Why SMU President R. Gerald Turner supports athletics

[B1GPonyFan]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2014/04/26/larry-brown-salary-smu-basketball-salary-june-jones/8197719/

[PonySnob]

Hope they pay like that for the next football coach........

[dirtysouthpony]

I will be sure to high five President Turner when I see him here in Atlanta this week.

[Big12Mustang]

Hope they pay like that for the next football coach........

We will

[PerunaPunch]

I've never quite understood those who bash Turner for not being pro-athletics.
1) I see him at too many events, both home and away. And he always seems to be engaged and enjoying the event.
2) He's a consumate fundraiser, and almost by definition these days, that means courting boosters through athletics.
3) If nothing else, I'm fairly certain that Turner has come to the same conclusion that most on this board have, which is that if we want to be a top university, we can't half-ass athletics.
4) Chairing the Knight Commission has more to do with bringing athletic departments back to some semblance of fiscal responsibility IMHO. Knowing that we can always be outspent by large, public universities, having reasonable limits would be a good thing for a small, private university.

[Stallion]

well there was that decade where he was snoozing while TCU was running laps around SMU-so he doesn't get a free pass either. I know and understand it took awhile to remove institutional roadblocks (such as creation of the College of Education and lowering of academic requirements for example). While finally accomplished-it took much too long. But hey-SMU fans didn't really put much heat on him until the Phil Bennett fiasco. A lot of SMU fans just rolled over

[smustatesman]

To paraphase this thread : he's a athletic supporter ?

[JoeKidd]

well there was that decade where he was snoozing while TCU was running laps around SMU-so he doesn't get a free pass either. I know and understand it took awhile to remove institutional roadblocks (such as creation of the College of Education and lowering of academic requirements for example). While finally accomplished-it took much too long. But hey-SMU fans didn't really put much heat on him until the Phil Bennett fiasco. A lot of SMU fans just rolled over

Stallion, I posted something similar on the bball thread. I don't think he is a supporter of athletics and that he only started to take action after us alumni started bringing the heat. He put us squarely behind TCWho. Secretly I think he would be happy if we only played Tennis, Golf and added Lacrosse and whatever else they play in the laudy-da northeast.

[StallionsModelT]

Some of our wealthiest and influential alumni/boosters are sportsmen. That is why RGT supports athletics.

[Big12Mustang]

IF he did support athletics, he would start marketing the program like a P5 school would and not like bush league. He is not investing money in football and it is noted, meanwhile TCU and UNT are all over DFW with their marketing and getting in everyone's face. We are getting left behind at an alarming rate and Basketball just won't be enough...unless we want to be a "basketball school" like UTA, which in that case, I will become a pro sports fan instead.

[Mexmustang]

You might also ask him:

Why the budget support for the Athletic Department, from the school was reduced this year and will be reduced again next year.

Why is the Athletic Department having to carry over $10,000,000 of renovation cost overruns for Moody, a project that had more to do with completing his promises to the Bush library than basketball.

Why it took him ten years into his presidency to lower the athletic admissions criteria at SMU that just came close the those recommendations of the Knight Commission in which he chaired -- if it was good for everyone else, why not SMU?

What happened to his promise to build the IPF?

and most currently, why is Vicki Hill still on the school payroll?

[JoeKidd]

You might also ask him:

Why the budget support for the Athletic Department, from the school was reduced this year and will be reduced again next year.

Why is the Athletic Department having to carry over $10,000,000 of renovation cost overruns for Moody, a project that had more to do with completing his promises to the Bush library than basketball.

Why it took him ten years into his presidency to lower the athletic admissions criteria at SMU that just came close the those recommendations of the Knight Commission in which he chaired -- if it was good for everyone else, why not SMU?

What happened to his promise to build the IPF?

and most currently, why is Vicki Hill still on the school payroll?

Agree with all of these salient points. I have always said RGT is a big part of our problem and he will continue to be until we roust him from here or bring him in-line with what we all want and that is to be nationally competitive and significant in both Football and Basketball. I also want to have a strategy to bring back track and field, something we excelled in for a long-time. I am tired of being bush league when compared to our peers like TC go eff yourself U and the dam Baptists from Wacko.

[B1GPonyFan]

I have no idea who Vicki Hill is. But then again, I don't really care.

[B1GPonyFan]

You might also ask him:

Why the budget support for the Athletic Department, from the school was reduced this year and will be reduced again next year.

Why is the Athletic Department having to carry over $10,000,000 of renovation cost overruns for Moody, a project that had more to do with completing his promises to the Bush library than basketball.

Why it took him ten years into his presidency to lower the athletic admissions criteria at SMU that just came close the those recommendations of the Knight Commission in which he chaired -- if it was good for everyone else, why not SMU?

What happened to his promise to build the IPF?

and most currently, why is Vicki Hill still on the school payroll?

If you have the documentation to support the 10 million costs for Moody and the memo/email regarding the athletic department budget reduction, produce it. As of now, this is hearsay and there is no relevance to your claims. I know you're pretty connected at the school but I'm not going to accept this at face value because you've had a personal vendetta with Dr. Turner for quite some time.

And I think you'll agree the IPF has pretty much turned into an he said he said type of debate where the anti-June crowd is saying June didn't want to have his team walk across Mockingbird. The truth is somewhere in the middle. It's a matter of which one you believe. You believe June's version that Dr. Turner didn't follow up.

[smusic 00]

We do realize that LB's salary isn't really paid by the school, like JJ's, right?