Chad Morris: How long do you think he will be Here?

[tristatecoog]

Is Chad's kid the starting freshman QB? I don't think HP sports will hold pappa back from moving.

If some guys start committing and the facilities come together, I think he'll stay a while. Hopefully, the second half of this year won't be enough for Baylor to make a play on him. And that's still a toxic situation.

I've heard UT wants Fedora or Herman. Hopefully Fedora. An Austin College grad!

[mustangxc]

That makes sense, UT did well the last time they poached UNC's football coach.

[mustangxc]

We all know you are a JJ suck up and have been brainwashed by the JJ fan lack of fan support argument. Bottom line is the facilities are more imoportant to recruiting so stop the the JJ suck brainwash crap. Boise St is the only school you can name and they have low academic standards so they can get and keep players that SMU can't.

Not sucking up to JJ. History shows that we bring at most 32,000 fans to watch SMU. Anything beyond that requires a team of local interest in order to boost our attendance. That is why Ford was built to seat 32,000 fans. Are you saying we will be able to compete in terms of attendance with Alabama, Texas, Texas A&M, Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, USC, Tennessee, Oklahoma, etc? Houston and Miami are two schools with attendance issues that have had a history of success through multiple coaching regimes. Realistically, I think we can have that kind of success.

To clarify, I would have fired June Jones after the ASU fiasco, but we didn't and so it would have required a hefty buyout to fire him after the 5-7 season. It wasn't my money and so I was on board with keeping him around. Our fans like to throw around money like it falls from trees but it doesn't and despite the generosity of a few of our very well to do alumni we are not a resource rich institution with a massive operating budget so we don't have the luxury to just throw away money. I think the money needed fro the buyout is better applied towards the IPF.

[Topper]

Chad is not going to UT and he would be crazy to go to Baylor before the dust settles. UT will hire the most successful coach out of the the P5 they can find. The talk among the arrogant UT followers is that Strong didn't know how to be the head coach of a program as exalted as UT's because he had not been a head coach of a major P5 power. Such a job, according to them, requires management skills along the lines of a Fortune 500 CEO. Our biggest threat is A&M if things go south down there in the next couple of seasons.

[Rebel10]

You were a JJ suck up until the end and had and still bought in his brainwashing of fan support is the only thing we need. We need the facilities. When we get a ten win season the fans will come but we need facilities to recruit better which Chad is selling.

[smusic 00]

Is Chad's kid the starting freshman QB? I don't think HP sports will hold pappa back from moving.

If some guys start committing and the facilities come together, I think he'll stay a while. Hopefully, the second half of this year won't be enough for Baylor to make a play on him. And that's still a toxic situation.

I've heard UT wants Fedora or Herman. Hopefully Fedora. An Austin College grad!

Chad's son is indeed the starter for the frosh team.

UT 'sources' are as reliable as their short games.

We will pay Morris whatever necessary. His list of jobs he'd leave for is very short, and he's still 5-14 at a small school.

[mustangxc]

You were a JJ suck up until the end and had and still bought in his brainwashing of fan support is the only thing we need. We need the facilities. When we get a ten win season the fans will come.

I do not dispute the fact that we will fill Ford Stadium, but some recruits and coaches still prefer to play in front of huge crowds. When Ford Stadium is filled to capacity it is pretty awesome to me, but you cannot dispute that it pales next to the Big House, Happy Valley, etc. If that is something that drives a player or a coach, we will not be able to compete for them.

Given the fact that JJ led us to 4 consecutive bowl games starting with his second season here after not making it to a single bowl game in 25 years I thought he had earned the benefit of the doubt. Not too many coaches would probably want the position if you show a quick trigger given those circumstances. While the die-hard fans know that recruiting tanked as soon as Klemm left and even mores once Reienbold left, those outside the program would have thought we were out of our minds. I do agree that we need the IPF in order to take things up a notch.

[Rebel10]

And Houston is a school with low academic standards in the middle of a recruit hotbed so yes they can get players we can't and that is part of the reason some Big 12 schools did not want them because they would have taken high quality recruits that other Big 12 schools would have wanted.

[mustangxc]

Stallion has proven time and again that we can get anyone we want that qualifies for NCAA eligibility. If you mean keeping them eligible, that is another story.

[smusic 00]

But we can't get kids who don't want an education. That's just part of the deal. You have to try at SMU.

[mustangxc]

Hence why I said that getting in and staying eligible are two different things.

[smusic 00]

We don't recruit the kids who don't want an education.

[lollaperuna]

no choice with LB. You can't give a 75 year old a no cut contract, even in the event of probation number 2. That is what he insisted on. We would have been beyond foolish to say yes to that.

Bu that is a different question.

I don't want to rehash the LB thing and I hope Jankovich proves to be a late bloomer and has great success, but I would like to point out that LB isn't your typical 75 year old.

[smusic 00]

He also refused to accept responsibility for the kids' academic progress. Done deal. We go on probation one more time and we are toast. He didn't see it that way and wanted to get paid no matter. C-Ya.

[Pony Boss]

You were a JJ suck up until the end and had and still bought in his brainwashing of fan support is the only thing we need. We need the facilities. When we get a ten win season the fans will come.

I do not dispute the fact that we will fill Ford Stadium, but some recruits and coaches still prefer to play in front of huge crowds. When Ford Stadium is filled to capacity it is pretty awesome to me, but you cannot dispute that it pales next to the Big House, Happy Valley, etc. If that is something that drives a player or a coach, we will not be able to compete for them.

Given the fact that JJ led us to 4 consecutive bowl games starting with his second season here after not making it to a single bowl game in 25 years I thought he had earned the benefit of the doubt. Not too many coaches would probably want the position if you show a quick trigger given those circumstances. While the die-hard fans know that recruiting tanked as soon as Klemm left and even mores once Reienbold left, those outside the program would have thought we were out of our minds. I do agree that we need the IPF in order to take things up a notch.

You seem to be missing the point massively. SMU built Ford to start out at 32k but it is expandable to 50k.
Fanbases take time to build, so after 10 years of consistent winning seasons (10+ games in the American) I could see the need to renovate the stadium to accomodate 42-45k like what TCU, Baylor and Houston have done. That is a great amount for a private school and what SMU should aim for...not a hard to attain 105k SEC/B1G type stadium and fanbase.

Attendance growth should be looked at in phases and the focus should be in season tickets. That is the important part, SMU needs to convert success into season ticket sales.

Phase 1 - grow from 12-15k to 20-24k minimum fans each game. Doable and what we can expect next year on average if SMU bowls.

Phase 2 - grow from 20-24k minimum each game to 32-34k. This is when SMU has had 2-3 straight solid years where it is competing for the American, becoming a force in the state and starting to become nationally relevant.

Phase 3 - Grow from 32-34k into a new/remodel with 42-45k capacity. This comes 10-15 years, SMU is among the power programs in Texas (even in the American) and we are known for our multiple conf. championships in FB and BB, trips to NY6 games, big wins vs other Texas programs in bowls or OOC, big wins vs ranked oponents. In other words a program ready to jump into a Power 5.