SMU Looks West For Plan For Success

[PonyKai]

ESPN Dallas Article: http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/ncf/co ... =nhffromfb

SMU athletic director Steve Orsini didn't have to look far for a set of blueprints on how to build a vibrant, winning program at a small, private university in the heart of a big city.

By the time Orsini arrived at SMU five years ago this month, TCU was already in the process of moving from a consistent top-25 football program to one that would end up in two consecutive BCS games, including a Rose Bowl victory and a No. 2 ranking after the 2010 season. TCU has turned into Fort Worth's team, enabling a university with an annual enrollment of less than 10,000 to draw 50,000 fans to big games in the fall."It's a great case study for us," Orsini said. "If they can do it, we can do it. I applaud them. You've got to admire the results they've achieved, and it's not just athletics. They have an all-time high in applications that want to come to that university. I don't think it's an accident that their football program, baseball and overall athletics program is at a high level. I feel there are a lot of similarities."

The first step for SMU to begin its quest to join TCU at an elite level was to generate excitement on the football field. To do that, Orsini felt the school had to hire a coach that could elicit respect from the community and be able to turn a program still feeling the ripple effects of the death penalty in the late 1980s into one that could compete at the highest level.

Orsini turned into a salesman, persuading about two dozen supporters to donate $100,000 a year for five years in what he called the "Circle of Champions" so the school could lure June Jones away from Hawaii. Jones had taken the Warriors to a BCS bowl and was looking for a new challenge. He came to SMU prior to the 2008 season and in three years has taken the program to two bowl games, including a win in 2009 in its first such game since the death penalty.

It has translated into a steady increase in fans in the seats at Gerald J. Ford Stadium just north of downtown Dallas. Football attendance is up 52 percent from 2006, going from 15,428 on average to 23,515 in 2010.

"We do think that Dallas is Mustang Country," said Brad Sutton, associate AD for public relations and marketing. "We do want to be Dallas' team and brand ourselves that way. We see Dallas residents coming out. We know we have more than enough college sports fans in even our immediate area to sell out the stadium every week. That's our goal."

They'll need about 10,000 more fans on average to do that. Winning games certainly helps. So does attracting top opposing teams.

"When the old Southwest Conference schools were coming to Dallas and playing SMU, it was special," Orsini said. "To have the highest level of product in college athletics coming to Hilltop is one of our challenges to competing here and on a national scale. It goes back to the customer. We'll attract more of them if we have better teams come play us."
SMU starts its 2011 season over Labor Day weekend at Texas A&M, and the Aggies will return the favor with a trip to Dallas next year.

Orsini believes in creating more regional rivalries and that drawing those teams, combined with SMU winning games, will only increase interest. It doesn't hurt to have a first-class facility, either. The Mustangs played their football games at a variety of stadiums over the years.

Ownby Stadium was built on the SMU campus in 1926, but the Mustangs moved to the Cotton Bowl in 1948 and then on to Texas Stadium in Irving in 1979. When SMU was a national power -- and starting to get into trouble with the NCAA -- it was doing so at a stadium that wasn't very close to campus. It wasn't until right after the death penalty that SMU resumed football back in north Dallas. But by then, Ownby Stadium was in desperate need of updating.

So the team moved back to Cotton Bowl in 1995 and eventually built Ford Stadium, playing in that facility since 2000.

"It was huge for us to come back to campus in that kind of a stadium," Orsini said. "We have a unique product and us playing in a pro venue and try to look like a pro product wasn't what we needed to do. The consumer knows it's not a pro product. Part of the college product is tailgating. We've got our Boulevard in the center of campus where we tailgate. That was the idea of our president [Gerald Turner]. He wanted to showcase our beautiful university on a Saturday afternoon and now we're doing that."

Orsini and Sutton believe that SMU isn't really competing with the local professional teams like the Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars for fans' sports dollars.

"We're college athletics and from my perspective we've got a monopoly on that on the Dallas side," Sutton said. "We want to accent the things that make college athletics unique, like the cheerleaders, the band and everything around the experience. We want to make it as enjoyable as we can with easy parking, access to tickets, great concessions.

"But beyond all of that you have to win games," Sutton said. "If we keep doing that, we'll keep building our attendance."

[skyscraper]

"When the old Southwest Conference schools were coming to Dallas and playing SMU, it was special," Orsini said. "To have the highest level of product in college athletics coming to Hilltop is one of our challenges to competing here and on a national scale. It goes back to the customer. We'll attract more of them if we have better teams come play us."
SMU starts its 2011 season over Labor Day weekend at Texas A&M, and the Aggies will return the favor with a trip to Dallas next year.

So we haven't agreed to that Alamodome deal that was rumored about a few months? Interesting.

[Topper]

"We're college athletics and from my perspective we've got a monopoly on that on the Dallas side," Sutton said. "We want to accent the things that make college athletics unique, like the cheerleaders, the band and everything around the experience. We want to make it as enjoyable as we can with easy parking, access to tickets, great concessions

Unfortunately, we are competing with the Jerryworld Big 12/SEC extravaganzas that give people we should be playing at Ford an excuse to come to Dallas without evening recognizing our existence. Jones has created a mini-industry on Saturdays that detracts from our walk-up crowd and from the media attention that we otherwise enjoy if we really were the only game in town. Of course the Jerryworld games also give the DMN and Belo something to cover without wasting time on us.

[kent dorfman]

"We're college athletics and from my perspective we've got a monopoly on that on the Dallas side," Sutton said. "We want to accent the things that make college athletics unique, like the cheerleaders, the band and everything around the experience. We want to make it as enjoyable as we can with easy parking, access to tickets, great concessions

Unfortunately, we are competing with the Jerryworld Big 12/SEC extravaganzas that give people we should be playing at Ford an excuse to come to Dallas without evening recognizing our existence. Jones has created a mini-industry on Saturdays that detracts from our walk-up crowd and from the media attention that we otherwise enjoy if we really were the only game in town. Of course the Jerryworld games also give the DMN and Belo something to cover without wasting time on us.

Please stop blaming Jerry and the Death Star for the lack of attention SMU's program gets. Remember that the University is situated in the fourth largest major metropolitan area in the country, and the metro area has a pro team with an enormous fan base. Just as we were crawling out of the Death Penalty, Jerry's team started winning championships. And that helped him make money and promote his team.

Face it, there is a lot of work to be done (i.e. a lot of big games we need to win). And I would hope that we get to play the Aggies at the Death Star come 2013. Let's face two facts:

1. Aggies crawl out of the walls like roaches - good lord, they're everywhere
2. As of today, if we played ATM at Ford with its current seating capacity, well, you remember that Tech game in 2007? Yeah it'll be at least twice that obnoxious.

The Death Star at least offers the seating capacity that Ford doesn't have at the moment. Bottom line: just keep this thing going. Keep going to games, home and away. Talk about pony fb, wear your smu gear...spread the good word, homie.

[EastStang]

We can give ol yellow teeth (that's what Redskins fans call him) a choice. He can pay us and the Aggies some coin to play at Jerry World, or he can host some other event and pay twice as much, and we'll go to the Cotton Bowl and play the Cult there. Guess what, our game against the Aggies will do just as well as his game and he'll look like a dolt. That would not be good for his pride. I personally would not want to play any games at that Razorback's Palace.

[Topper]

Why does Jerry have to schedule teams like Arkansas and Baylor, who would sell out our stadium, on the same day as our home games? And why should Arkansas or Baylor want to play us when they can go for the big paycheck at Jerryworld? Thats all I'm saying.

[Topper]

"We're college athletics and from my perspective we've got a monopoly on that on the Dallas side," Sutton said. "We want to accent the things that make college athletics unique, like the cheerleaders, the band and everything around the experience. We want to make it as enjoyable as we can with easy parking, access to tickets, great concessions

Unfortunately, we are competing with the Jerryworld Big 12/SEC extravaganzas that give people we should be playing at Ford an excuse to come to Dallas without evening recognizing our existence. Jones has created a mini-industry on Saturdays that detracts from our walk-up crowd and from the media attention that we otherwise enjoy if we really were the only game in town. Of course the Jerryworld games also give the DMN and Belo something to cover without wasting time on us.

Please stop blaming Jerry and the Death Star for the lack of attention SMU's program gets. Remember that the University is situated in the fourth largest major metropolitan area in the country, and the metro area has a pro team with an enormous fan base. Just as we were crawling out of the Death Penalty, Jerry's team started winning championships. And that helped him make money and promote his team.

Face it, there is a lot of work to be done (i.e. a lot of big games we need to win). And I would hope that we get to play the Aggies at the Death Star come 2013. Let's face two facts:

1. Aggies crawl out of the walls like roaches - good lord, they're everywhere
2. As of today, if we played ATM at Ford with its current seating capacity, well, you remember that Tech game in 2007? Yeah it'll be at least twice that obnoxious.

The Death Star at least offers the seating capacity that Ford doesn't have at the moment. Bottom line: just keep this thing going. Keep going to games, home and away. Talk about pony fb, wear your smu gear...spread the good word, homie.

Clint Murchison, a UT guy, used to donate healthy sums to the Mustang Club because he thought that it was good for Dallas to have a successful local college team. I admit that we havent been successful for many years, but it doesnt help when the local pro owner invades our territory with teams that should be scheduling us.

[Stallion]

It should be noted that Jarr-y has donated substantial amounts to SMU. Jerry Jones hasn't been the problem.Hasn't seem to bother TCU. They used to make that excuse too. Jerry and his wife have served SMU in various capacities and have an alumnus son

http://smu.edu/newsinfo/releases/00320.html

[RGV Pony]

It should be noted that Jarr-y has donated substantial amounts to SMU. Jerry Jones hasn't been the problem.Hasn't seem to bother TCU. They used to make that excuse too. Jerry and his wife have served SMU in various capacities and have an alumnus son

http://smu.edu/newsinfo/releases/00320.html

Gene is on the Unbridled committee and they donated over a million $ to Meadows

[DallasDiehard]

Why does Jerry have to schedule teams like Arkansas and Baylor, who would sell out our stadium, on the same day as our home games? And why should Arkansas or Baylor want to play us when they can go for the big paycheck at Jerryworld? Thats all I'm saying.

Because it fulfills his only interest in college football: making money for him.

[One Trick Pony]

I like how they add up an 52% increase. -:)

[Metropolis777]

So we haven't agreed to that Alamodome deal that was rumored about a few months? Interesting.

And I would hope that we get to play the Aggies at the Death Star come 2013. Let's face two facts:

1. Aggies crawl out of the walls like roaches - good lord, they're everywhere
2. As of today, if we played ATM at Ford with its current seating capacity, well, you remember that Tech game in 2007? Yeah it'll be at least twice that obnoxious.

The Death Star at least offers the seating capacity that Ford doesn't have at the moment. Bottom line: just keep this thing going. Keep going to games, home and away. Talk about pony fb, wear your smu gear...spread the good word, homie.

From an outside observer's perspective, I'm afraid A&M will not agree to playing SMU at the Death Star because they already play Arkansas there every year. I'd really love to see this game at Ford and I implore Orsini to fight tooth and nail to keep this game from going to the Alamodome. That said, if not in Ford, this is the perfect game to move to the Cotton Bowl during the opening weekend of the State Fair.

Baylor and Tech failed miserably with this because they just don't have the traveling fanbases to make this worth it. OTOH, SMU and A&M definitely could make this a spectacle. I am confident that SMU would draw 35K-40K of their own fans to the Cotton Bowl for this game and A&M could fill the rest. Yes I'm aware that these matchups never filled the stands in the dying days of the SWC - I was at one of those games. However, SMU is regaining its power and the lure of the State Fair will draw in the Aggies (to my recollection, they've never played at the Cotton Bowl during the State Fair).

So bottom line, fight to keep the 2012 game at Ford. But, if it must be moved and A&M won't play a second game at JerryWorld, move it to Fair Park NOT San Antonio.

[PK]

I agree with Metropolis777. The Cotton Bowl would be a better venue for us than San Antonio if we can't play the game at Ford.

[NickSMU17]

Smells like a buyout hope the attorney's are good...

[Metropolis777]

Smells like a buyout hope the attorney's are good...

I hope so too for y'all's sake. That buyout better be at least $2 million. There's absolutely NO reason why SMU should have had to play 2 games in College Station without any return game.

We got paid $1 million for our 1 and done at Clemson. So there's your standard to shoot for if the Aggies try to buy their way out. $1 million per game.