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I don't think any of us can deny that Cavan's done a good job of getting talent here... like we've heard all along, he's a great recruiter.

Problem is, he can't coach a football team.

I mean, they don't play badly; the first quarter of the TCU game was a great testament to that. The problem is, when they make a big mistake, it snowballs, and they never recover.

You don't see other teams doing that; that's because other teams have coaches that can get their team to pull their heads out and go back to playing ball.

TCU made mistakes; they moved on.

SMU made mistakes; they made more mistakes.

Heck, they didn't start blowing us out until all the interceptions started happening. And one led to another...

Cavan just can't get this team to recover from mistakes.

My solution? Don't fire him... but drop Cavan to a strictly recruiting role, and bring in someone that can turn the 'Stangs around after someone screws up.

Any thoughts?

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-- GG

"...and right 'till the end we'll stand..."

Not a bad idea, but if Cavan has a shred of pride, he'd never accept such a demotion. And besides, Coach Ringo is doing a fine job running recruiting. I think Cavan is going to wait for his release, then bolt back to Georgia. Let's hope Fresno gets a bid to a BCS bowl, so we can cash that check as a member of the WAC. Then let's follow their lead in building a team

If we hire a new coach, he will bring in his own staff, so that Cavan demotion thing gets thrown out the window.

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Go Ponies!

Cavan is a GOOD recruiter? Oh, please! Read today's (Sun. Sept. 9, 2001) edition of The Dallas Morning News and columnist Kevin R. Blackistone's piece in SportsDay, Part 2 (SMU Embarrassed in more ways than one) about how TCU had 16 Dallas-area players on its roster (7 starters and 6 backups and 3 others)...players that SMU should have gotten! SMU *MUST* start looking in its own 'backyard', so to speak, for local area high school talent to cultivate on The Hilltop and to keep the relatives and friends of 'the locals' attending games at Ford Stadium! Yes, there are TEXANS on the team, to be sure...but SMU *MUST* start cultivating the 'local' talent to come to school there! I'll be posting a separate message about this and other 'flaws' in SMU's football program shortly.

OK, you raise a good point: yes, we need to recruit guys around Dallas better. I don't deny that. But the bottom line of my point is still valid: we have the talent to do a LOT better than we do.

I mean, if you count it up, there were what, four touchdowns caused directly by stupid mistakes? Two interceptions and two fumbles, all in the red zone? Something like that?

That's 28 points.

We LOST by 28 points.

If Cavan could just cut down on the stupid mistakes, we'd be fine... we wouldn't be GREAT, but we'd be off to a great start.

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-- GG

"...and right 'till the end we'll stand..."