Dutch wrote:CalallenStang wrote:This is part of the problem. People would much rather ignore the issues confronting the band than discuss possible solutions.
not really. all i'm saying is that this discussion doesn't belong on the Football board, but rather on the Around the Hilltop board
i am a supporter of all things SMU, but this is getting ridiculous. what are the issues confronting the band that are being ignored? I'll just be frank. the football team won the games and earned the bowl invitation. June didn't coach the band to play better, nor did the performance of the band sway the team into winning. are they a big part of the gameday experience? ABSOLUTELY! did they get us the invite to hawaii? nope.
please don't take this the wrong way. i'm just sick of all the [deleted]. let's act like adults here and handle our success.
Dutch, with all due respect to your fine establishment (I haven't had the opportunity to check it out yet but I will soon), why do posts about 1st and 10 belong on the football board? The answer is "because it's an SMU-friendly place that's great for watching games." In other words, it's become a part of the atmosphere surrounding SMU football fandom.
Extending it further, why do posts about Boulevarding belong on the football board? Because it's a part of the football atmosphere at SMU.
Therefore, why do posts about the band belong on the football board? Because it's a part of the football atmosphere at SMU.
Here are the issues confronting the band that are being ignored by the school's administration and by most SMU fans:
1) The band receives extremely minimal funding from the school. The Diamond M people know more than I do about this. Suffice to say that at the funding level provided by the school, without outside support, there would be no band. If you've ever seen the "band hall" the band practices in, you understand. A new band hall is about 40 years overdue.
2) Despite this lack of monetary support from the university, the band performs at events all over the place at the whim of the university. The university says "Jump" and the band says "how high?" The band performs at all home football and basketball games, a few away football games, the conference tournaments, the football banquet at the beginning of the year, and events like the press conference today, convocation, and miscellaneous other events (such as the kickoff of the Unbridled campaign). For all of this, the band receives nothing in return.
For the past 25 years, the band has been doing this with the hope that maybe, one day, the football team would turn it around and the band would be able to represent the school at a bowl game.
That hope would have been realized this year with an acceptance of an invitation to any other C-USA bowl. C-USA picks up the tab to send the band to any bowl game other than the Hawaii Bowl. Therefore, when the school decided to accept the Hawaii Bowl bid, they knew that any trip by the band would have to be funded by the school or by private donations.
Instead of picking up the funding level for the band to respectable levels (which would provide much of the necessary money to pay for the trip), the school has decided to turn to donations. In other words, instead of fixing the problem with a long-term solution, the school has decided to gamble on an approach that, even if successful, will only be a one-time fix.
The university has committed to the football program by funding the coaching staff and team. It is time that the university further commit to becoming a respectable football program by funding the band, cheer, and pom programs at a higher level.
Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 10:17 pm