Give Jones Credit

[HarvCrimYaleBlue]

I was flipping through the SMU Factbook today. Let's get the fire started on this Thursday:

1998 1-1 Cavan
1999 4-6
2000 3-9
2001 4-7
2002 3-9 Bennett
2003 0-12
2004 3-8
2005 5-6
2006 6-6
2007 1-11
2008 1-11 Jones
2009 8-5
2010 7-7
2011 8-5
2012 7-6

I accept the fact that I am likely to get roasted/reamed/etc for this, but we need to give Jones a little credit. I am a 2001 undergrad and have seen the ‘best’ SMU team under Jones. My years of viewership and fandom say that Jones has brought SMU from COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY TERRIBLE to DECENT. I know that is not saying a whole lot but it is much better then where SMU was prior. We are now getting good press and NFL drafts whereas before we were ignored or dismissed. I know you long timers are a bit disappointed that Jones has not made us Hawaii, but is that realistic?

Does he know how to recruit? Probably not, but in Hawaii, Hawaii sold itself. So adapt. In Dallas we are going to have a tough time competing for local recruits. If I was a stud athlete.... Would I want to play in my home town, hang out with my old friends and be required by mom to be home on the weekends? Or would I rather go to a school with more ‘athletic prestige’ and start fresh? No one watching over me, no ‘bad’ friends to bring me down and being in a new place where I could be the biggest thing on a BIG campus.

Can he coach? Absolutely or I do not believe his career would be as long as it is. Somewhere, somehow he has street credit. Is this waning, maybe.

Just like everyone else, I want SMU to be big-time and play to the level of our cross town rival. All I am saying is that it could be MUCH, MUCH WORSE. And MUCH, MUCH WORSE is all I know.

[SMU2007]

Yes breaking news. We used to be bad and are now above average for a non bcs team. Great.

Unfortunately, our trajectory had leveled out/is declining, giving most no reason to be very excited about the state of our football program.

[sbsmith]

Sounds a lot like an "Embrace Mediocrity" post.

[ponyboy]

The original poster is right. It's important to remember where we came from. JJ is a hero, the saviour of SMU football quite literally. And he's probably plateaued here -- just in time for his contract to be up and for him to move his bundle of cash back to the Islands.

[ponyboy]

Here are a few years the original poster left out:

1989 2- 9
1990 1-10
1991 1-10
1992 5-6
1993 2-7-2
1994 1-9-1
1995 1-10
1996 5-6
1997 6-5

[ponydawg]

Jones did his job. I'm very grateful for that, 180 from where we were.

In a perfect world, June would have taken the ASU job and we would have hired Chad Morris 2 years ago.

http://sportstalksc.com/index.php/2011/ ... ad-morris/

[RyanSMU98]

The original poster is right. It's important to remember where we came from. JJ is a hero, the saviour of SMU football quite literally. And he's probably plateaued here -- just in time for his contract to be up and for him to move his bundle of cash back to the Islands.

^This
I'll even add my time on the Hilltop to the OP's list:
1994 Southwest Conference: 1-9-1 Rossley
1995 Southwest Conference: 1-10 Rossley
1996 WAC: 5-6 Rossley
1997 WAC: 6-5 Cavan

We went from nowhere to somewhere; doesn't mean we've reached where we should be, but also doesn't mean we should simply ignore the reality of what JJ did here. Say Mahalo for getting us out of the gutter and send him off in style and bring on the next guy to move us forward

[SMU2007]

No one is arguing that we used to spend the entire season in the bottom 10. Common knowledge.

The commitment was made to change that by putting down a pile of money for a "big" name coach and to drastically change admissions restrictions that hampered recruiting during the past couple decades. How much of our success was due to June personally vs the commitment to turning things around? Would the restrictions be changed if we didn't get a "big" name coach? There's no way to really know that.

Everyone is glad we are no longer in the bottom 10 week in and week out. I don't think that gives June a free pass however to do whatever he wants without criticism, just because he was here for the turnaround.

Thank you for your services June. We need someone else to help us take the next step.

[AusTxPony]

A free pass without criticism??? This board has been criticizing Jones loudly and often every year he has been here. Most of us have criticized his "lack of recruiting prowess" loudly and often. Has that made much difference, no not much! The bigger problem for our conference situation is the inability for anyone to have come up with the idea that will win the Hearts and Minds of Dallas and our pathetic, passive alumni. Our lack of attendance at Sporting Events is the albatross around our necks. I look forward to seeing if LB can throw that monkey off our backs in Bball. Let's attack and solve that problem and quit banging our heads against the computer screen over JJ.

[East Coast Mustang]

Maybe a long shot, but if we go 8-4 this year and finish second or third in the AAC and win a bowl game (9 wins), does everyone shutup about JJ for awhile?

[ponyte]

Maybe a long shot, but if we go 8-4 this year and finish second or third in the AAC and win a bowl game (9 wins), does everyone shutup about JJ for awhile?

A better question would be, had Jones gone 13-0 and won the National Championship, would at least one poster lay off for a week or two?

[blackoutpony]

Maybe a long shot, but if we go 8-4 this year and finish second or third in the AAC and win a bowl game (9 wins), does everyone shutup about JJ for awhile?

If we win 9 games I promise to shut up for a little while. That being said, I give us <1% chance to win 9 games so I'm not overly worried.

[malonish]

If we win 9 games I will eat some gross Hawaiian delicacy and post videos of my shame. Possibly poi.

[sbsmith]

Maybe a long shot, but if we go 8-4 this year and finish second or third in the AAC and win a bowl game (9 wins), does everyone shutup about JJ for awhile?

12-1 would shut up everyone for awhile (even Stallion might let up a bit until NSD), 9-4 is just one win better than the norm (still no conference title or BCS bid).

[East Coast Mustang]

I think one of the mods here put it best when they said be careful what you wish for. June Jones is the only coach to take SMU to a bowl game in the post-DP era, and he's done it four years in a row. He's also the only coach to have back-to-back winning seasons in the post-DP era.

Let's see how this season plays out before we start printing his pink slip.

The Tech loss was disheartening at the time, but we hung with them for three quarters and they're ranked in some polls now. Everyone bitched about the MSU game- multiple FBS schools LOST to FCS teams in the first two weeks of the season, and we beat the #2 FCS team in the nation. I don't think that win was as "bad" as people make it out to be. Bottom line- we didn't play our best football and still got out of there with a win.

The A&M game will tell us nothing about this team, they will beat us regardless of how well we play, but the TCU game will. We should be competitive in that game and have a great chance, in my opinion, to come out of FW with a win there- IF we do, that's pretty impressive considering they've been recruiting off of 2 BCS bowl appearances in the past four years.

As far as conference play goes, Memphis, UConn, and USF should all be Ws. Rutgers, Temple, UH, and Cincy (with their starting QB done for the year) should be toss-ups. I think UCF might be a loss but we at least get them at home.

I think we win 6 or 7 depending on the outcome of the TCU game. If we beat TCU and go 7-5 in our first year in the American, I'd be a happy camper all things considered. If we miss a bowl game this year, then I think it's time to have a frank discussion about whether or not JJ needs to be here in 2014. Now, feel free to flame away