PonyFans.com

We need to stop saying firing Cavan is the answer, hiring an awesome coach is the answer.

This is what I think:
There are many people that think our coaching staff should be fired. There are many that don't. Here are some facts. It takes some coaches a while to bring a good program to a struggling athletic program. It takes great coaches two years to turn a program around. Look at Jackie Sherril and Lou Holts. They are great coaches. I think everyone knows that we do not have great coaches.
If we do get a new coach, I will be pissed if it is not an awesome coach. SMU has never had a true awesome, established coach in its history. If we are going to fire our current staff and get some unprooven coach, that is a waste of money and time.
I laugh when I read all of these opinions on if we should fire or keep our coach. If people really believed that Cavan and his staff would have turned our program around in less than 5 years they are insane. He was unprooven when he came here. When he wins, people say he is ok, when he looses, people say fire him. Make up your mind fair weather fans. Cavan does not go from good coach to bad coach from game to game. He is always good or bad. Look past the W or L, look at the opponent, how the team played, mistakes, etc.
Here is what I am trying to say. If you want to have a mediocre program keep Cavan, do not get another coach. A new unprooven non-legendary coach will make us worse. If you want to win and be a contender, we are going to have to sign a coach and pay an absurd amount, which is fine in my book.
SMU's football problems are more than just the coach. Our total program is not committed to winning. Here is what a new coach would bring. Let's just say we got someone of Lou Holts' caliber. He would want a new strength coach and program. This is one of our flaws. He would demand changes in recruiting, which could be changed if the coach was of a high enough caliber. He would demand changes in a lot of the little aspects of our program: academics(making sure people like Pratt do not fail) and nutrition. A generic, new head would not bring any of this. Though he might want changes, the boosters have not paid a ton of money, so they will not help push.
We need more than a new head coach, we need a face lift in our operations. A Lou Holts and Jackie Sherill bring this.

91stang, you mention Hardy McCrary, ok, so he might recruit, can he coach? What is his experience?
If you want to throw out names people have not heard of, or names that have not been at a true big time D-I program and they have never turned the program around, don't waste my, or any other PonyFans, time.
Firing Cavan is not the answer. Hiring a top twenty coach is.

[This message has been edited by ponytalk (edited 11-07-2000).]

AMEN to that, ponytalk!!!!

[This message has been edited by PK (edited 11-07-2000).]

Questions, questions questions??? There seems to be a lot of answers going around to what the program needs but to which questions are the answers being addressed? To be cheezy the program seems to be in JEOPARDY according to many. People ned to quit worrying about being Alex Trebek [sic] and try asking questions before blurting out unfound answers.
I understand that everyone has an opinion that they are entiltle to. But is it any wonder that opinions are often compared to a less than pleasant part of anatomy in certain sayings. So before I or any other jump on the bandwagon about what I believe should be done with the program I have a few proposed questions.

1. Why are the players unhappy?
a. is they offense that everyone was raving about during the pre-season too complicated for the young atheletes or does it now appear to be worthless?
b. is the team not playing up to there their capabilities? or
c. is the lack of support hurting the players?

2. Why are wins difficult to come by?
a. is the fact that historically when Cavan has taken over program there is a quick turn around followed by a worsening record each year after?
b. has TCU's success hender SMU's recruitment and image?
c. are SMU academic standard's too high to recruit quality atheletes (though it is hard to justify the stereotype that an individual can not be both athletic and scholastic at the same time)
d. is Dallas one of the nation's less attractive venues?

The bottom line is that I have no clue what the answers are, nor do I pretend to have the answers. The challenges and successes to any program is a complex matrix. It takes more than elimating/replacing one equation with another to fix. There are a lot of variable invloved. Unfortunately I am not one of the main variables.

It is great to be an armchair AD but it is also unrealistic. Anyone can speculate on what the best solution is to resue a floundering program. However, it is to little avail. You might as well be screaming answers out at the television screen. Because screaming them out here has about as much influence over the coaches and players as yelling at the contestents of your favorite gameshow and critizing them when they are wrong.

ps. I have heard both directly and indirectly the considerations of players to forfeit their junior and senior years so they can go play at Sam Houston or SFA. All I can do is listen and wait it out because regardless what I tell my family or friends on the team it is ultimately their decision. If i had as much to consider as them I would probable be frustrated too.

To quote one of my favorite players:
"It is one thing to lose, it is another to lose when you play like this. . .We should not be losing; we are better than that"

TWU1890, if you have family and or friends on the team, it seems to me that you should already know or certainly be able to find out the answer to some of the questions you posed in your post. How about sharing the information with us. Perhaps it would allow us to better focus on viable solutions. Thanks.

TWU1890,
You have a valid point, the answers to SMU problems could be solved in a complex matrix, but that has already been tried. You are right, you can solve the problems with a complex matrix, or with a huge single answer. That answer is BRING IN A TOP 20 COACH. That coach will have many of the answers to the matrix.
You validate my point, which is we can keep half assing our program, by changing things piece by piece, or we can step up to the plate with big time money and support and change this thing.

Now, to answer your two questions, #1 is D, none of the above. And #2 is E, none of the above.
#1's answer is the offense brought in is not being executed properly by the coaches. We have people in the wrong positions, not involving all of our players, and lack of game day play calling.
#2's answer is, our program is not fully commited. We half [deleted] everything. Coaches are mediocre, weight program is struggling, and just a whole slew off little things that come together and screw everything up.

I think I am out of breath after that.