Mr Jim Copeland

[Nacho]

I am now calling for the immediate resignation of Jim Copeland as Athletic Director. He has hired two football coaches who under his leadership have not performed up to expectations. Mr Copeland has presided over a department that has not in any substational way modified recruiting restrictions regarding junior college and transfer student-athletes of d-1 schools so that they may more easily be admitted to this university. Mr Copeland has failed miserably at his job. He must resign now so that a new AD may be found in a timely manner to lead a search to find a new head football coach. Without these changes SMU is doomed to repeat the cycle of hiring and firing coaches about every four years. Mr Copeland has demonstrated no competence in the hiring of football coaches. He has been given ample opportunity. In 10 years he has not been able to produce a winning football program at SMU. Mr Copeland has demonstrated no competence in the shaping of an athletic model that will allow SMU to be competitive on the football field. He is unable to modify admissions standards adequately so that we may admit student-athletes who can help this team win. Mr Copeland you must look deep within yourself and do the right thing. Do it because you know in your heart that you are not the man for this job. Do it for the fans of SMU. Do it for the the student-athletes of SMU. Do it for the future coaches of SMU. Resign now. May you find success in your new life outside of SMU sports. Time is of the essence. This must be done now. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

[Billy Joe]

Thank you for this honest and truthful post. It is refreshing to me that there are others who see through the absolut b s coming from this university. SMU football is at an all-time low. Get rid of the losers now: i.e., Bennett, his loser assistants, and Copeland (or chubby). I do not tolerate losing. Do you SMU fans? Do you settle for average in your every day life? I do not. So we either follow my instructions or become losers and start driving Kias. For one, I did not go to SMU to be average. It is time to rise up SMU nation. Follow Billy's lead and kick the losers out of this university.

[SMUstang]

Mr. Copeland was an offensive lineman in college. Why do you expect him to be thin and trim?

Let's stop these personal attacks against people. Can you really blame yesterday's loss on Jim Copeland? Come on, be honest.

[Nacho]

Of course I can blame the loss on Jim Copeland. He is the CEO of SMU sports. The buck stops with him. He is the man responsible for the state of SMU football. He bears the burden of all that is wrong with the football program. Until he goes SMU will continue in this never-ending cycle of changing coaches about every 4 years. He must go. Someone who has the passion to turn around the program must be hired. Until then we really aren't accomplishing anything. The fire Bennett crowd can talk all day but he is not the cause of the problem. He is a symptom of the problem.

A new AD can tackle the problems of recruiting whether it involves hs players, juco players or d-1 transfers. He can create a new model. He will be the one to hire and fire coaches. Jim Copeland has proven to be woefully inadequate in all of these areas.

[drummer]

How can we find and hire a good football that can lead us back to
contending for titles when we have been at the bottom for so long.
I still think this can be done but not if we continue to be handcuffed
by recruiting restictions.Building a great place like FORD STADIUM
makes no sense at all when we cannot compete on the same level
as other schools.

[MrMustang1965]

Refer to the thread 'Can We Get a Town Hall Meeting with Turner' for other ponyfans' take on this subject.

[Charleston Pony]

Maybe I'm missing something, but to suggest it is Copeland's fault that we can't recruit the same guys everyone else can because of admission policies and transfer credit policies??? I guess I never knew the A.D had so much clout

[Butts in the Stands]

I keep hearing that our admission and recruting policies are more restrictive than the NCAA minimums and that SMU needs to change them to level the playing field. Can anyone tell me specifically what policies we have in place and how they compare to the minimum NCAA requirements?

[PlanoStang]

Maybe I'm missing something, but to suggest it is Copeland's fault that we can't recruit the same guys everyone else can because of admission policies and transfer credit policies??? I guess I never knew the A.D had so much clout

Yup he does or should have clout, but he isn't using it to communcate, and COMPLAIN enough to his superiors that his coaches don't have the tools (see above) to do their job properly.

He can also refuse to scapegoat his own hired coaches if pressured to fire them from above citing they don't have the tools to do the job properly.

He seems to have no real connection, or passion for SMU athletics, and doesn't want to rock the boat which might jeopardize his steady paycheck.

[TexasHerdFan]

Guys, I feel your pain. Think how we felt after our most unfortuante plane accident in 1970. We held teh course and teh benefits are coming in. By my math, that was 35 years ago; SMU's DP was 17 years ago, and IMO, it was cruel and unusual punitive punishment by the NCAA. I have been to your campus (during Ole Miss's Cotton Bowl Preparation, a relative of mine used to be the head coach) and it is beautiful; campus and all. NOt to mention a very fertile recruting area.

I am wondring, why if fan support and donations are going down, does the current administration fail to admit there are problems? I grew up watching the famed Pony Express and want badly for y'all to get back to your rightful place on College Football.

Good Luck!

[Stallion]

its a school power struggle made possible by a swing in the school's athletic model and governing structure resulting from the NCAA Death Penalty. Unfortunately we got the President Kenneth Pye Penalty which is SOLE and ONLY remaining cause of our problems-the Death Penaly is just an excuse for complete ineptitude.

[jtstang]

its a school power struggle made possible by a swing in the school's athletic model and governing structure resulting from the NCAA Death Penalty. Unfortunately we got the President Kenneth Pye Penalty which is SOLE and ONLY remaining cause of our problems-the Death Penaly is just an excuse for complete ineptitude.

Well, except that if the "school power struggle made possible by a swing in the school's athletic model and governing structure" truly resulted from the death penalty, as you suggest in your first sentence, then the conclusion in your second sentence is oversimplistic in its ignorace of this proximate cause. Remember, but for the death penalty, there would have been no expulsion of L. Donald Shields, et al., and thus no hiring of Ken Pye, et al., etc. So while I agree the death penalty is not the reason for our ineptitude in and of itself, it was certainly the catalyst for it.

[SWC2010]

[
Well, except that if the "school power struggle made possible by a swing in the school's athletic model and governing structure" truly resulted from the death penalty, as you suggest in your first sentence, then the conclusion in your second sentence is oversimplistic in its ignorace of this proximate cause. Remember, but for the death penalty, there would have been no expulsion of L. Donald Shields, et al., and thus no hiring of Ken Pye, et al., etc. So while I agree the death penalty is not the reason for our ineptitude in and of itself, it was certainly the catalyst for it.

-----------------

NOTE TO SELF: It is Monday, October 3rd, 2005, 2:31 PM EST.

For some reason, I find myself completely agreeing with an entire post from JTStang.

[jtstang]

You should really have that checked.

[EastStang]

Copeland is the hired gladhander of Turner and the Board of Trustees. Until they change the policies, you can put another gladhander, showman, ringleader, organ grinder or whatever other name you want to call him and we'll still have the same results. These changes are at the Board of Trustees level and need to be made there. Copeland is just bailing the water out of the hull. Fire coach so it looks like we care. Hire new coach who promises to turn it around. Fire coach so it looks like we care. Hire new coach who says all the right stuff. Fire AD so it looks like we care. Hire new AD, he/she fires coach, so it looks like we care. Hire new coach who promises the moon. And the cycle goes on and on. We won't get a great coaching candidate until the AD can say to the candidate, we'll made these changes to make your job easier. And if they made those changes, Bennett might just turn things around.