...back to what you guys were saying about the ladies...

[smustang61]

I agree that the team has gone through a lot this year. But it seems that every year is full of excuses as to why they haven't reached post season play. Basically, I'm tired of hearing "just wait till next season."

I'm ready for the NCAA's again! It's been 4 years! Has Rompola lost her touch?

[Sic_em]

Does Copeland demand excellence from any of his programs? He let Dement coast along for years with nothing to show for it. Football certainly hasn't improved under his watch. He was getting excellence from the track program and you see how he responded to it.

[OnceAMustang21]

I agree that the team has gone through a lot this year. But it seems that every year is full of excuses as to why they haven't reached post season play. Basically, I'm tired of hearing "just wait till next season."

I'm ready for the NCAA's again! It's been 4 years! Has Rompola lost her touch?

I agree with you smumustang61....Rhonda has lost her touch.....I mean four years since a NCAA appearance...where's the consistency?? Most NCAA worthy teams only barely miss the tournament. SMU hasn't even post a .500 season since they went in 2000. You know, Dement, was cut loose after a couple of bad seasons. When is Copeland gonna tell Rhonda to "hit the road"?

[couch 'em]

Dement was fired after many bad seasons because his coaching was recognized as poor, and he seemed to squander talent, and go down hill. Based all the mens and womens games in the past 3 years, and the WAC tourneys, it is very obvious that Rhonda is a very skilled coach. To lose her would be a mistake.

[fighting_stangs]

I think I'll somewhat have to agree with the original post. I do believe Rhonda has lost her touch. No doubt she is a capable coach and understands the game better than most men coaches, but she has recruited great players and has done nothing impressive with them in these past 4 years.

I don't know if any of you read the article on Kaira White, but it was a slap in the face to Rhonda and her program (and it was intended to be a good article). It basically pointed out the fact that White is a problem child, uncontrollable, and "plays with fire." And it's something that Rompola continues to put up with. (Could this REALLY be why White "left" Texas.)

But besides that aspect, I personally got tired of seeing all the tantrums being thrown on the court everytime a call was made that the mustangs didn't agree with. Andrea Cossey and Kaira White were the ring leaders. When in the past has this ever been acceptable behavior by Rhonda's ladies??

I know, I know...not many of you out there are both men and women's bball fans, and could care less about this post. But I think in order for Rhonda's team to become successful again, discipline needs to be reestablished.

[GoRedGoBlue]

Does Copeland demand excellence from any of his programs? He let Dement coast along for years with nothing to show for it. Football certainly hasn't improved under his watch. He was getting excellence from the track program and you see how he responded to it.

BASKETBALL makes money,

TRACK loses money - it is a net expense and financial drain. Don't blame COPELAND for this...we'd probably still have it if FB and BB were more successful, we could afford it more.

DEMENT had winning seasons except his first and until this year.

DEMENT won 20 games

DEMENT had a lucrative contract that was guaranteed.

SMU's budget is tight and could not afford to pay him out and a new coach.

DEMENT had a quality recruit (HOPKINS) that was a freshman and played injured last year...they won against RANKED TTECH and PURDUE this year and were looking good, but it all fell apart.

I don't personally think DEMENT was a good coach, just a good recruiter.

TITLE IX played a factor.


Quit throwing out HSOs without any proof or justification for your opinions, please.

[Sic_em]

So track has to be cut because football and men's basketball aren't doing well? Who is responsible for the oversight of those two programs? No WAC regular season or conference tourney titles, one pathetic one and out appearance in the NIT for hoops...Mike Dement was mediocre at best and was allowed to hang around nine years. Football...do we need to go there? If Copeland is complaining about football and basketball not winning enough games and making enough money, he needs to look in the mirror if he wants to blame someone.

[OnceAMustang21]

I think I'll somewhat have to agree with the original post. I do believe Rhonda has lost her touch. No doubt she is a capable coach and understands the game better than most men coaches, but she has recruited great players and has done nothing impressive with them in these past 4 years.

I don't know if any of you read the article on Kaira White, but it was a slap in the face to Rhonda and her program (and it was intended to be a good article). It basically pointed out the fact that White is a problem child, uncontrollable, and "plays with fire." And it's something that Rompola continues to put up with. (Could this REALLY be why White "left" Texas.)

But besides that aspect, I personally got tired of seeing all the tantrums being thrown on the court everytime a call was made that the mustangs didn't agree with. Andrea Cossey and Kaira White were the ring leaders. When in the past has this ever been acceptable behavior by Rhonda's ladies??

I know, I know...not many of you out there are both men and women's bball fans, and could care less about this post. But I think in order for Rhonda's team to become successful again, discipline needs to be reestablished.

Rhonda has never been the type of coach to put up with players who didn't have discipline. It's obvious that these players are beginning take advantage of her, and they aren't winning as a result. But then again, Rhonda isn't doing much to control her team. She's lost complete control, on and off the court. You never saw her players from the NCAA team throw a fit because of a bad call, or get upset because a shot wasn't falling. No, they just got up and played their hearts out......they didn't waste time throwing tantrums over things they couldnt' change. I think that's the determining factor in why Rhonda's teams aren't successful now.
Rhonda, you need to get a hold of your team or you'll never go back to where the program once was.......

[Always a Mustang]

There is no question in my mind that Rhonda is an excellent coach. It might be noted that when assistant coach John Newlee left so did our trips to the NCAAs. John is now the head coach..of a team going to the NIT this year. Hmmmmmm..

[EastStang]

Sometimes your recruits turn out to be me first type of players who are uncontrollable. This happens in sports over and over again. As a coach do you bench arguably your best players as a disciplinary move and risk a revolt? Do you work with them and hope they overcome whatever demons they have and know that in four years they'll be gone? Do you get the chaplain to perform an exorcism? Do you kick them off the team (aka St. Johns/Washington Capitals) and start from scratch? Rhonda has earned some leniency due to her past performance here. You have to produce, but a bad couple of apples can spoil four years.

[fighting_stangs]

Always a Mustang, that is an awesome point. I've heard through the grapevine that Newlee was practically the head coach during his stay at SMU and wasn't afraid to enforce discipline.

Also...did you know that Kaira White was suspended from pre-season for a week. She supposedly got in a verbal confrontation with an RA in the dorms and got in a fight with one of her own teammates. The RA chose to press charges but White got off with community service. White was slapped on the wrist with a week vacation from pre-season. One girl on the team commented that White didn't have to do any make-up work for missing the 6am workouts for a week. Man, that must be some tough punishment. So yeah...I bet Newlee wouldn't have let that fly.

[OnceAMustang21]

I think, as a coach, you have to enforce discipline to your players, on and off the court. If players aren't showing responsibility off the court, what makes a coach think they are going to do the same on the court? In Kaira's case, yeah, I think Rhonda should have cut her. Rhonda has let her players walk all over her for the past four years....she plays favorites and it shows. Would Cossey have gotten the same punishment that say a freshman would have got? probably not.....If kaira wasn't doing her part to represent the team on a positive level, whether she is the best player or not, then yes Kaira should be cut....that just shows she's selfish and she doesn't want to be a part of a team anyway.....Teams can't win with selfish players......Maybe Rhonda needs to reevaluate the type of people she recruits

[Fresh]

VERY interesting points from OnceAMustang21, fighting_stangs and Always a Mustang. When assistant coach Lisa Dark played at SMU (1989 and 1990), Coach Rompola was an assistant under then-head coach Welton Brown. If any of you ever met Coach Brown, you'll agree that he was one of the nicest men who ever lived .... perhaps to a fault. There were many who thought he was too nice, that he let the players off the hook from hard work because he didn't want to upset them or something. I always had the impression that it was Coach Rompola who was the disciplinarian of that team, playing Bad Cop to Coach Brown's Good Cop routine. Based on this string of posts, either I clearly was misinformed or Coach Rompola has undergone something of a metomorphasis.

[RGV Pony]

Somehow I don't think that crap would fly with Marsha Sharp or Pat Summitt. I think maybe Rompola has gotten tunnel vision on the hilltop...just okay with the status quo (i.e. mediocrity). TTech was built on small town w. Texas women (e.g. Swoopes from Brownfield). When Swoopes was gone, in came more w. Texas women, and they continued to prosper. I would think it would be an easier task in Dallas-it bothers me when I see small town athletes from close by wind up somewhere other than SMU (kind of pining for Bennett's 300 mile radius thing). I saw UT the other day with a young lady from Winnsboro (e. Texas), for example...there's plenty of avenues for success; I'm just not so sure the ladies are in a rut that they're not going to emerge from unless the status quo is changed.

[fighting_stangs]

I would have to say I also agree with the recruiting factor. There are lots of small town talents going off to schools like Texas and Texas Tech. I wish Rompola and crew could snag some of these kids. But unfortunately, they continue to sign mediocre inner-city kids who don't have the work ethic and determination that will carry them to the NCAA's. But I will have to give credit to Newlee once again. Once he left, so did our Canadian players. Talk about SCRAPPY! Those kids were fun to watch and they had no problem getting their knees dirty. That was back in the day of Karen Blair as well. I can only imagine the thoughts going through her head right now, because she was a part of a program that went to the NCAA's year after year. She knew what the program was, and I'm sure she's frustrated with the downfall it has taken. No doubt that the team now is a complete turn-around of the type of team that the Mustangs used to be.