PonyFans.com

When will Turner stop being a child and take the correct action?

Thats two separate questions. The answer to the first is never.

You guys are assuming that extending Orsini is 1) in the best interests of the program, and 2) that June and Orsini are on the same side.

I'm not convinced that is the case.

Maybe I'm too much of an outsider but it certainly seems that June and Orsini have a great working relationship.

PerunaPunch wrote:You guys are assuming that extending Orsini is 1) in the best interests of the program, and 2) that June and Orsini are on the same side.

I'm not convinced that is the case.

AlexLifeson, a known athletic department troll, has repeatedly claimed this is the truth. If he says June desires for Orsini to have an extension then I have no reason to believe he is not being truthful.

Insane_Pony_Posse wrote:Peruna I am not "assuming" anything.
Ok...I can't reveal my sources...so take it for what it's worth.
But June and the Mob Boss are very much on the same page.
And Orsini is a big part of this June frustration with Turner.

I would check your sources...

They are very much on the same page. Steve Orsini was a captain on the 1977 National Championship Notre Dame team, he is a football man.

Remember:

Orsini did not deliver Ford, the LEC or any of that, Copeland did.
Orsini did not deliver June, Dickerson did.

With regards to JJ, the only contribution I've seen from Orsini was putting together the Circle of Champions. Not a small feat I grant you, but getting alumni to pony up was sort of like offering to sell water to a guy dying of thirst. The primary thing that was impressive about it was the speed and secrecy in which that was accomplished.

I bring these points up to call attention to the fact that Orsini isn't necessarily June's guy or vice-versa.

I say this with all due respect to AlexLifeson, who I hold in the highest regard.

ALEX LIFESON wrote:They are very much on the same page. Steve Orsini was a captain on the 1977 National Championship Notre Dame team, he is a football man.

Wasn't Jerry Jones on a national championship team at Arkansas?

Orsini gets credit for hiring JJ/putting together the Circle of Champions. The Crum Center also came under his watch, no?

But as a whole the athletic department continues to be underfunded and woefully understaffed. Granted, the rise of the football program has been too recent for it to impact much in the way of attendance and funding. Orsini was hired for the same reason Turner was hired - to raise money. Whether he has accomplished this goal beyond the hire of JJ, I couldn't say. I just know the athletic department still seems to operate on a shoestring budget.

I have no idea if June and Orsini are buddy-buddy, but Orsini would be smart to hitch his wagon to JJ, his greatest SMU achievement and a person who knows how to throw his weight around.

And if I were JJ, I would be in fear of Turner replacing Orsini with a "non-football guy" who might take the administration's side on academic issues, facility funding and such.

Personally, I would not be in great fear of losing Orsini. It would not be my wish, but it would be survivable and perhaps an improvement with the right hire. ADs are a lot easier to replace than football coaches.

Eric Hyman, the TCU athletic director credited with getting the ball rolling over there (including the hiring of Franchione a week after he was hired) left in 2005 and TCU's overall athletic program has continued to improve by leaps and bounds.

Of course, the real architect of TCU's athletic turnaround was the former provost, Dr. William Koehler (an SMU grad!). I'm not sure we have a Koehler at SMU - someone in power from the academic side who champions the cause of athletics. In fact, Turner may be the biggest athletics proponent in SMU's upper administration. Paint him as anti-athletics all you want, the guy is definitely a sports fan.

Mere distraction trying to insert itself into the equation before a Bowl Game. Let's wait until Friday to continue this line of inquiry, please.

PerunaPunch wrote:

ALEX LIFESON wrote:They are very much on the same page. Steve Orsini was a captain on the 1977 National Championship Notre Dame team, he is a football man.

Wasn't Jerry Jones on a national championship team at Arkansas?

Now are you being deliberately obtuse.