more anxious?

[ponydawg]

Are you more or less anxious about the potential Conference shift or when we were going thru our coaching search after PB?

[redpony]

More so because failure to move up to an AQ conference could likely doom us for many years. A coaching mistake can be corrected much sooner and it is something that we have a lot more control over.

GO PONIES!!!

[Stallion]

lees anxious. I think SMU made its bed 20 years ago with poor athletic department, head coach and administrative leadership who never had the balls to publically state and do everything necessary to build a strong athletic department and really there is not much that can overcome that 20 year vacuum of stupidity now. Don't know why there weren't a lot more anxious Mustangs when your program was dismantled by Ken Pye-that was the time to raise objections. There is a chance-probably less that 50/50 that SMU could improve its position in this cycle. In fact, the liklihood is that SMU will be be in a permanently less desireable looking-in from the outside position after this cycle is complete. I really think our chances take a big hit if the MWC survives intact-

[Bergermeister]

June Jones.

[RumFirePony]

Tough one, but I’m more anxious now because our program actually has positive momentum and that could end before next season even starts.

[ponyte]

Less. There is one other possibility not mentioned and that is to be an outstanding non-AQ team that wins, goes to bowls, travels well and has good TV audiences. The name of the game is money and if SMU can be a top notch team that makes networks and bowls money, then we will survive. It is a long shot and the last chance if we don't improve our conference status in the new round of realignment.

We are getting some favorable publicity at the exact moment we need good publicity. And hopefully Thad's ESPN documentary will also open some eyes to SMU.

We now have a coach that can recruit and improve this team to the point of consistent winners. That is the most important factor.

Now, having sunshined for a moment, we are in a very precarious situation. As Stallion put it, we screwed ourselves royally 20 years ago. The DP was a costly mistake. But one that we seemly have overcome with JJ and the recent bowl game. But overcoming the Pye mistake may be something we never overcome.

[Samurai Stang]

Less. The MWC will likely expand, adding Kansas, Kansas State, and Iowa State. This should satisfy the requirements for the MWC to become a BCS AQ. SMU will be left waiting for an echo shift, whether that is the SEC expanding and causing further movement, or the MWC itself. Either way, it would seem patience is a virtue with which we will continue to become more familiar.

[couch 'em]

But overcoming the Pye mistake may be something we never overcome.

You mean overcoming Pye/Turner/Copeland. We could have fixed things long after after Pye and chose not to.

What changed when Orsini was hired? Who came to power to change things? What it key board members? It wasn't Turner.

[WSGJ]

The attraction to Kansas is obvious. K State is probably a package deal in this particular scenario. Why would they want Iowa State?

[abezontar]

More. At least in the present setup, if you get the right coach you can be a BCS buster, after the realignment, who knows.

[EastStang]

I'm probably less anxious, because there are so many variables out there, that there may be some conference left-overs that would be good additions to CUSA even if the MWC adds some of the Big XII leftovers and the ACC/SEC/Big Ten gobble up the BE leftovers to some degree. The thing to keep in mind is the number 64. That is the number of schools needed to prevent a playoff system in the Division 1. At the end of the day there needs to be 64 teams in AQ conferences. ACC=12, Big 10=16, PacTen=16, SEC=12, MWC=12 would do it. That would of course mean that the BE would have some leftover teams out there looking for a home unless the ACC expanded, or the SEC expanded (partially looting the ACC).

[SMUstang]

Less anxious. I think we will either land in a 16 team MWC or we will have the opportunity to add Baylor to C-USA, moving Tulane to the east to replace UCF. Either way we are better off.

[couch 'em]

Some of you guys don't seem to realize that if major shifting occurs, and we don't get in with a top conference, we may basically be stuck in the newest version of I-AA.

[Charleston Pony]

less anxious; we don't have the clout at the present time to influence anyone to invite us in as a way of improving their conference. If this PAC 10/Big 10 expansion to 16 goes down, I expect the MWC to invite Boise, Kansas and KSU in an attempt to be included in the BCS and that should work for them based on what we know today.

If the Big East is later decimated by ACC and SEC expansion to 14-16 schools, then the MWC would be pressured to expand to 14-16 as well. SMU had better be ready if that time comes; we need RAPID and SUSTAINED improvement if we want to compete at the highest level ever again.

[StallionsModelT]

I am incredibly anxious about realignment scenerios. Every time I try to talk myself into us being an asset to the MWC or another AQ conference, I keep coming up with more questions than answers. Can we sustain the momentum from last year? Will we ever fill up Ford? Can we travel? Are we able to deliver even a fraction of the DFW market?

The fact is this. If we do not improve our lot after realignment, we will be in a conference that looks like the following:

Texas State
UTEP
North Texas
Rice
Arkansas State
UAB
Tulane
UT-San Antonio


In other words, a glorified Sun Belt. If that is the case and we are stuck looking at that, I agree with other posters that we should hang it up. There is nothing desireable about being in a conference with D1AA schools, North Texas, etc. Use that money to do other things.


The situation couldn't be more dire. We must find a way to get in somewhere. Somehow.