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So I was really bored this weekend and made some spreadsheets to see just how SMU compares both in the G5 and P5 financially and in athletic budgets. Here were some of the more interesting things that came out of the data:

1) SMU has one of the most impressive endowment per undergrad student ratios of any school that participates in D1A football regardless of P5/G5. Of all schools that play D1A football SMU ranks 11th in the nation at roughly $247K per undergrad. Among the G5 SMU trails only Rice (a staggering $1.4M) and Tulsa ($275K). The average endowment per undergrad ratio of all schools that play D1A football across the country is roughly $120K.

2) SMU has the 4th smallest undergraduate enrollment of any school that participates in D1A football. Only Tulsa (3,200), Rice (3,850), and Wake Forest (4,800) have smaller undergraduate enrollment numbers.

3) SMU has the 27th largest endowment of any school that participates in D1A football at roughly $1.5B. Among G5 programs only Rice ($5.5B) has a larger endowment than SMU.

4) SMU's endowment per undergrad ratio of $247K is higher than every program in Texas that participates in D1A football. The closest to SMU is TCU at $180K.

5) SMU's athletic budget is the second highest among all G5 programs. As a private school this data was a little harder to uncover and it is somewhat skewed by the fact the value of an SMU scholarship ($250K) is substantially higher than all other G5 programs aside from Rice and Tulane.

6) SMU has the second highest paid G5 head coach in the nation in Chad Morris at roughly $2M/season. Only Tommy Tubberville at Cincinnati makes more at $2.2M/season. Morris is the 47th highest paid coach in the nation regardless of G5/P5 status.

7) SMU has the 4th highest paid non P5 basketball coach in the nation in Larry Brown at roughly $1.97M/season. Only Georgetown ($2.8M), Villanova ($2.7M), and Cincinnati ($2.2M) earn more than Brown. Brown is the 26th highest paid coach in the nation regardless of conference affiliation


I know we like to whine a lot about the administration and athletic department but the numbers are pretty clear. SMU is fully committed to competing at the highest levels. When you consider our small enrollment, obscure conference affiliation, and isolation from virtually every historical rival minus UH, it is very impressive that we are able to compete financially at this level. Is it sustainable? I don't know. But there is no question SMU and its power brokers are doing everything they can to give us a fighting chance.

StallionsModelT wrote:
2) SMU has the 4th smallest undergraduate enrollment of any school that participates in D1A football. Only Tulsa (3,200), Rice (3,850), and Wake Forest (4,800) have smaller undergraduate enrollment numbers.

You forgot the military academies. SMU has the 7th smallest enrollment.

Yeah I didn't' really consider the academies as you can't really break down the metrics of endowments and things like that. But still we are a very small school enrollment-wise in all of D1A.

4) SMU's endowment per undergrad ratio of $247K is higher than every program in Texas that participates in D1A football. The closest to SMU is TCU at $180K.

Rice is in Texas.

Planter's Punch wrote:

4) SMU's endowment per undergrad ratio of $247K is higher than every program in Texas that participates in D1A football. The closest to SMU is TCU at $180K.

Rice is in Texas.

Got me there

How did Rice get to 5 billion

William Marsh Rice's Trust Fund and oil fortune-they've always been way way out in front

Excellent. Would you say that overall there isn't any correlation between endowment per student and athletic prowess?

Has SMU put some distance between it and TCU/Baylor in total endowment?

Some endowments are for public U systems which can add quite a few more undergrads.

SMU has certainly invested in athletics and apparently has the resources to do so. Recent layoffs notwithstanding.

If the school really wanted to do something to help athletics they'd increase our enrollment. Bigger student section, bigger band, more alumni. Ideally, it would be our long run goal to become Baylor sized.

Of course that would trash the college ranking metrics (selectivity, average SAT, etc) so it'll never happen.

We really are not distancing ourselves from TCU/Baylor in endowment. We are pretty much neck and neck with TCU while Baylor is around $1.1B

I don't think there is any correlation between endowment per student and athletic success. Its just an interesting metric IMO. The other institution you support, UH, has had a really good decade of football sucesss despite having an endowment half the size of SMU. The UH endowment/student ratio comes out to around $22K per student while SMU is at nearly $250K per student.

I will say the analysis I did bears out that The American has quite an advantage on the other G5 programs in endowment, US News rankings, and endowment/student.

AAC

1) Tulsa ($276K/student)
2) SMU ($247K/student)
3) Tulane ($140K/student)
4) Cincinnati ($50K/student)
5) UCONN ($24K/student)
6) Houston ($22K/student)
7) Temple ($18K/student)
Memphis ($13K/student)
9) South Florida ($12K/student)
10) East Carolina ($7K/student)
11) Central Florida ($2,500/student)

MWC

1) Wyoming ($24K/student)
2) Colorado State ($15K/student)
3) New Mexico ($15K/student)
4) Nevada ($12,500/student)
5) UNLV ($9,500/student)
6) Utah State ($8,200/student)
7) Fresno State ($7K/student)
San Diego State ($6,500/student)
9) Boise State ($5K/student)
10) San Jose State ($4,500/student)

CUSA

1) Rice ($1.4M/student) - SERIOUS OUTLIER!
2) Old Dominion ($11K/student)
3) Marshall ($10K/student)
4) La Tech ($9,500/student)
5) FAU ($8,500/student)
6) UTEP ($7,500/student)
7) Charlotte ($6,500/student)
Western Kentucky ($5,500/student)
9) UTSA ($5,000/student)
10) North Texas ($4,800/student)
11) FIU ($4,000/student)
12) Middle Tennessee State ($3,000/student)
13) Southern Miss ($2,700/student)

MAC

1) Buffalo ($31K/student)
2) Miami-Ohio ($28K/student)
3) Ohio ($18K/student)
4) Toledo ($18K/student)
5) Western Michigan ($14K/student)
6) UMASS ($11K/student)
7) Ball State ($10K/student)
Akron ($9K/student)
9) Bowling Green ($8K/student)
10) Kent State ($4,500/student)
11) Central Michigan ($3,500/student)
12) Eastern Michigan ($3,500/student)
13) Northern Illinois ($3,500/student)

Sun Belt

1) Sun Belt ($30K/student)
2) Idaho ($26K/student)
3) New Mexico State ($15K/student)
4) UL-Lafayette ($7K/student)
5) Georgia State ($5,500/student)
6) Appalachian state ($5,500/student)
7) Texas State ($4K/student)
Arkansas State ($3,500/student)
9) UL-Monroe ($3K/student)
10) Georgia Southern ($2,500/student)

The thing that really stood out is that Tiger High actually has an endowment... I figured that their endowment would be a couple bags of Cheetos and a Three-6 Mafia album.

Wow, UCF and GA Southern are tied at the bottom. SMU went a long stretch with a top 5 SAT average for its football team. Like Rice, that's an outlier not matched by a lot of prestigious public U's like Cal and the Big 10.

tristatecoog wrote:Wow, UCF and GA Southern are tied at the bottom. SMU went a long stretch with a top 5 SAT average for its football team. Like Rice, that's an outlier not matched by a lot of prestigious public U's like Cal and the Big 10.

UCF has an undergraduate enrollment of nearly 61,000.

Would be interesting to see the breakdown on the undergraduate SMU enrollment to see how many are from Texas and of that group how many are passionate about both academics and athletics and maybe while in high school participated in athletic/extracurricular activities? These SMU graduates from Texas will be going back into their communities promoting all aspects of the university.......unless they have little interest in other aspects besides academics.