Tired, tired, tired.........

[Bergermeister]

Go ahead, sit down.

[jtstang]

I love how you guys always claim that "anyone who can not see that we are better off under Coach B than we were after Coach A was fired are willfully blind". And yet Coach B never reaches the level at which Coach A had the program.

I agree with you that the athletic programs need to be overhauled at a basic level, but good god, man, even you must see that allowing Dement 10 years and Tubbs two sort of skews the comparison.

[Hoop Fan]

all of these arguments are not mutually exclusive. The things I am saying are NOT incompatible for the most part with what Stallions points are, or Pony Fans or So Cal's or usually Fri-Guy. Although, I dont think Friar ever really intended to even give Tubbs a chance. I will say alot of the people on here that were adamently calling for Bennett's head last summer have gone curiously silent. Many, many people were running around with their heads cut off saying this year wouldnt be better, Bennett couldnt do anything right and it would never get better. Now, he had a better season in year 4 of his regime and things look brighter.

SMU has some inherent problems we all know about, some are spoken about more than others. Basketball facilities, no matter what you think of Moody, do not compare at all favorably with the competition. That is not Dements fault or Tubbs fault or the next guys fault. But its a big deal. The perception of SMU, and maybe the reality, of SMU is not good with city kids and alot of middle class kids. Big obstacle.

My thing about Tubbs is he gives us the best chance we have to overcome our obstacles and get some studs that actually can make a difference. Doug Wojcik wasnt going to have a chance at the profile of players you all want. Nothing Tubbs has done on the court or in the players he has brought in has changed the potential he has to hit on some good ones. You guys are all frustrated from the cumulative effects of football, Dement and the rest. Tubbs does not deserve pressure like this in his second year. So to Fri-guy's question, the answer is I don't freakin know what I will think about Tubbs 2 years from now, but I intend to keep an open mind and give the guy a fair chance which constitutes at least 4 years, probably 5 in SMU's case. Reasonable minds can disagree because no one has a crystal ball, and I know you guys want the best for SMU, but I do too, and I think Tubbs can still make this happen. Your alternative is the flavor of the day assistant from the BCS which is really just doing what Stallion is talking about and getting on a merry go round to nothing. At least Tubbs gives us an identity and a profile that reaches out. SMU needs that.

[Charleston Pony]

anyone who thinks this program can be "quick fixed" has slept thru the past 20 years. The football/basketball head coaching jobs at SMU have got to be among the toughest in the country. What makes anyone think that any coach can come in here and turn this train wreck around in 2-3 years? At least Tubbs has support in the community, is a guy who wants to be here and will bust his butt trying to get it done. If he is eventually successful, he's not likely to bolt at the 1st offer from a BCS school. The jury is out on whether he will make any progress...and we should all be concerned about what new players are coming in next year...but we have no choice but to show a little more patience than some on this board are showing.

[SoCal_Pony]

anyone who thinks this program can be "quick fixed" has slept thru the past 20 years.

CP, nobody that I know of on this board thinks SMU's problems can be quick fixed.

I do think a lot of people believe we can make real improvement, especially with our BB program, if we had a more liberal JC admission policy. Clearly a couple of key JC big men 3 or 4 years ago could have made us NIT-worthy, if not NCAA-worthy. That might have been a momentum changer...who knows..

Personally I like Tubbs, I like the fact that he is local and I like his loyalty. I also think he will fail.

The only thing that will change my thinking is if a new AD makes the necessary changes to allow us to compete. This new AD is the biggest event in SMU sports since the DP. Get it right and we can turn this thing around. Remain status quo, and I am afraid the loyal 1,500 will drop to the loyal 1,000 and then some. I know my interest in SMU athletics will wane. I bet I'm not alone....read Blunt Pony's post.

[Cardinal Puff]

When Tubbs arrived he said that SMU was his destination, not a stepping stone. I believe that he has done a good job under the circumstances and has potential to take this team to the level we all want.

He put an emphasis on the player taking responsibility for the outcome. We have stayed in games that prior teams would have just given up on. I don't think that we could have realistically hoped for better recruits than what he has produced to date. The players have improved through the season. He has coached up the talent we have on the floor.

We need to quantify what is between us and tournament level. Why are we less competitive in bringing in players that we lose to academically equivalent competition? Is it a matter of standards or procedures? We talk about this problem but we no one points to specifics. We have improved the junior college recruiting by recognizing a wider spectrum of courses. We still need more athlete friendly studies. When you think that many athletes want to remain in athletics by teaching and SMU has just reinstated a teacher certification program, without an education department, you see progress but not success. Why not major studies in sports management and sports broadcasting?
As to facilities, why not take it out of the backroom. Spell out where we are on fundraising and where we need to be to get the practice facilities and a renovation of Moody.
Tubbs can get this team to the next level. We need an administration that can get SMU to the next level.

[Hoop Fan]

well said, Cardinal Puff. Especially the part of about getting the facts about the moody renovation and practice gym out of the backroom. I got nothing against Copeland, but he did not bring any real light to that project.

[friarwolf]

Hoop,

Full Disclosure time: I wanted Fran Fraschilla to be hired when Tubbs got the job. He lived here, has had a fairly successful head coaching career, is a good recruiter, and I thought he would be happy to stay here long term as he has fairly young kids. The moment I heard about the famous support letter from our "dallas isd friends", I knew Tubbs would get the job and having a son running in the basketball circles, I also knew the commitment would be empty. So far, I have been proved right - because I get the inside skinny from a son who knows and runs with these kids. I also admit I was impressed when Tubbs said this is where he wanted to stay and was going to bring a hard nosed approach to the job. I also was impressed when he busted bhop's [deleted] and other players last year.

I have not been impressed with who has targeted to recruit, the type of game he wants to play, and what I see as a lack of teaching. I get the feeling he thinks he is still at Kimball with better athletes than anyone else. He could roll the ball out there with those teams he had and just win because in the famous words of Switzer, "I got better players than you". He is never going to have here on the college level what he had at Kimball and I fear he can't adjust as evidenced by our team's performance and who he continues to target to recruit. Like it or not, we are never going to be a destination for the elite south Dallas athlete. Academics, conference ties, facilities, our rep as a "rich kid's school" all conspire to drive kids to other places. When you tell these kids they have to pick a real major instead of "institutional studies", they roll on the ground laughing - because they don't want a degree - they want exposure. In their minds, they are all going to be NBA allstars in a couple of years. We have to adjust and get the kind of player who would love to come here and build an offense and defense that puts those kids in a position to be successful. I thought Fraschilla would do better in that regard. The little cloud hanging over Tubbs' head doesn't help either as my number 1 concern is the standing of our university. Do I need to remind everyone we are kicking off a capital campaign targeting over 500MM this year some of which will probably go to creating a new Moody and practice facility. Money tends to dry up when scandals hit so let's all pray this is minor. With all of the hoopla surrounding how ethical the Bushies' administration is, do you think they want to select someplace that might be under an ethical cloud? Can't you just see the headlines?

Bottom line, I would be the first to eat as much crow as you would choose to feed me if Tubbs proves me wrong. I would love nothing better than to have to backtrack if the guy started delivering conference championships and NCAA bids. I just don't see it happening because I see nothing that tells me the product he is delivering is getting better. As Rufus Shaw would say, that's my view from south of the Trinty...................Goonga, galoonga.....................

[Pony_Fan]

We need to quantify what is between us and tournament level. Why are we less competitive in bringing in players that we lose to academically equivalent competition? Is it a matter of standards or procedures? We talk about this problem but we no one points to specifics. We have improved the junior college recruiting by recognizing a wider spectrum of courses. We still need more athlete friendly studies. When you think that many athletes want to remain in athletics by teaching and SMU has just reinstated a teacher certification program, without an education department, you see progress but not success. Why not major studies in sports management and sports broadcasting?
As to facilities, why not take it out of the backroom. Spell out where we are on fundraising and where we need to be to get the practice facilities and a renovation of Moody.
Tubbs can get this team to the next level. We need an administration that can get SMU to the next level.

YES!
These are the questions we all want answered out in the open yet we don't get any answers and it seems to be hidden from all of us. If the AD and the Admin would communicate with us - I think we'd all be MUCH happier.....just communicate with the people. Why are these questions so hard to find out and why aren't we told what is going on like it's some big secret all the time. The PR and communication with those of us who cares totally stinks. How do you fund for a project if nobody knows about it?

[Pony_Fan]

And thank you Friar for that post. I think it helps with some insight from a kid's perspective.

Although I am not sure Tubbs thinks he can roll like Kimball since he was here for 10 yrs, but I get your point.

[Hoop Fan]

Frachilla crossed my mind at the time, but he was coming off of a miserable failure at New Mexico and that was a much better situation than SMU when he took it over. He is a very articulate announcer and a good basketball mind, but honestly, he was too similar to Dement. Dement never had a rep for dealing effectively with the players and it got pretty bad at the end. Frashilla flat out lost his team at New Mexico it sounded like. We could do worse than Frashilla dont get me wrong, but Tubbs was the much better pick for alot of reasons in my opinion.

I dont at all think that Tubbs thinks this is Kimball. How could he? He knows what he is up against at SMU, he was here for years. And I never thought Tubbs was going to waltz south of the trinity and have his choice of players. From day one I said he would pick a few off in time, and give us the best chance to string something together.