SMU's Biggest Long Term Rally Killer-17 Years Ago

[Stallion]

The issues and standards have changed BUT this is the root cause of SMU problems today NOT the Death Penalty


The Dallas Morning News


Rossley's roadblock: High SMU standards
Cathy Harasta THE
Published: December 16, 1990



SMU took the safe and practical way out with its football coach appointment Saturday. Tom Rossley slid behind the wheel -- wheels, in this case -- as naturally as a Mercedes eases into a Park Cities driveway. Athletic director Forrest Gregg and university president A. Kenneth Pye did not have to kick the tires to know the mileage on Rossley, the former Mustangs' offensive coordinator. Rossley, knowing the SMU situation and system as he does, was the one with more reasons to be skeptical about the job he accepted Saturday morning. He was the one who needed to kick the tires to see what gives.

Let's hope he kicked hard. Let's hope he prodded those big wheels to test for leaks. Let's hope he came up with more than hot air for answers.

The biggest challenge in trying to build a winner at SMU is not the University of Texas. It is not A&M. Not Baylor. Not any opposing program. The most certain long-range rally-killer appears to be SMU's own, home-grown, snooty-and-stiff admissions policy for incoming freshmen athletes.

The question is whether SMU's rigid standards automatically foil any chance for the football program to contend for more than perennial punching bag of the Southwest Conference. If SMU had hired Bill Walsh on Saturday, many still would doubt even a genius could work within SMU's admissions system. In fact, depending on how many algebra courses Walsh has taken, the genius himself might not even qualify for admission to SMU.

This is where Rossley comes in. And why he ultimately was the only one who could see his way clear to work within SMU's framework and still aim for a competitive football program. He was the first assistant hired by Gregg when he took command of the Mustangs' revival after the NCAA found lethal violations and shut down the program after the 1986 season.

Gregg stepped down as coach last month to focus on the athletic director's position. Rossley probably was the only candidate for Gregg's old job who knew how to gauge whether the admissions policy has gained any give.

SMU's admission standards are sterner than those of the NCAA. No one can complain about high academic standards. The problem is that an inflexible and time-consuming admissions policy can scare off potential Mustangs. It likely scared off dozens of applicants for the football coach's job, as well.

But it did not scare off Rossley.

Rossley, who left SMU after the 1989 season to become the Atlanta Falcons' quarterbacks coach, sounded encouraged by favorable changes concerning the admissions procedure. Though he and Pye said the policy has not changed, it now takes less time to determine if an athlete is a prospect for recruitment. This improved efficiency was important to Rossley.

"We're not going to admit someone who we don't think will probably graduate,' Pye said. "I don't really care if the entire rest of the world does it . . . We do not have a major in Leisure Life Management or in Parks, Recreation and Tourism.'

That might explain why precious few SMU students probably were holding their breath to see who would succeed Gregg as football coach. Many of the private school's sports-minded pupils are more likely to hail the new-snow inch count at Beaver Creek than an off-season move by a team that finished last in the SWC.

But what if SMU had a chance to be competitive again? It would take less pomposity and posturing by the academic and administrative arms that want to rescue honor at the expense of athletic glory.

Pye did sound as if he had contemplated the highly subjective nature of a policy that tries to guess which potential student "will probably graduate.' The good doctor said it is, indeed, a subjective determination.

In addition to grade-point average, SAT scores and the completed courses on an applicant's transcript, Pye said the coaches can offer less-conventional evidence that a young man "will probably graduate.' If an applicant's brother has earned a college degree, for example, that might help sway the director of admissions. Said Pye: "The coaches will have a crack at the admissions office.'

Rossley is in a position to know what this might mean: He has a chance to bring back football. He believes it.

Said Rossley: "Everything is right here that we need . . . We're going to win . . . We're going to be competitive.'

He knows Dallas. His family loves the Dallas area. He knows the Mustangs, many of whom he recruited. He installed SMU's offensive system. He knows the coaching staff, which he hopes will remain intact. But most of all, he knows that the admissions situation is his toughest opponent.

[George S. Patton]

Congrats on 10,000

[Dwan]

He got Mick in!!!!

[Dwan]

Didn't Bam Morris want to go to SMU.....would have made a great Beta

[Dwan]

Stallion, what do you think hurt SMU more, Pye not letting Larry Johnson play basketball at SMU or the academic restrictions?

Larry Johnson plays at SMU, it would change the history of our Basketball program. You are talking about a guy who was a number one pick in the NBA draft and won a National Title at UNLV. And a all -star in the NBA if not for the injuries

[westexSMU]

[quote="Dwan"]Stallion, what do you think hurt SMU more, Pye not letting Larry Johnson play basketball at SMU or the academic restrictions?

Larry Johnson plays at SMU, it would change the history of our Basketball program. You are talking about a guy who was a number one pick in the NBA draft and won a National Title at UNLV. And a all -star in the NBA if not for the injuries[/quote]...............My opinion, Both...Not letting Larry Johnson in was a statement by Pye et al of their lact of interest in SMU athletics. Huge negative for SMU at the time.

[ThadFilms]

Sorry, to the folks on the 9995 thread.... I missed this in the hullabaloo.... figured they would have chronic-what-culled this one.

[SoCal_Pony]

Said Rossley: "Everything is right here that we need . . . We're going to win . . . We're going to be competitive.'

Said Cavan, Said Dement, Said Bennett, Said Tubbs, Said Doherty....and so will Say our next HC...

Thank You Stallion for your relentless pursuit to inform the masses, aka sheep as to the TRUTH of SMU athletics.

10,000 posts....that is true 'Commitment'

[jtstang]

Stallion, what do you think hurt SMU more, Pye not letting Larry Johnson play basketball at SMU or the academic restrictions?

Larry Johnson plays at SMU, it would change the history of our Basketball program. You are talking about a guy who was a number one pick in the NBA draft and won a National Title at UNLV. And a all -star in the NBA if not for the injuries

Actually that may have been a blessing in disguise in that it led to the departure of Bliss. We did NOT want the NCAA looking a Dave Bliss's program under a microscope and I think they were very close to doing so....

[jtstang]

And let's not forget that the reason Don Shields was gone and Ken Pye was here making these changes, WAS THE DEATH PENALTY. So under a root proximate cause analysis, our problems do in fact flow from the cheaters behind that scandal.

[perunapower]

Said Rossley: "Everything is right here that we need . . . We're going to win . . . We're going to be competitive.'

Said Cavan, Said Dement, Said Bennett, Said Tubbs, Said Doherty....and so will Say our next HC...

Thank You Stallion for your relentless pursuit to inform the masses, aka sheep as to the TRUTH of SMU athletics.

10,000 posts....that is true 'Commitment'

Just what would you like to them say after getting hired? "We have absolutely no chance of getting good recruits in and being competitive. No chance! I don't even know why SMU still has any athletic programs." Get real, you work behind closed doors to fix your problems, you remain optimistic to the media. If a coach dared to say, "I don't know if we can be competitive," then he should be fired on the spot. No committed coach would ever say such a stupid thing.

[George S. Patton]

That Ken Pye quote -- and I know he was making up some BS major -- pretty much defined what he was all about here and the indifference he had toward athletics and their role on a campus.

And the militant faculty probably gave him a standing ovation when he said it. Ken Pye was not a forward thinking president, IMO. Instead of formulating something that would have benefitted all aspects of the university, he basically unilaterally went out and softly tried to crush the athletic department.

Sorry for his passing. Not sorry he's no longer connected to this university.

[SMU2007]

i'm pretty sure the residual effects of the death penalty are still a MUCH bigger factor than our admissions standards.

sure the death penalty was 20 years ago but our team was terrible as a result of it and is still terrible. good players don't want to go to play for a terrible football program without any success in the last 20 years - plain and simple. let's not kid ourselves into thinking that SMU is an academic powerhouse. we have average academics at best. if we can start winning then players will want to come here but until then, we will be a very poor football program that doesn't attract good players because we aren't any good.

[FWMustangGirl]

Instead of formulating something that would have benefitted all aspects of the university, he basically unilaterally went out and softly tried to crush the athletic department.

Sorry for his passing. Not sorry he's no longer connected to this university.

He also tried to crush the PR major. Nothing like forcing people who want to major in PR to also carry another major (oh yeah, can't be in the business school, it has to be liberal arts) or 2 minors. He did some wonderful things for the school as a whole.

[BUS]

Bottom Line is just go by the rules the NCAA sets out. No more and no less. If the Ncaa says X SAT that is the one we accept. If the NCAA says X hours to transfer then that is what we accept to bring in a transfer.

Personally, I would like to see some other degree major programs and maybe that will happen.

Go Mustangs and thanks STALLION.