How do we build up SMU Swagger and dominate the AAC?

[Big12Mustang]

Basketball has done a great deal in building up a whole new kind of SMU swagger in our city and the community...people perceive us as the new sexy team in Texas. How do we build up that SMU swagger in all other sports, especially Football, in this new era of SMU athletics??
Do we need a new coach? New facilities? More money? Wins?

[mustangxc]

Strong recruiters.

[East Coast Mustang]

Honestly we had it when June first came. It was a big, big hire at the time and really surprised people on the national stage. We had it rolling in 2011 after the TCU win, with Klemm recruiting, Gabe Marks committed and some other big time guys considering us. Then the UCF game happened where no one showed up, the infamous letter in the student newspaper, the ensuing ASU fiasco, and now here we are 2.5 years later.

We need a coach who is engaged in the Dallas community and committed to selling this program to recruits and fans. June couldn't care less about those things in 2014.

[MustangStealth]

New overhead projector. Kids love those things.

[ojaipony]

All about the players. It's amazing how "good" a coach is when he has the best players. LB himself said he realized that "years ago".

And, on the college level (even tiki said this), a coach has FAR more direct control over personnel than on the pro level where the GM and owner in many cases basically make all those decisions (I'm sure there's consultation with the coaches, but the point is that on the college level there's really no one to answer to except just following the rules set out by the National Communists' Athletic Association).

So, want swagger? Recruit players with swagger. Want domination? Recruit the best athletes, you might actually get one or two. Heck, I would be happy with just ONE top DFW 100. Forget about Texas top 100 or even NATIONAL top 100. Can we simply get a DFW top 100? Or, even less, actively recruit one hard?!? $2M says it's not too much to ask for.

[SMU2007]

Step 1. New coach
Step 2. Hire people who give a crap
Step 3. Aggressive recruiting. No more rosters filled with players without a D1 offer. (It's ok to have a few "diamonds in the rough", just not 90% of your roster).
Step 4. Start competing with locally relevant teams like Baylor, Tech etc.
Step 5. Get attention from the Dallas community and energize current students/alumni

[East Coast Mustang]

All about the players. It's amazing how "good" a coach is when he has the best players. LB himself said he realized that "years ago".

And, on the college level (even tiki said this), a coach has FAR more direct control over personnel than on the pro level where the GM and owner in many cases basically make all those decisions (I'm sure there's consultation with the coaches, but the point is that on the college level there's really no one to answer to except just following the rules set out by the National Communists' Athletic Association).

So, want swagger? Recruit players with swagger. Want domination? Recruit the best athletes, you might actually get one or two. Heck, I would be happy with just ONE top DFW 100. Forget about Texas top 100 or even NATIONAL top 100. Can we simply get a DFW top 100? Or, even less, actively recruit one hard?!? $2M says it's not too much to ask for.

Pretty sure Daniel Gresham was DFW Top 100- likely much higher than that. Evan Brown and Jordan Ingram likely were as well

Bottom line the biggest problem with JJ's tenure here has been his inability to find a QB and groom him a la Timmy Chang and Colt Brennan at Hawaii. We all thought Padron was it and he didn't work out; Gilbert was good a carried us these past two years but he was never great- look at his games for us against Big 12 competition- he wasn't that good. Kaiser had health issues and never worked out, hopefully Burcham will be that guy this year that steps up and finally "gets it." He's had a RS year and experience last year- he should be good to go. As long as JJ has been here we've only been as good as our defense which is odd considering he's known as an offensive guru

[GiddyUp]

Get a new coach. Should have dominated the CUSA years ago. Recruiting Recruiting Recruiting....not that hard.

[redpony]

answer is simple- get a new coach who will recruit and embrace our traditions and university- ala LB.

[SMUer]

"Fear the Horse" billboards everywhere?

^^^bait^^^

[Statler]

Better deck chairs and more ice?

[FriscoChuck]

Win. And win against teams fans care about. To win you need top recruits. To get recruits need a coach that has assistants that can recruit. How many 3/4 star recruits do we have lined up so far?

[Big12Mustang]

"Fear the Horse" billboards everywhere?

^^^bait^^^

Heck no! What's next? Change our color to purple?!?!

[Fresno Mustang]

Honestly we had it when June first came. It was a big, big hire at the time and really surprised people on the national stage. We had it rolling in 2011 after the TCU win, with Klemm recruiting, Gabe Marks committed and some other big time guys considering us. Then the UCF game happened where no one showed up, the infamous letter in the student newspaper, the ensuing ASU fiasco, and now here we are 2.5 years later.

We need a coach who is engaged in the Dallas community and committed to selling this program to recruits and fans. June couldn't care less about those things in 2014.

Spot on. I remember the tech game we lost in lubbock a few years ago,despite losing you never had the feeling were out of the game and our players thought that too. Last year against some teams you thought the games were over before they started

[Mustangs35SMU]

A coach that wants to be here.

A solid recruiter.

Beating teams that are actually decent.

Beating teams that people in the state of Texas have heard of before.