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26. Gerald Ford/Carl Sewell. SMU's biggest athletic boosters annually keep the program from slipping to NAIA quality.

16. June Jones. After leading SMU back to college football relevance, he forced school administrators to consider bending strict admissions policies.

Patterson came in at 30...

30. Gary Patterson. The fiery TCU coach took the Frogs to the Rose Bowl and helped build a new Amon Carter Stadium.

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interesting stuff. june is pretty high up there.

anyone else think the 'keeps the program from slipping to NAIA quality' comment was a little HARSH?

...and SMU didn't have a strict admission policy-like Rice or Vandy or Stanford-when he got here. Many changes had already been changed over the years or promised before he took the job. See his own quote below. There were only minor changes made to admissions since he got here which the uniformed have blown completely out of proportion as to the real obstacles to producing a winning program in comparison to what previous coaches had to put up with. The published admission numbers prove it. He's gotten in just about anyone he wants except for 2 kids(while the APR plummets) . There is no real proof that they were admitted to other schools based upon terms that they wouldn't have been admitted to SMU under. The obstacles Jones may have faced may prevent him going after 2% of the kids he wants-while Gregg, Rossley and even Cavan to a lesser extent were precluded from about 50-60% of the recruiting pool. He walked into a "sweet situation" with a competitive Model and low expectations where greater success should be expected.

Stallion wrote:...and SMU didn't have a strict admission policy-like Rice or Vandy or Stanford-when he got here. Many changes had already been changed over the years or promised before he took the job. See his own quote below. There were only minor changes made to admissions since he got here which the uniformed have blown completely out of proportion as to the real obstacles to producing a winning program in comparison to what previous coaches had to put up with. The published admission numbers prove it. He's gotten in just about anyone he wants except for 2 kids(while the APR plummets) . There is no real proof that they were admitted to other schools based upon terms that they wouldn't have been admitted to SMU under. The obstacles Jones may have faced may prevent him going after 2% of the kids he wants-while Gregg, Rossley and even Cavan to a lesser extent were precluded from about 50-60% of the recruiting pool. He walked into a "sweet situation" with a competitive Model and low expectations where greater success should be expected.

Geez, you really hate SMU's head football coach don't you?

ponytailgater wrote:anyone else think the 'keeps the program from slipping to NAIA quality' comment was a little HARSH?

Nope.

I was in school when that thing was being built and remember telling buddies of mine that Ford Stadium was quite possibly an insurance policy by boosters to ensure we had a Div-1A team ten years from then. Ford stadium forced the school to continue to ante up and not ever consider dropping the team down.

leopold wrote:

ponytailgater wrote:anyone else think the 'keeps the program from slipping to NAIA quality' comment was a little HARSH?

Nope.

I was in school when that thing was being built and remember telling buddies of mine that Ford Stadium was quite possibly an insurance policy by boosters to ensure we had a Div-1A team ten years from then. Ford stadium forced the school to continue to ante up and not ever consider dropping the team down.

I believe it's been posted on this board that part of the deal for GJF putting up the $ was that SMU had to be D-1.

And it is harsh, the statement, in that we wouldnt be NAIA, we would be D-3. Trinity U. Austin College. Centre College. Texas Lutheran. Howard Payne. Sewanee.

Stallion, you are wrong on one major count. June made that comment prematurely. He thought the administration had agreed to his terms of admissions. They renigged on the promise last summer and all hell was about to break loose. He held their feet to the fire and in fact did force the change.

Yes and June Jones wanted to admit a felon who was serving a 5 year jail term. June Jones has and always will try to work the margins of who should and shouldn't be in a university. Pay attention to the APR at SMU and Hawaii. Look at the embarrassing 875 APR in Basketball as further evidence of SMU admission standards. I repeat the number of players that June Jones couldn't admit to the university was miniscule and had negligible affect on the competitiveness of the program. For him to represent that he was shackled by egregious academic recruiting restrictions is laughable. Look at the Profile of those that were admitted. the nonqualifiers and the number of kids who they have taken and waited on hoping they would be late qualifiers. SMU has been at the top of the Texas schools in those categories. Next excuse because I'm calling [deleted]

Stallion, the player (felon) was no part of what I decribed. You are wrong. It had to do with the "moving standards" of 13 months ago, the special committee, comparative peer study, Div I study and changes agreed to by the administration as recommended by the committee.

someone needs to pop Richie Whitt in the mouth. He has a disgust for SMU for some reason.
I was really surprised he wrote a nice piece on Klemm. His first positive SMU anything..how he has a job on the radio is beyond me.