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Very sad

Copeland: "I never ceased to be amazed and grateful for those Mustang fans who do come back…year after year. I have been involved in athletics as a football player and administrator for more than 40 years and have never seen anyone more loyal than those SMU followers who have stayed with us.

I understand why others have not come back. This season I am asking that you give us another try. We need your support now more than ever. Your presence in Ford Stadium this fall will impact a lot more than our attendance statistics. The welfare of all our other teams – those that put us high in the national standings for overall athletic excellence every year – depends on football attendance. Our coaches and players depend on it, too. So does our school.

There are some numbers we cannot change. We’re a small school both in undergraduate enrollment [6,299 in 2003-04] and alumni in the Dallas-Fort Worth area [approximately 24,000] especially compared to state schools. What we must change is the percentage of SMU students and alumni that we do have who will give SMU football a first try…or another look…in 2004."

Yeah, I'm one of the 'loyalists'...I just want to see some wins. Get some "W"s up there on that board and the others will return. It still saddens me how the student body treats the team. Pitiful.

Atleast we all know we are die hard SMU fans!

I read that another way. Here's a man who desperately wants to win. He also understands better than any of us the realities of the economics of college sports today. And he couples evidence of his knowledge of what it takes to build a team (patience - he seems supportive of KState's decision to keep Snyder) and optimism (when he talks about the improvement we'll see this year, with Coach Burns's new-look offense and the infusion of young talent.

Had Copeland blown a lot of smoke about how we're toing to go 11-0 this year, I would have stopped reading. Had he said we'll sell out Ford every game this year, I would have stopped reading. But he presented a very realistic view of the future, and that included his apparent confidence that the team will improve, beginning this year. He doesn't have unreal expectations, but he does expect the team to get better. So do I.

if smu really wants to 'win' - they'd fight the bcs-bs & not give in & accept the situation the way it is!!!!

so until that 'fight' is started, we truly can't expect too much...

smu is simply short-changing themselves & the rest of us in wanting pity and our bucks.

its time to fight it - smu! quit rolling over like a lapdog!

How should the fight begin? I like the idea of totally derailing the BCS as we know it, don't get me wrong, but I'm curious how SMU should tackle it? I would think we have other priorities at the moment, wouldn't you?
Maybe tackle it after the seasons are over?

I tell ya-I really have a problem with Copeland wrapping SMU around the success of K-State when that turnaround was accomplished using every trick in the book to recruit the exact same players who are not able to admitted to this university. K-State became nationally competitive because they created a Model which would allow the recruitment of 25-40 JC players on each teams roster. The question remains-has Bennett been given the exact same support from the administration that Snyder got at K-State to turn around the program. That my friends is the crux of the issue-administrative support and a reasonable Model for success.

I wholeheartedly agree with Stallion, but would expand on it a small bit.

When you include JCs and CCs, K-State has 50-60 on their roster.

It is therefore misleading to compare K-State to SMU.

You make an interesting point Stallion, but what kind of players was Snyder using those first three years when he went 1-36-1? Was he using JC players then too? San Jose with all their JC players is no K-State. I have nothing against using JC players, but I think we have all agreed, including yourself, that they are best used for filling in holes when needed. Eventually you have to have recruiting classes full of great players every year and mostly high school players such that you create a steady stream of replacements for each graduating class. Besides, we all know that not every JC player is a great player.

I thought Copeland's request for the fans that have stopped coming to the games to come back and give the athletic department and team another chance was sincere and an important move that needs to be made. We still need some time to keep things rolling in the right direction and we need everyones support and help NOW in order to fulfill the NCAA requirements and keep us afloat while the improvements are made. Anyway, that was my reason for making sure people had a chance to read what he had written.

I noticed that the new 15,000 rule was tweaked in the W. Post today. That you can only dip below 15,000 twice in a ten year period. After that you are ineligible for bowl games (it didn't say how long), and if you have two more years under 15,000 in that ten year period you go to 1-AA. The bowl loss could cripple a program in my opinion. They said 6 MAC teams did not average 15,000 last year. I also noticed that the travel, food and lodging rules were changed. No more private jets, no more limosines, no more luxury hotels, no more catered meals. They said schools in Texas, Florida and California shouldn't be impacted very much. Schools like Purdue, Nebraska, Tennessee, Virginia Tech will be hurt due to their long distance from airports and the lack of direct flights to those airports. The 48 hour rule continues from the moment the recruit boards the plane to the school to when he gets back to his home town. This means that more of the visit will be spent in transit and less at the school. They of course also mentioned no strippers, alcohol to minors, etc. (Rice gets handicapped again). I assume many of our recruits and their parents come by bus or car since they are in state and Tubbs and Bennett are focusing their efforts on driving distance recruits.

If you counted people in the stands, I'm virtually certain in the 0-fer run on the Hilltop last season SMU did not average 15k. I was at every game and it just ain't so. Interesting that the new rule has been revised a bit, can you post a link to that article?

I'm not sure that I agree with Stallion that a "reasonable model for success" at SMU includes 25-40 jucos on any given year's roster. Seems impractical to me to expect that to come to pass at SMU.

I agree with Stallion that Bennett needs to be allowed to have more opportunity. It has been an issue that has been harming SMU for quite some time. I don't think that he means we need to run out and find 20 to 30 JC recruits, just some more, and some that would make a quick impact in areas that the team could use some support. I don't think that SMU would ever attract that many JC players, but by gosh, would it really kill the school to get maybe 10 to 15? I don't think so. A balance of where we gain the players would make a differnce, and allow for a good approach to raising the level of play by our programs.

Fighting the bcs alone is impossible. As noted in other posts, a SMU alum tried to sue the ncaa. No go. It must be an effort driven by many schools, willing to put some of their differences aside just loong enough to benefit everyone.

I too read of the changes in recruiting. I laugh when a virginia tech or clemson complains about being too far away from a "major" airport. It is about a hour and a half from Greensboro, NC to blacksburg. It is 2 hours from Raleigh/Durham to Roanoke, VA. Another 1/2 hr. from there to blacksburg. Heck, the ACC baseball tournament is in Salem, VA. It really isn't that "remote." Same senario for clemson. It isn't that far from Greenville/Spartanburg to clemson. Plus, they are a state school with PLENTY of support and $$$. I know what the ncaa isn't huge, but at least it is a start. The real equalizer would be to limit the budgets of the programs. If every school could only spend the same money, keeping budgets down, THAT would make a big impact.

Meanwhile, SMU needs the support of every one of us. No matter how small, no matter where we live. The time is now to really make a stand.

Go Ponies!

Posted by No Cal Pony:

...would it really kill the school to get maybe 10 to 15 (JUCOS)?

No Cal Pony - are you suggesting 10-15 JUCOS in one class or 10-15 JUCOS in the SMU football program at one time?

No Cal Pony wrote:Fighting the bcs alone is impossible. As noted in other posts, a SMU alum tried to sue the ncaa. No go. It must be an effort driven by many schools, willing to put some of their differences aside just loong enough to benefit everyone.

Keep in mind the BCS is a different entity that the NCAA, and an exclusionary one at that. As Stallion has pointed out in the past, the antitrust issues involving the BCS are likely more meritorious than those re the NCAA. But you're right, it would be prohibitively costly and impractical for anything short of a concerted effort among the have-nots to attempt to take the haves to court.