few years ago

SMU2007 wrote:as much as i usually hate firing a coach immediately after 1 bad season - i'm going to have to agree with you on this. we need to bring someone in here who can start winning immediately. how many top 25 teams are there this year that were very mediocre last year?

we can turn this thing around with the right coach. and we desperately need that to happen

Im not saying that a coach is capable of going to a new team with barely any of HIS recruits and win immediately...its been done, YES, BUT DO YOU REALLY THINK A BIG TURN AROUND will happen here next year...

its possible but this is SMU Football...lets be honest withourselves

plus if we don't give the coach the ability to get some juco talent into the program an immediate turn around is going to be impossible.

Regarding Rutgers:

BCS Conference to pull them through.
State University with large alumni base.
Student body of 38,000

SMU:
CUSA : Probably the worst D1 Football conference.
Private school with small alumni base
Student body of 8,000.


Sorry, but Rutgers and SMU have nothing in common.

Pony81 wrote:Regarding Rutgers:

BCS Conference to pull them through.
State University with large alumni base.
Student body of 38,000

SMU:
CUSA : Probably the worst D1 Football conference.
Private school with small alumni base
Student body of 8,000.


Sorry, but Rutgers and SMU have nothing in common.

NEVER EVEN TRIED TO COMPARE THEM...but greg schiano had his head called for after that year by almost the whole school/town...then he won 3 games the year after. and look at where hes now...

if our new coach comes in and goes 0fer, do u want him canned?...i think not

maybe if the coach goes 0fer in this third year yes...but never in the first couple of years

Yes I do want him canned if goes ofer in the first year. Look at our schedule.

We are CUSA not Big East (or BCS).

I wouldn't make this argument for Baylor because the talent disparity between them and the Big XII is so huge.

SMU can win at least one CUSA game with the current talent on our team. OT losses to UTEP, Tulane, and Tulsa. Last second loss to Rice.

have to change "the model"

If you win, they will come

We will need them to get the wins. Chicken and the egg.

I agree that we can't roll the dice on this next head coach and that the hire must be a huge splash. That's why I think Bowden is a must. And all this crap about him not wanting the job is bs. All these guys are whores, just show bowden the money and the guy would coach a middle school team. Don't Forget Saban told the press too that he wasn't going to Alabama and that was the national media. You guys are relying on some blogger.

I watch Holtz at East Carolina, Price at UTEP and Graham at Rice win at least a few games in year 1 with someone else's talent, in programs that were zippo, at schools with image problems ranging from too tough academics (Rice) to being in the middle of nowhere (UTEP).

We have seen good coaches make immediate improvements . Not a bowl necessarily but at least some wins.

If our next coach comes in and goes 0-12 then we are done. All the other coaches are whispering to recruits that the guy is finished and it is the same old SMU train wreck.

But to go 4-8 after a 1-11 season. That is progress you can recruit on.

Pony81 wrote: All the other coaches are whispering to recruits that the guy is finished and it is the same old SMU train wreck.

or he could have inherited that train wreck