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In an assessment of the 2001 recruiting class, the DMN today stated that while Cavan thought this class was his most athletic, it was probably his worse. When Bennett took over in 2002, only four starters were from the 2001 class.

Interesting letter to the paper on Page 8C from John Slocum who is a professor of management at SMU. Trying to find it on the DMN site.

Questions rewarding Bennett with a contract extension and mentions making changes in the athletic department.

From reading the letter, it sounds like he is more interested in results on the field than in the class room. Very interesting comments from a SMU professor.

I found it a bit odd too - although I kind of like the idea of a professor wanting results on the field

Well unlike english and other liberal arts professors who should not comment on ANYTHING outside their discipline EVER, a business professor actually understands the real world, and the importance of winning football.

If an athlete really wants to graduate we should do everything we can to make sure that happens. If they don't...well...they made their decision. Nobody force me to graduate. Why should athletes get such special treatment?

[quote="mustangbill67"]In an assessment of the 2001 recruiting class, the DMN today stated that while Cavan thought this class was his most athletic, it was probably his worse. When Bennett took over in 2002, only four starters were from the 2001 class.[/quote] Why are you sitting around taking about how bad our 2001 recruiting class was when our present 2006 class is ranked 93rd in Div. 1 by Rivals today ? What you might want to say is we all hope Coach Bennett has alot of quality recruits to surprise us with on signing day Or this 2006 class is just another bottom 20% class.

westexSMU wrote:Why are you sitting around taking about how bad our 2001 recruiting class was when our present 2006 class is ranked 93rd in Div. 1 by Rivals today ? What you might want to say is we all hope Coach Bennett has alot of quality recruits to surprise us with on signing day Or this 2006 class is just another bottom 20% class.

You don't think we can have a class of all "diamonds in the rough"?

I couldn't find the letter on the DMN site. Would someone be so kind as to post a link, if possible? Thanks in advance.

KnuckleStang wrote:I couldn't find the letter on the DMN site. Would someone be so kind as to post a link, if possible? Thanks in advance.

I don't think it is on the site since it was a letter to the editor.

PonySnob, Diamonds in the rough? Man, I hope so but you know, if you look at the other teams in the Bottom 20%, I don't any of them pulling it off either.

SMU's Folly?

In 1975, Steve Kerr wrote a seminal article titled "The folly of rewarding A while hoping for B." The decision to extend SMU football coach Phil Bennett's contract is an example of this.

We are rewarding a coach with one of the worst records in Division 1-A football, while hoping that he will improve. From corporate America to not-for-profits to colleges, there is widespread evidence that supports the presence of this phenomenon.

The data in most of these cases indicate the the behavior of the person will not change because they have been rewarded for being unsuccessful, the criteria for success are changed. {Jim} copeland, {Gerald} Turner and others on the athletic committee will begin to praise our football graduation rate, not success on the football field. How does SMU want to keep score.

Does anyone care that UT has one of the lowest football graduation rates in the Big 12? Perhaps it is time to make changes in the athletic department.

John Slocum
O. Paul Corley Professor of Management, SMU

westexSMU wrote:

mustangbill67 wrote:In an assessment of the 2001 recruiting class, the DMN today stated that while Cavan thought this class was his most athletic, it was probably his worse. When Bennett took over in 2002, only four starters were from the 2001 class.

Why are you sitting around taking about how bad our 2001 recruiting class was when our present 2006 class is ranked 93rd in Div. 1 by Rivals today ? What you might want to say is we all hope Coach Bennett has alot of quality recruits to surprise us with on signing day Or this 2006 class is just another bottom 20% class.

I believe you need to read what is being said more closely. I was just repeating an assessment given of our 2001 class by the DMN in todays paper and its conclusion that Bennett had to build from the bottom. Whether he is accomplishing that is a matter of opinion. Obviously, yours is on the negative side.

The Sobering Reality is that both Cavan and Bennett started relatively strong in recruiting and when results on the field were not satisfactory the recruiting declined precipitously especially in direct relationship with TCU. The gap between SMU and TCU Recruiting Years 2006, 2005 and 2004 has now grown almost as big as in Cavan's last years. And by the way I do know the score to last years game. The additional reality is that Mike Cavan had a much more difficult job in terms of recruiting not to mention the cakewalk scgedule and embarrassingly weak CUSA West.

PonySnob wrote:You don't think we can have a class of all "diamonds in the rough"?

You got diamonds and you got poo poo.

-Emmitt Smith

Do you think that Bennett and Copeland (and to a degree Turner) really care about grad rates over winning? No, as far as they are concerned, they know that it would be much more beneficial to get some W's over degrees. So why is this professor calling them out for it? Shouldn't he be pointing the fingers at the faculty senate, his colleagues? Yes, the athletic dept gave Bennett the extension, but who's behind the grad rates and ridiculous standards for athletes and lack of athletic majors? A letter like this is a start, but I'd love to see someone, especially someone on the inside like this, call out the faculty senate. It just seems kind of circular, for the professors (ok maybe not this guy specifically) to get all pissy about athletic department decisions, while sitting back and doing nothing to help in the ways they can, with transferrable credits, majors, etc.