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I'm not completely thrilled with the Dykes hire, but I really don't see any clearly better alternatives.

But I fail to understand the comments of many on here.

The same people who said "Cole Beasley (or Eric Dickerson) is being a jerk, badmouthing SMU for firing June" are the ones saying "hire Traylor, he's the player's choice". So which is it? Respect players opinions, or don't?

The same people saying "Chad is just a glorified high school coach" are now saying "Traylor needs to be given a shot" AND "Dykes' record at Cal shows he will fail" So which is it? College (and P5) head coaching experience is valuable, or not?

The same people saying "Chad didn't REALLY accomplish anything at SMU" are badmouthing Dykes' record at LA Tech (which was better, including a conference title) and Cal (which was mathematically identical, but at the P5 level). So what is the measure of success? Conference titles matter or not? High level experience matter or not?

"Chad only had 1 signature win!" and then they ignore Dykes' list of top 25 victories.

The same people who want to point out that Dykes is a sub-par recruiter forget to point out that his classes were better than SMU's.

I know this is getting long, but the examples go on and on…

I don't know if it's the same person or not, but I have seen "We need Texas ties" all over the place and someone recommended Tommy Tuberville for God's sake. Based on Texas Tech experience? I can't think of anyone less Texas than Tuberville.

It sure seems like some of the same people who are "I'm not renewing season tickets" are some of the same folks who "supported the school and the players, no matter what" during an embarrassing 3 game losing streak.

The bottom line is, we've all suffered through WAY worse. Dykes is head and shoulders better than Cavan. Dykes is head and shoulders better than Bennett. Dykes is WORLDS better than post-ASU Jones and/or Mason. If he learned ANY defense in his year at TCU, and can hire some capable coordinators (and frankly, I'm fine with high school experienced coordinators), we won't be any worse off than we have been, and maybe, just maybe we'll be considerably better.

People need to realize that we are not A&M, we are not pulling in a successful and experienced coach here. We either get a retread or a risky coordinator hire. I think Sonny can do well here.

Highest paid job in G5 lands Clemson OC.. Then we go this route. Leads me to think maybe we're no longer highest paid G5 job

Julian Grendel wrote:Highest paid job in G5 lands Clemson OC.. Then we go this route. Leads me to think maybe we're no longer highest paid G5 job

Who would you have hired?
- The UNT HC, Arkansas State's HC?
- Name 1 OC still out there that teams with openings are bidding for.

Ask Cleveland Browns what they thought of Bill Belichek's run as their HC. It was a freaking disaster. His next job worked out just fine for his employer.

We went 7-5, best of CM stint here, with a better than good chance to regress next season and people think we are going to go out and land the nations best available coach. Hmmm

ericdickerson4life wrote:We went 7-5, best of CM stint here, with a better than good chance to regress next season and people think we are going to go out and land the nations best available coach. Hmmm

Yes we do. What other current head coach openings are we competing against? We should hire the best available and not settle for a mediocre retread.

You state that like the coaches that are available, Sumlin for example, don't have any other options. We might be the only one looking now but Sumlin can afford to sit out a year and go after something better next year. And I would especially think that a coach like Sumlin or a top up and coming coordinator would be looking at the realistic chance to be 5-7 next season and appearing to regress as more of a negative and willing to wait it out a year for a better opportunity.

Maybe, just maybe, we got extremely lucky landing Chad. And we just aren't that lucky this time around.

ALL coaches are available it seems. I just didn't realize we are that awful that we can not realistically expect to get anyone better. If it is Dykes vs leaving the position unfilled I guess he's a great hire!

With Sonny, I suggest they are thinking Texas connection, #1 of those available. He has HC and P5 cred and good rep with HS coaches. Too bad Sumlin didn't bite, but figure it was just too soon for him to commit. Not the worst choice IMO, but not glam.

ericdickerson4life wrote:We went 7-5, best of CM stint here, with a better than good chance to regress next season and people think we are going to go out and land the nations best available coach. Hmmm

This is my concern, i.e., that any coach looking to take over this program HAS TO KNOW that we have a good chance of having a losing record next year so they will look bad right out of the gate. To get anywhere near the 7-5 this team posted next year, they are going to have to win road games at UNT, UConn, Tulsa and Tulane, none of which will be easy and will ABSOLUTELY have to beat Cincy and either Navy or Houston at home, because I don't see wins coming against TCU, Michigan, Memphis or UCF. I honestly believe Chad had a sense of urgency about bailing on this program.

Charleston Pony wrote:

ericdickerson4life wrote:We went 7-5, best of CM stint here, with a better than good chance to regress next season and people think we are going to go out and land the nations best available coach. Hmmm

This is my concern, i.e., that any coach looking to take over this program HAS TO KNOW that we have a good chance of having a losing record next year so they will look bad right out of the gate. To get anywhere near the 7-5 this team posted next year, they are going to have to win road games at UNT, UConn, Tulsa and Tulane, none of which will be easy and will ABSOLUTELY have to beat Cincy and either Navy or Houston at home, because I don't see wins coming against TCU, Michigan, Memphis or UCF. I honestly believe Chad had a sense of urgency about bailing on this program.

Yea, it had nothing to do with getting an offer to coach at an SEC school for way more pay, far better facilities, and for a fanbase that doesn't embarrass it's players w/10k crowds that typically get up and leave en masse in the 3rd quarter.

HubbaHubba wrote:ALL coaches are available it seems. I just didn't realize we are that awful that we can not realistically expect to get anyone better. If it is Dykes vs leaving the position unfilled I guess he's a great hire!

2.2 mil puts us in the 50-60 range of highest paid coach. It’s pretty obvious There isn’t much room to grow from there. Add in the that we have one of the worst fan followings in CFB, 30 years as a dumpster fire, the past two coaches seemed to hate coaching here (and I’m sure that gets around in coaching circles. I assume this is due not only to a lack of interest in SMU football, but also major issues in dealing with the university asministration that put us in a competitive disadvantage), I would say it isn’t a very attractive job to most coaches.

I remember when we paid June 2 mil, at the time that put him as like the 20th highest paid coach. Now we are in the middle when it comes to pay. If we were still paying the 20th highest salary I’d say there would be a little more interest.

we were last in line this year. we got a good coach. move on.

dr rc wrote:

Charleston Pony wrote:

ericdickerson4life wrote:We went 7-5, best of CM stint here, with a better than good chance to regress next season and people think we are going to go out and land the nations best available coach. Hmmm

This is my concern, i.e., that any coach looking to take over this program HAS TO KNOW that we have a good chance of having a losing record next year so they will look bad right out of the gate. To get anywhere near the 7-5 this team posted next year, they are going to have to win road games at UNT, UConn, Tulsa and Tulane, none of which will be easy and will ABSOLUTELY have to beat Cincy and either Navy or Houston at home, because I don't see wins coming against TCU, Michigan, Memphis or UCF. I honestly believe Chad had a sense of urgency about bailing on this program.

Yea, it had nothing to do with getting an offer to coach at an SEC school for way more pay, far better facilities, and for a fanbase that doesn't embarrasses it's players w/10k crowds that typically get up and leave en masse in the 3rd quarter.

It had everything to do with getting a better job at a school that actually cares about competing at the highest level. Just saying Chad knew his window of opportunity might have closed after a back slide next year. Kudos to him for landing the Arkansas gig.

HubbaHubba wrote:ALL coaches are available it seems. I just didn't realize we are that awful that we can not realistically expect to get anyone better. If it is Dykes vs leaving the position unfilled I guess he's a great hire!

Rumors are that Sumlin and Orlando both said no to SMU. So give us a list of available coaches who want this job.