The Mudiay Commitment Has Me Thinking...

[CalallenStang]

If SMU Basketball can do it, why can't SMU Football? Why can't we go out and get a few absolute studs from the local area who want to stay home and build the hometown program?

June's record on recruiting is well noted on this board. I won't go through it all again...that would be pointless as you all have discussed it ad nauseum. But the record speaks for itself, including the downplaying of Klemm's recruiting back a few years ago. The fact is, the biggest shock we have delivered in football recruiting over the past few years is when one of our targets committed to Arizona State, a school that previously wasn't on his list, when ASU was without a coach.

Granted, June has found a few diamonds in the rough. I believe that Zach Line and Margus Hunt were two of the best players in college football last year. But the fact is, football is a team game, and we need more than a few great players to win on a national scale. One of the best ways to attract talent is to land one of those big-name recruits that other recruits want to play with (the "Pied Piper" recruit, as it has been termed on this board). The only way to land those big-name recruits is to actually recruit them, and that's something that we haven't seen this staff be willing to do.

Basketball, on the other hand, has proven that SMU can go against the best-of-the-best programs in the country in the recruiting game and win. All it takes is a hungry and skilled coaching staff willing to go above and beyond to sell the school, its traditions (I'll let you think about that for a second but I won't expand further in this post), and its potential.

Now, there is certainly another way to build a program, and that is to win first and have the recruits follow. This seems to be the philosophy that June has for this program. But winning at our current rate hasn't been working...we are still recruiting against the UTSAs of the world. We need to step it up, and we need to step it up quickly. We need to win on a national scale - we need to get to a BCS Bowl for recruits to notice.

June's contract has two years left - after this season, it will only have one year left. Thus, if he is here next year and his contract is not extended, he will be a "lame duck" next season, and that will hurt in recruiting. But if June is to earn a contract extension, he is going to have to prove that he is the coach that can lead SMU to make that jump beyond where we are right now.

Bottom line is that in my mind, for the future of our football program, we need to win the AAC and go to a BCS bowl this year. Anything less, and June has to go as we try to find a football staff that will elevate us nationally the way our basketball staff has done.

June - get us to a BCS bowl or we will be saying aloha to you after this season.

[smumustang1980]

I agree, however you know as well as I that Sewell has Turner's ear and this is a dead-end argument - if June produces again this year with a bowl game. Unless Michael Shore and his group can unhorse the older men who influence Turner, we are going nowhere...

My intuition says June performs above his average this year, and gets a contract extension.

In specific, what strategy do you have to reverse this course of benign neglect?

[CalallenStang]

I agree, however you know as well as I that Sewell has Turner's ear and this is a dead-end argument - if June produces again this year with a bowl game. Unless Michael Shore and his group can unhorse the older men who influence Turner, we are going nowhere...

My intuition says June performs above his average this year, and gets a contract extension.

In specific, what strategy do you have to reverse this course of benign neglect?

Maybe everyone should wear t-shirts that say SMU basketball to the last home game of our season this year...

[SMU2007]

The reason we can't just get a few hometown studs is because basketball can legitimately be turned around with 1 guy. Football, not so much. I think a superstar basketball recruit can singlehandedly impact the outcome of an average team, but a superstar QB/WR/RB etc. will just suffer from having little talent around him.

Apples and oranges.

I think we need a group of young, aggressive recruiters to first build a strong core of players that we beat out some similar tier schools for (whoever you actually consider our peers). Once you are consistently in the mix for recruits that you "should" be getting, you can maybe hope to land a stud or two from the area who can be convinced to stay local.

I don't think we have a prayer of landing a top tier recruit when we are currently struggling to recruit anyone with offers from bcs schools, diamond in the rough theory be damned. I know some of these guys pan out, but it's a numbers game, and when you only look for diamonds in the rough, you are going to be left with a serious depth problem.

[CalallenStang]

The reason we can't just get a few hometown studs is because basketball can legitimately be turned around with 1 guy. Football, not so much. I think a superstar basketball recruit can singlehandedly impact the outcome of an average team, but a superstar QB/WR/RB etc. will just suffer from having little talent around him.

Apples and oranges.

I think we need a group of young, aggressive recruiters to first build a strong core of players that we beat out some similar tier schools for (whoever you actually consider our peers). Once you are consistently in the mix for recruits that you "should" be getting, you can maybe hope to land a stud or two from the area who can be convinced to stay local.

I don't think we have a prayer of landing a top tier recruit when we are currently struggling to recruit anyone with offers from bcs schools, diamond in the rough theory be damned. I know some of these guys pan out, but it's a numbers game, and when you only look for diamonds in the rough, you are going to be left with a serious depth problem.

I'm not talking about getting one awesome recruit and surrounding him with dregs. I'm talking about getting one awesome recruit and using that commitment to sell to other great recruits.

To your second paragraph: see SMU Basketball

[gostangs]

Biggest difference between the two sports is that ANY basketball program that gets it pulled together with the right facilities and coaching can have a path to the golden ring. In football it is virtually impossible for a team in our position to get to the national championship. The level of athlete we are attracting in basketball would not come in football without that path being realistic. Why would they do all that work just to get shut out if they have options?

[mustangxc]

It is much easier to do in basketball than in football. Brown, Maligi, and now Mudiay just need to convince 2 more players to come to SMU and this team becomes a contender for a national championship. Football requires 20-25 players per season for 4 seasons. Freshmen in football do not generally have the same impact as in basketball. The process requires much more people to convince and much more time to see through. I am not saying it cannot be done, simply that it is much more difficult to build momentum.

[smumustang1980]

I remember when Ron Meyer shocked the SWC with ED. One recruit made a difference in football in the late seventies. June has brought in Traylon Shead and others who are good players. He just hasn't recruited as well as we would like, and he hasn't won a big game save for the victory over TCU in Ft. Worth a couple of years ago. He needs to knock of Tech and TCU this year to make a statement, and improve the recruiting. He needs to shock and awe as LB has done.

[The PonyGrad]

Ad nauseum

[SMU 86]

It is much easier to do in basketball than in football. Brown, Maligi, and now Mudiay just need to convince 2 more players to come to SMU and this team becomes a contender for a national championship. Football requires 20-25 players per season for 4 seasons. Freshmen in football do not generally have the same impact as in basketball. The process requires much more people to convince and much more time to see through. I am not saying it cannot be done, simply that it is much more difficult to build momentum.

To be fair to Coach Brown, if it was that easy everybody could do it. In football you have about 120 schools going for players. In basketball you have well over 200 schools going for fewer high level players that why basketball is so tough in recruiting. Not to many under the radar of kids in basketball due to the AAU. 2 players might not make a national championship contender but you add that with Moreira, Kennedy, Nic Moore, etc and that helps makes a contender. To be honest we might not even go to the NCAA tournament this year. And next year UConn, Cincy, and Memphis will still be rated to win the conference. You might ought to think more of us moving up in conference before you talk national championship because those schools I mentioned get 5 star players as well.

[GiddyUp]

You just need another Klemm guy, he had some studs lined up

[SMU 86]

Also Mustangxc remember that we only have Mudiay for one year probably and Frazier maybe two.

[ojaipony]

I'm going to get flamed for this, but hear my theory out . . .

We got our superstar/stud recruit in Garrett Gilbert. He has applied the "pied piper effect". See Ashcraft and Shead. If we got all these guys directly out of HS, how thrilled would we be? We have to start SOMEWHERE, and I think this is the start.

"but a superstar QB/WR/RB etc. will just suffer from having little talent around him."

That's precisely what happened last year IMHO even in the Hawaii Bowl. There were 2-3 throws that a bigger WR would have taken to the house and were perfect throws by GG (the two long ones to Thompson . . . if he had run through them, they turn the throws into what seemed to like overthrows into 6 points and a HUGE blowout coupled with a confident GG).

Ok, I might be stretching here but I think there's SOME truth to this . . . AND I'm absolutely disgusted by the lack of effort our coaching staff has given to recruiting . . . we picked up some pretty good guys last year (Minor, Taylor, Gaines) but we need guys like that in EVERY class plus some . . . we have Harris in this class, but very little else and I don't see anything else exciting in the pipeline other than maybe Bonney which seems like a long shot . . .)

[SMU 86]

We got our superstar/stud recruit in Garrett Gilbert. He has applied the "pied piper effect".

He definitely has had a pied piper effect. Let's get some more UT transfers. BEAT TECH.

[mustangxc]

It is much easier to do in basketball than in football. Brown, Maligi, and now Mudiay just need to convince 2 more players to come to SMU and this team becomes a contender for a national championship. Football requires 20-25 players per season for 4 seasons. Freshmen in football do not generally have the same impact as in basketball. The process requires much more people to convince and much more time to see through. I am not saying it cannot be done, simply that it is much more difficult to build momentum.

To be fair to Coach Brown, if it was that easy everybody could do it. In football you have about 120 schools going for players. In basketball you have well over 200 schools going for fewer high level players that why basketball is so tough in recruiting. Not to many under the radar of kids in basketball due to the AAU. 2 players might not make a national championship contender but you add that with Moreira, Kennedy, Nic Moore, etc and that helps makes a contender. To be honest we might not even go to the NCAA tournament this year. And next year UConn, Cincy, and Memphis will still be rated to win the conference. You might ought to think more of us moving up in conference before you talk national championship because those schools I mentioned get 5 star players as well.

I never said it is easy, just much easier than in football. UCONN is a perennial contender for a national championship so I don't think I said anything too outlandish. I realize Mudiay is probably one and done, but he will be one of the top 5 freshmen in the country and will pave the way for more Dallas players of similar stature to come to SMU. We are currently predicted to finish 5th in the AAC. As talent increases, I would expect us to move up and if we do then why wouldn't we be able to compete for a national championship? Competing does not mean winning. Hyndman constantly had us competing for a national championship yet we only reached a couple of final fours.