CROWD MAKES ME PUKE --- DO WE HAVE ANY STUDENTS?

[Mustangsabu]

Well given the treatment I have received from the Mustang Club it is clear that either (a) they know I will never have enough money to matter to them, or (b) they are not interested in building a base of consistent givers to the program because Miller, Ford, etc. will be around for ever and have clearly provided in their wills for SMU to a degree that no-one needs to worry ever again.

I'm out. Thankfully the secondary market will ensure that I can keep coming to all the games.

[CA Mustang]

Its really simple

1) 30 plus years of being one of the worst college football programs in the nation
2) Zero conference championships since the mid 80's
3) Zero weeks in the Top 25 since the mid 80's
4) Zero first round draft picks since the mid 80's
5) Total annihilation when we play former rivals (Tech, A&M, Baylor, TCU)
6) Arizona State
7) 2014 season

Of those, only #1 & #5 are possibly relevant to a potential ticket buyer. #2 & #3 are subsets of #1. #4, #6 & #7 are irrelevant. Casual fans don't pay attention to #4 and don't care about #6. Unless you claim #7 supports #1, who buys a ticket (or not) based upon what happened three years ago?

[Prideful Pony]

Its really simple

1) 30 plus years of being one of the worst college football programs in the nation
2) Zero conference championships since the mid 80's
3) Zero weeks in the Top 25 since the mid 80's
4) Zero first round draft picks since the mid 80's
5) Total annihilation when we play former rivals (Tech, A&M, Baylor, TCU)
6) Arizona State
7) 2014 season

Of those, only #1 & #5 are possibly relevant to a potential ticket buyer. #2 & #3 are subsets of #1. #4, #6 & #7 are irrelevant. Casual fans don't pay attention to #4 and don't care about #6. Unless you claim #7 supports #1, who buys a ticket (or not) based upon what happened three years ago?

Sure, you can lump those all into 1) if you want but they're all relevant. Even if you don't win the conference or make top 25, beat a former rival so your fans can banter with their friends. Develop a 1st round pick that makes fans want to watch a mediocre team so they can say they saw him "back when." Don't chase away your fans with embarrassing coaches and performances.

I say this as an '07 grad who had at least a passing interest in football at the time, bought a few season tickets as an alumn, but never found a reason to stay emotionally invested in an apathetic program. That's not the only reason I've drifted away from caring about football, however I'm probably not far from your average student from those years. Most enter with at least some interest in the program, probably not too much though, and then are only given reasons to care less.

Glad to see the tide potentially turning though; it's good marketing for the university. But like StallionsModelT said, most of the alumn from those years are likely lost as fans. They aren't suddenly showing up.

[HubbaHubba]

Marketing is definitely a problem. Media exposure is also a huge problem. Other FBS schools' local media usually feature the home town team first and then everybody else. Though I no longer live in Dallas, when I visit and watch TV news/sports or read DMN on-line, old SWC rivals get as much and usually more coverage than SMU. Yeah, I get we're not a P5 school and there are a lot of alums of those other diploma factories, I mean universities, that live in Dallas but the Dallas media has always treated us as a red headed step child. If the generic sports fan heard more about SMU football it would drive more potential fan interest. The novelty of LB seemed to get some media traction for the basketball team. It almost seems the Dallas media goes out of its way ignore the football program.

[Stallion]

this can all be reduced to:

SMU students, alumni and friends really don't give much of a damn about the football program-which is why we can't have nice things.

You guys keep whining about the reasons SMU doesn't have fans. Nobody in the NCAA world gives a damn about SMU's problems. SMU's athletic future will be judged against competing schools with real fan bases. There is no small-school -we used to be good and we're still rich- exception. SMU will have to OVER-achieve in attendance to reach a higher level of competition-just like TCU. There has been no sign that this will ever happen in the 52+ years I've been following SMU

[mrydel]

But I also say we have to OVER-achieve in competition to reach a higher level in attendance.

[Pony Boss]

But I also say we have to OVER-achieve in competition to reach a higher level in attendance.

This.

And what about the Baylor model? They started winning and all the nice things came...even the old alumni who had given up.

[mtrout]

And I don't think we have to over-achieve long. Just a good year or two like Western Michigan or Troy I would be happy.

I think our peak this year is if we can get to UCF with only 1 loss. That would be amazing. After that the only thing remaining is that Tulane game over break that will have minimal attendance.

[ponyboy]

I didn't read this lengthy thread. But we're a team in a non P5 conference who plays no name opponents. Play the big boys and our own fans will come. Play meaningful games and our own fans will come. We're not there right now.

[mtrout]

If we make the aac title game at home, is that a meaningful game?

[ponyboy]

Not if we're playing Carl's Carburetor College.

[mtrout]

Well the only name team we play at home through 2019 is tcu so there's that...

[StallionsModelT]

Blame the students/alumni/fans all you want. The reality is SMU did absolutely nothing to ensure that students who attended the university from 1988-2014 would ever give a damn about football. Why would you as an alum ever want to invest your time and energy in a product put out by a school that doesn't care about you at all? SMU did this to themselves by putting out the worst college football product in the country for 30 years. That isn't erased by a couple of Hawaii Bowls and a neat OC from Clemson who can't keep Navy under 75 points.

[CA Mustang]

Even if you don't win the conference or make top 25, beat a former rival so your fans can banter with their friends.

Besides TCU, who do you identify as a rival?

Develop a 1st round pick that makes fans want to watch a mediocre team so they can say they saw him "back when."

That's not realistic. Most 1st round picks aren't identified until late in their junior/senior seasons. Once they are drafted, you can't go back in time and then buy tickets.

Don't chase away your fans with embarrassing coaches and performances.

I doubt that was their intention.

[CA Mustang]

I didn't read this lengthy thread. But we're a team in a non P5 conference who plays no name opponents. Play the big boys and our own fans will come. Play meaningful games and our own fans will come. We're not there right now.

If they only come for games vs. the "big boys", are they there to see SMU or the other team?

Also, what's your definition of "meaningful games"?