Major Success in Football or B-Ball helps Academics

[Dwan]

not like this is new news.....but for a small private school, if you have a major success in football or basketball.....it can be more successful for academics than anything. See the below tweet from TCU's AD

TCU AD says applications rose from 3k to 22k for 1600 available spots. Football definitely made big impact on school.

[SMU89]

For some it just increases paper work and application fees.....

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/94/bes ... te_22.html

[No Quarter]

Okay. There were more applications at TCU following football success. If I were the AD there I might claim athletics as the reason also. But SMU has been on the way up also with two bowl games (small ones though they were) in two years. Has there been a spike in SMU applicatons? Or does it only work for BCS schools?

[giacfsp]

From everything that is being said by folks I know who work for the university, I think the applications have gone up significantly in the last two years. Likewise, they were way down in 1987, which I admit might well have helped my case for admission, as I was not the most diligent student in high school.

[NickSMU17]

We are way up year over year since jj was hired....


Not a coincidence

[Longtime]

All I know is that a year after the Death Penalty, they closed an entire floor of a freshman dorm because they didn't have enough kids to fill it. And yet SMU administrators told the Dallas Morning News that the DP had no negative impact on the rest of the school, i.e. applications and such.

I've also heard that during TCU's revival, back in the Franchione days, TCU considered a postcard returned from a HS college night an "application" -- just to boost its numbers.

I doubt TCU has to fudge any application numbers now. It's a "hot" school thanks to its football and baseball, and the renovation of its campus.

[gostangs]

Football has helped TCU - but the the biggest thing for them was the UT top ten rule - all the UT wannabees that got refected ran over to TCU - now that UT has capped the percentage of their class that can be top ten, then TCU is cooling off some. TCU benefited from that more then others since they are more of a "Texas" school then SMU is. TCU's student quality remains well below outs academically however - so i guess it doesnt matter so much how many but who they are.

SMU's applications went up 40% from last year - that is some football, some library, some common app, etc - but we are on a big roll in a number of areas.

[Mexmustang]

Deleted

[Water Pony]

The anti-Turner and anti-athletic comments don't match with reality. We have come a long way and we aren't finished. Ford Stadium, June Jones hire, Circle of Champions, Moody renovation, Steve Orsini hire, etc. suggest commitment. My complaints are more tangible, cancellation of Men's Track & Field and a Natatorium building constructed before WWII.

[gostangs]

Mex - wrong on a couple of fronts. He is a huge sports fan- i have been around him at games and he is quite vocal and knowledgeble. You assessment is not supported by facts

also - the big application increase was this year (after Armed services bowl). There was an increase the prior year but it was much smaller. Also we were not on the Texas common app three years ago - that is a fairly recent change.

i think you are looking for something that is not there. You can critique Turner all you want but doing so based on his lack of support for athletics is so wrong it is just laughable.

[NickSMU17]

Brown nosers....


RGT is a fundraiser first and foremost, and if he had a choice the COC would be donating JJ's money to dedman or meadows...

Thats a fact..

[One Trick Pony]

he will drink from a keg on a road trip. That I respect.

[Mexmustang]

While I respect your positions, I don't buy into it. Too many conflicting facts.

First, the president was here many, many years before any improvements began--from a competitent athletic director to changing admittance requirements--to hiring a real coach, not something that could squeezed into a small athletic budget. $450,000 buys you no one!

Second, do you remember "The Commitment"? The promise things would change if we all supported athletics financially? This was a major "swing and a miss" under Copeland--nothing got done. Earlier Copeland had approval from the president to seek funding to remodel the old football stadium and the donors, Hunts and Fords, etc.,repsonded we don't need a remodel, we need a new stadium. This wasn't a Copeland/Turner initiative at all.

Third, when we asked our president was he pleased with the new interest shown by high school seniors as a result of our bowl victory he said--yes, but they are not the right kind of student we are looking for! I swear, that was his response.

Fourth, Orsini's contract extention sat in his office for over six months without presentation to Orsini, because he wasn't happy with the politics athletic success generated and the questions that arose last summer from the very public denial of two student athletes.

Fifth, it was a year ago that two players that met the minimum NCAA standard were denied admission even after one player began working out with the team. Those standards were the standards we were assured by the president we would abide by--they weren't and we came within an eyelash of losing Coach Jones. The coaches and the players felt that they had qualified, admittedly minimally and had the rug pulled out from under them.

Sixth, those of us that complained directly to the president were sent a written explanation that was inconsistent with the facts, in fact he "ducked" the issue. He said he had formed a committee to compare SMU to other universities, not just limited to our peers, to study admittance requirements for athletes, special academic programs, etc. The committee was formed met in last fall, and published their results. The names of the committee members and the results were never disclosed,but remain confidential. I was told we didn't even measure up to TCU, Rice and Vandy, much less the large Big 12 schools, but who knows? I do know the committee never finished on the question of existing athletes, academic progress, gpa and hours, ineligibility and dismissal from the program. Many of us are aware we are in the midst of another fight for one of our star players right now. Without getting into specifics, it as though SMU's criteria is X, plus and the NCAA and our peers is only X.

Seventh, the only reason Moody is being remodled is because the president was pushed by the Bush Library to fulfill his promises to them that Moody would be "made right" for their major functions. This wasn't a basketball motivation.

There are more...

Finally, I know the man. I know him socially, we all joke about how fast he will leave a conversation at a cocktail party if he sees a larger donor walk through the door--suddendly those of us in the $5-10,000 category simply vanish.

He went to the Ole Miss games too, until they booed him off the field and put "for sale" signs in his yard.

[Mexmustang]

"also - the big application increase was this year (after Armed services bowl). There was an increase the prior year but it was much smaller. Also we were not on the Texas common app three years ago - that is a fairly recent change."

The appication year that was shown was not 2010-11, but 2009-10. It was the same chart I saw last fall before applications began coming in for this incoming class. I must be in error on the common application, but all four of my SMU students used it. Even if it was being used three classes ago, that doesn't account for a 40-45% jump in the last class (2014).

[One Trick Pony]

Light the torch . I don't want to talk to any of them. 5 to 10 g we're scum lol