Niutei commits to TCU

[dcpony]

"I really liked SMU, but it was almost too fancy for me. I just felt TCU was better for me." =

Campus environment is not as minority friendly as TCU or snooty student body turned him off.

[smudad]

It's almost equidistant; Trinity HS = 21.4 miles from Berry & University. 23.3 miles from Mockingbird & 75. He'll also learn to say he's giving 110% of his effort in the near future. Is there anything more inane than words coming out of an athlete’s mouth, Ya know.

[LA_Mustang]

Campus environment is not as minority friendly as TCU

That's interesting. I've been to TCU a few times during the school day and I feel SMU is a more minority friendly campus......and we have made strides to improve in that regard over the past few years. Also, the SMU student body is more diverse than TCU:

SMU:
Full-time UG enrollment - 5,882
African-American - 6%
Hispanic - 8%
Asian - 7%
White - 71%
Native American - 1%
International - 4%

TCU:
Full-time UG enrollment - 6,687
African-American - 5%
Hispanic - 6%
Asian - 2%
White - 78%
Native American - 1%
International - 2%

[Pony Fan]

My guess is we have not given up on this one yet. They really wanted this guy.

[dcpony]

Campus environment is not as minority friendly as TCU

That's interesting. I've been to TCU a few times during the school day and I feel SMU is a more minority friendly campus......and we have made strides to improve in that regard over the past few years. Also, the SMU student body is more diverse than TCU:

SMU:
Full-time UG enrollment - 5,882
African-American - 6%
Hispanic - 8%
Asian - 7%
White - 71%
Native American - 1%
International - 4%

TCU:
Full-time UG enrollment - 6,687
African-American - 5%
Hispanic - 6%
Asian - 2%
White - 78%
Native American - 1%
International - 2%

TCU and SMU are probably a wash in the ethnic make up of their respective student bodies. The 1k more students at TCU makes the ethnic statistics of both schools relatively the same. And you're right SMU has done a lot to make the environment more friendly towards minorities since I've graduated but there's more work that needs to be done. What really needs to change is the public perception of SMU and its student body. I see a lot of fans on this board wanting SMU to be Dallas' college team. Consistent winning is one way for that to happen but the school and athletic dept need to engage minority communities in the DFW area lot better.

I also have to admit some of the TCU alums I've met in DC, Houston, and Dallas are not as prickish as some of the SMU alums I know.


Bottom line: SMU needs to get DFW to relate to SMU. People in general in the DFW area look at SMU as a school for a bunch of rich white kids. This perception could effect recruiting down the line. I have a few idea on how the school could do this but there's no way SMU would implement them.

[MustangIcon]

dcpony, share your ideas. SMU would never do most things we post on this board but it doesn't mean it is not an interesting topic to discuss. I and others would love to hear what your thoughts are.

[Stallion]

there is some merit to that-but you know when Skip Bayless was caricaturing $mu's image in the 1980s with tales of Daddy's Money and BMWs and Porsches it didn't seem to hurt at all. I don't think it hurts USC's image either. I think it goes beyond this stuff for the most part-not that it doesn't hurt us now and again with some small town kids and kids from blue collar homes. I think the nerdy image of a school projecting imagined academic supremecy and which isn't too particularly concerned about putting a quality athletic team on the field hurts our image a lot more.

[giacfsp]

.... Skip Bayless ....

The mere inclusion of his name should reveal how inaccurate his "charicatures" were.

[dcpony]

dcpony, share your ideas. SMU would never do most things we post on this board but it doesn't mean it is not an interesting topic to discuss. I and others would love to hear what your thoughts are.

Mustang Icon,

Here are a few of my ideas:

1) SMU should partner up with DISD or independently create a "laboratory" K-12 school in a historically depressed neighborhood of Dallas. It should be only open to kids from that neighborhood and kids of SMU faculty. I envision the laboratory school would have the SMU School of Education involved with lab school's operation. The school would field athletic teams and if the new SMU school of education offered a coaching major our student athletes that major in phys ed/coaching could be involved in coaching clinics or even help coach teams at the school. The school could be SMU's own farm system/prep school and the presence of SMU in neighborhoods like Oak Cliff or East Dallas would show the rest of Dallas that it cares about something else besides HP and UP. The idea of a laboratory school is not really new. I know U of Chicago, and Columbia operate their own schools. I have a friend who graduated from the U of Chicago Lab school and then went on to the U of Chicago.

Stallion made a point about USC's image being comparable to SMU. That might be true but USC engages the greater LA community better than SMU gets involved with the greater Dallas community. USC's student body is also more ethnically diverse than SMU. In fact the USC school of education has partnered up with LAISD to help the district operate schools that prepare low income students to gain admission to USC.

http://www.usc.edu/dept/education/cente ... family.htm

I know of no such program at SMU.


2) I might need some help with this one.
I know SMU conducts football and basketball camps but are the camps offered to middle school aged students? And do the camps give promising low income students scholarships to these camps? And do the camps have an SAT and ACT test prep/academic skills component? I think the younger we get athletes exposed to SMU the better. I also think getting promising low-income kids to these camps is very important and would help SMU's image as well. Finally, the academic skills/test prep component is important for obvious reasons.

[OC Mustang]

dcpony wrote:

2) I might need some help with this one.
I know SMU conducts football and basketball camps but are the camps offered to middle school aged students? And do the camps give promising low income students scholarships to these camps? And do the camps have an SAT and ACT test prep/academic skills component? I think the younger we get athletes exposed to SMU the better. I also think getting promising low-income kids to these camps is very important and would help SMU's image as well. Finally, the academic skills/test prep component is important for obivious reasons.

Football camps are offered to as young as 8 years old...I know this because I am trying to convince the Mrs. that my 8 year old is old enough to do football camp by himself in Dallas for a week. It does cost, however. I do not know if scholarships are offered or even available. Also do not know how much SMU weaves test prep, etc. into play. I do know that they have run TAG (jr. high & freshman) and College Experience (young high school) summer programs for years. Those programs DO emphasize prep and academic rigor, as well as maintain a diversity emphasis, but they are designed with that only in mind. I imagine that SMU has limited resources in this regard, and they definitely do not have the resources (or should I say, it would be a serious sell-job to re-allocate plentiful existing resources) to put up a comprehensive program as you suggest in lieu of other quick-hit ideas that administrators would come up with.

[EastStang]

I definitely agree that we need to work on becoming Dallas' college team. To do that will require spending money by the administration. They will need to give away tons of tickets to games. They will need to arrange transportation to games from areas around the Metroplex. Perhaps DART will could be enticed to become a sponsor. If the kids need to take three buses and a train to get to the SMU game, they won't come even if they have a free ticket. Given that weekend bus schedules are generally sketchy in most cities, it could certainly hold down attendance. After the 1950's SMU football stayed near the top due to the Walker effect. We had fans who were brought to SMU football by Doak. The Mustang Mania -Dickerson effect was destroyed by the death penalty. Those fans were lost. To rebuilt the fan base, we need to go beyond just giving away tickets.