June Jones and the redemption of SMU football
Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 6:58 pmJune Jones and the redemption of SMU football
The reason for the season
At the age of seven, I didn't know what the death penalty was on any level. Whether it pertained to criminal justice or the NCAA, it was a dark term, but I never fully realized what it meant to the SMU Mustangs football program.
The NCAA gave SMU the death penalty in 1987. Apparently, they were paying their players. What's worse, everyone seemed to know about it and didn't do anything to stop it.
Thusly, the hammer was laid down. No 1987 season. The next season was to be seven road games. However, the program just nixed the entire season. Assistant coaches and scholarships were stripped.
It's been 20 years since SMU football started back up in 1989. I'm sure -- and every other college football program -- has learned a lesson. Play fair or don't get caught.
Since, the Mustangs have won a total of 59 games (about 2.9 per season). They've reached no bowl games and have had just one winning season (1997) and one .500 season (2006).
The Mustangs have had six seasons of one win and one season of no wins.
SMU hasn't been just bad. They've been one of the worst programs in the nation, a laughingstock and a forgotten entity of premium college football in the state of Texas.
At times in the recent past, people have said that SMU football will never be back.
****
The most underreported story in Dallas sports right now is the revival of the SMU football program.
With a win over UTEP last Saturday, SMU notched its sixth win (4-1 in conference) and become eligible for a bowl bid. All with two games to play. Two winnable games.
There is stability with the Mustangs now. They've found themselves a good-looking quarterback (Kyle Padron), a stable of wide receivers and a team philosophy that doesn't quit or hang their head.
Most importantly, there's June Jones. The saying about quarterbacks and head coaches in football is that they get too much glory when they win and too much criticism when they lose.
Jones was hired by SMU -- thanks to a group of boosters ponying up (zing!) the money to lure him away from a preemo job at Hawaii -- in January 2008. On the surface, a lot changed about the attitude of SMU football. The school started marketing Jones and the team, the "Pony Up" tagline and generally started to be more visible.
OK, forget the 1-11 season in his inaugural year. He had inherited a 1-11 team from Phil Bennett. It's Jones' MO. He takes a bad team (say, Hawaii) and within two years has them winning and within five years going to bowls and, maybe, within seven or nine years playing in a BCS bowl.
While the Mustangs were rolling through a who's who list of coaches like Tom Rossley, Forrest Gregg, Mike Cavan and Bennett, Jones was at the peak of football coaching. He'd served in some coaching capacity with the Atlanta Falcons, Houston Oilers, Detroit Lions and San Diego Chargers (22-46 as NFL head coach).
By all accounts, he was a good offensive mind, but not a guy who could lead a team. He jumped out of the NFL in 1999 and went to Hawaii where he made a name as a guy who'll build a program through offense.
****
SMU is a good football team. They're 6-4, but sit atop their Conference USA West division with a 5-1 conference record, their lone loss coming against ranked Houston, a team they're narrowly ahead of.
It matters little, but SMU lost by a hair to Washington State and then in overtime to Navy. Those two games go the other way and they've got two really nice wins to put in their scrapbook. With games at Marshall and Tulane upcoming (two very bad teams), eight wins and a piece of the Conference USA pie is very much in the books.
What about next year? What are expectations?
If you consider Jones' history with Hawaii and SMU's apparent upswing, to see them ranked (yes, ranked!) next season is not out of the question. Their conference is remarkably bad so getting six wins is not out of the question. Making hay out of conference is the key.
Mark my words: SMU football is back. Back from the dead. And next year they'll do the impossible and force the nation and area to take notice
The reason for the season
At the age of seven, I didn't know what the death penalty was on any level. Whether it pertained to criminal justice or the NCAA, it was a dark term, but I never fully realized what it meant to the SMU Mustangs football program.
The NCAA gave SMU the death penalty in 1987. Apparently, they were paying their players. What's worse, everyone seemed to know about it and didn't do anything to stop it.
Thusly, the hammer was laid down. No 1987 season. The next season was to be seven road games. However, the program just nixed the entire season. Assistant coaches and scholarships were stripped.
It's been 20 years since SMU football started back up in 1989. I'm sure -- and every other college football program -- has learned a lesson. Play fair or don't get caught.
Since, the Mustangs have won a total of 59 games (about 2.9 per season). They've reached no bowl games and have had just one winning season (1997) and one .500 season (2006).
The Mustangs have had six seasons of one win and one season of no wins.
SMU hasn't been just bad. They've been one of the worst programs in the nation, a laughingstock and a forgotten entity of premium college football in the state of Texas.
At times in the recent past, people have said that SMU football will never be back.
****
The most underreported story in Dallas sports right now is the revival of the SMU football program.
With a win over UTEP last Saturday, SMU notched its sixth win (4-1 in conference) and become eligible for a bowl bid. All with two games to play. Two winnable games.
There is stability with the Mustangs now. They've found themselves a good-looking quarterback (Kyle Padron), a stable of wide receivers and a team philosophy that doesn't quit or hang their head.
Most importantly, there's June Jones. The saying about quarterbacks and head coaches in football is that they get too much glory when they win and too much criticism when they lose.
Jones was hired by SMU -- thanks to a group of boosters ponying up (zing!) the money to lure him away from a preemo job at Hawaii -- in January 2008. On the surface, a lot changed about the attitude of SMU football. The school started marketing Jones and the team, the "Pony Up" tagline and generally started to be more visible.
OK, forget the 1-11 season in his inaugural year. He had inherited a 1-11 team from Phil Bennett. It's Jones' MO. He takes a bad team (say, Hawaii) and within two years has them winning and within five years going to bowls and, maybe, within seven or nine years playing in a BCS bowl.
While the Mustangs were rolling through a who's who list of coaches like Tom Rossley, Forrest Gregg, Mike Cavan and Bennett, Jones was at the peak of football coaching. He'd served in some coaching capacity with the Atlanta Falcons, Houston Oilers, Detroit Lions and San Diego Chargers (22-46 as NFL head coach).
By all accounts, he was a good offensive mind, but not a guy who could lead a team. He jumped out of the NFL in 1999 and went to Hawaii where he made a name as a guy who'll build a program through offense.
****
SMU is a good football team. They're 6-4, but sit atop their Conference USA West division with a 5-1 conference record, their lone loss coming against ranked Houston, a team they're narrowly ahead of.
It matters little, but SMU lost by a hair to Washington State and then in overtime to Navy. Those two games go the other way and they've got two really nice wins to put in their scrapbook. With games at Marshall and Tulane upcoming (two very bad teams), eight wins and a piece of the Conference USA pie is very much in the books.
What about next year? What are expectations?
If you consider Jones' history with Hawaii and SMU's apparent upswing, to see them ranked (yes, ranked!) next season is not out of the question. Their conference is remarkably bad so getting six wins is not out of the question. Making hay out of conference is the key.
Mark my words: SMU football is back. Back from the dead. And next year they'll do the impossible and force the nation and area to take notice