SMU 'encouraged' by meeting with Conference USA

[Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex]

SMU 'encouraged' by meeting with Conference USA
05:04 PM CDT on Wednesday, October 15, 2003

By KEITH WHITMIRE / The Dallas Morning News


SMU president Gerald Turner and athletic director Jim Copeland met with Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky on Wednesday to discuss the school's possible admission to the league.

Copeland said an invitation has not been extended, but that SMU's next move is to inform its athletics council and the members of the board of trustees who are on the athletics committee. Those two groups have been empowered to approve any changes in conference membership.

"There is mutual interest," Copeland said. "We exchanged a great deal of information. There's enough interest to move forward."

"We will be meeting with our two respective committees by the end of the week, probably on Friday."

On Tuesday, C-USA's presidents authorized Banowsky to extend invitations to specific schools who are included in the conference's reconfiguration plan. C-USA is expected to lose up to five schools to the Big East.

SMU is currently a member of the Western Athletic Conference. Copeland and Turner met with WAC commissioner Karl Benson after their meeting with Banowsky.

"We have had good communication with Karl and have been candid all along," Copeland said. "It's fair to say that he feels that we should stay in the WAC and that's what we talked about."

By joining C-USA, SMU would be reunited with longtime area rival TCU in a league. A proposed western division of C-USA would also include fellow former Southwest Conference members Houston and Rice, in addition to Tulane and Tulsa. Marshall, in addition to Rice and Tulsa, has been contacted by C-USA officials.

Copeland said financial numbers were discussed with Banowsky, including the amount of a possible entry fee to C-USA.

"I think the process has been started," Copeland said. "I would say that it's encouraging."

[93Mustang]

It's time for all of us to step up and help Copeland and Turner get this deal done. Everyone that can make it needs to show up for the game this weekend and bring friends, family, co-workers, etc. It is going to be hard for us to draw a big crowd this weekend with our on field performance and the fact that we're playing a school that is very foreign to us, but now is the time when our attendence and support is most needed. If we can get 20,000 to this game, that would send a message to C-USA that we're worth taking a risk on. Lets turn this weekend's game into an opportunity to show our support for the administration for getting us on the doorstep of admission into a better league. It's game time Mustangs' fans, lets show our support for the program.