For those that take comfort in the "Dead Period"

[Hoop Fan]

where the heck do you think Fat Patterson is right now? On suicide watch at the Cooper Aerobics Center because they took his twinkies away? On the beach in the Caribbean? Hell no, you can bet he is working on recruiting. And he basically has his class and knows who he wants. Meanwhile, SMU is interviewing or even waiting to interview guys who have no recruiting base in Texas. No hurry right? Everything is fine right? Bullcrap. I'll say this. IF, I say, IF Jones turns us down, there is no way anyone can deny that this will have been a botched search. And if Orsini has the autonomy that some think, his job performance should be in serious question at that point. All you polyannas need to wake up.

[Three Putt]

Yep!

[PhirePhilBennett]

where the heck do you think Fat Patterson is right now? On suicide watch at the Cooper Aerobics Center because they took his twinkies away? On the beach in the Caribbean? Hell no, you can bet he is working on recruiting. And he basically has his class and knows who he wants. Meanwhile, SMU is interviewing or even waiting to interview guys who have no recruiting base in Texas. No hurry right? Everything is fine right? Bullcrap. I'll say this. IF, I say, IF Jones turns us down, there is no way anyone can deny that this will have been a botched search. And if Orsini has the autonomy that some think, his job performance should be in serious question at that point. All you polyannas need to wake up.

Who should we have signed then?

And what is Fat Patterson doing exactly?

Does he call his coaches into the office on Friday and look at his recruiting board one more time, and say "Ok, so on January 14th, who's gonna call recruit 23?" Then, he tells all the coaches to come in on Saturday morning for early morning recruiting pep talk?

[Treadway21]

SO should be fired if he doesn't hire Turner Gill and not bring back Jimmy Tubbs.

[Stallion]

Hey Genius-Coaches can call recruits during the Dead and Quiet Period showing that you don't know a thing about what you are talking about. Don't open your mouth and show your ignorance for all the see until you read my Recruiting Calendar thread with the official NCAA Recruiting Calendar and definitions of Dead and Quiet Periods.

[Hoop Fan]

SO should be fired if he doesn't hire Turner Gill and not bring back Jimmy Tubbs.

Yeah, Turner Gill is about the best fit out there for THIS job. And Jimmy Tubbs got a raw deal. Mutually exclusive points, but what exactly is your point sir? I guess you are saying they are both black and suggesting some sort of reverse racism on my part. Being a minority is a positive point in my book for one huge reason: in case you hadn't noticed or been told, SMU is and is perceived as one of the most unwelcoming schools to minority students and student-athletes as there is in the good ole USA. We also get zero, i mean zero support from the community at large because we are viewed as elitist pigs. Yes, SMU needs to compensate for that if it wants to be competitive and when there is a candidate like Gill out there, he should not only be considered by SMU, he should be coveted and pursued with vigor.

By the way, I am as white as sour cream. I just happen to try to look outside myself. Try it sometime.

[perunapower]

SO should be fired if he doesn't hire Turner Gill and not bring back Jimmy Tubbs.

Yeah, Turner Gill is about the best fit out there for THIS job. And Jimmy Tubbs got a raw deal. Mutually exclusive points, but what exactly is your point sir? I guess you are saying they are both black and suggesting some sort of reverse racism on my part. Being a minority is a positive point in my book for one huge reason: in case you hadn't noticed or been told, SMU is and is perceived as one of the most unwelcoming schools to minority students and student-athletes as there is in the good ole USA. We also get zero, i mean zero support from the community at large because we are viewed as elitist pigs. Yes, SMU needs to compensate for that if it wants to be competitive and when there is a candidate like Gill out there, he should not only be considered by SMU, he should be coveted and pursued with vigor.

By the way, I am as white as sour cream. I just happen to try to look outside myself. Try it sometime.

Please, tell me what Turner Gill has done. Go 5-7 at Buffalo. That's it. He got an interview at Nebraska because he went to Nebraska. He doesn't have the credentials to prove to ANYONE that he is a successful D-IA head football coach.

Now I don't care if our next head football coach is purple, plaid, polka-dotted, white, black, Indian, Hispanic, Norwegian, or Indonesian, but he damn well better have the credentials of a proven D-IA head football coach. If we don't appeal to Dallas because we're situated in an upper-crust neighborhood, hiring a black head football coach isn't going to change that. We're still going to be in the Park Cities as a predominantly white (as are most universities), affluent student body. All in all, athletes want to go where they can win and right now we aren't winning so we aren't attracting athletes.

I know there is the stereotype that SMU is full of white, snobby rich kids who don't go to class and party too much. Unfortunately, there are those types of students at SMU, but to generalize the entire school and say that we need to compensate to the Dallas community by hiring a minority candidate as some sort of token to Dallas is ludicrous. We need to hire the best candidate for the job and Turner Gill is not him.

[Hoop Fan]

Turner Gill was the Coach of the Year in the MAC this year. Lets take me out of it, are you saying you are more knowledgable about it than those that voted for MAC coach of the year? The MAC is a comparable conference, if not superior, to good ole Conference USA. Gill is from the Metroplex. Gill is young in coaching terms. I could go on, but he is a good fit and a helluva candidate for SMU by any objective standard.

Judging people by their record in the second year of a rebuild is pretty absurd whether talking about Gill, or Doherty or Tubbs. Make sense?

[Stallion]

see people don't understand what to look for in a college Coach in Dallas Texas. My only guess is that we have a bunch of NFL fans and MYF fellas who don't know what you need to succeed at the college level. Of course, Turner Gill makes more sense for this job that just about all I've seen Not my first choice but he FITs the program and what we need in here. Martz NO. Johnson. NO. Gailey. No. Kragthorpe-well maybe but can't you do better? Coker HaHa NO!!!!!!!!! Billick No. The Highland Park Coach-No. June Jones-good Coach who doesn't fit. Who are the rest of the Bozos who keep being mentioned for this job? There is such a long list recently of names being floated an it really worries me because June Jones is not going to take this bribe-I mean job. If these type of guys were contacted then I've got ZERO confidence in the persons running this Search.

[perunapower]

Turner Gill was the Coach of the Year in the MAC this year. Are you saying you are more knowledgable about it than those that voted for MAC coach of the year? The MAC is a comparable conference, if not superior, to good ole Conference USA. Gill is from the Metroplex. Gill is young in coaching terms. I could go on, but he is a good fit and a helluva candidate for SMU by any objective standard.

I'm not debating on whether or not he deserved the MAC Coach of the Year honors. We are debating his credentials for the SMU head coaching position. He got the MAC COY because he improved a 1-11 team to 5-7. He hasn't even beaten a team with a winning record!! If he shows he can maintain some success at Buffalo, then and only then should he be considered a qualified candidate. Now obviously we can't wait until he can validate that he has turned the corner at Buffalo. But, we all painfully know that just because you get to 5-7 or 6-6 in a pretty bad non-BCS conference does not mean that you have turned the corner because you can just as quickly relapse back to bad. I'm not saying he is a bad coach; I'm saying that he needs to prove he is a good one before we take a risk like that.

[PonyKai]

see people don't understand what to look for in a college Coach in Dallas Texas. My only guess is that we have a bunch of NFL fans and MYF fellas who don't know what you need to succeed at the college level. Of course, Turner Gill makes more sense for this job that just about all I've seen Not my first choice but he FITs the program and what we need in here. Martz NO. Johnson. NO. Gailey. No. Kragthorpe-well maybe but can't you do better? Coker HaHa NO!!!!!!!!! Billick No. The Highland Park Coach-No. June Jones-good Coach who doesn't fit. Who are the rest of the Bozos who keep being mentioned for this job? There is such a long list recently of names being floated an it really worries me because June Jones is not going to take this bribe-I mean job. If these type of guys were contacted then I've got ZERO confidence in the persons running this Search.

1.) Kragthorpe- Initially "targeted," no offer, no formal talks, no interview.
2.) Paul Johnson
3.) June Jones
4.) Dennis Franchione
5.) Everybody else

There's your list.

[Hoop Fan]

Turner Gill was the Coach of the Year in the MAC this year. Are you saying you are more knowledgable about it than those that voted for MAC coach of the year? The MAC is a comparable conference, if not superior, to good ole Conference USA. Gill is from the Metroplex. Gill is young in coaching terms. I could go on, but he is a good fit and a helluva candidate for SMU by any objective standard.

I'm not debating on whether or not he deserved the MAC Coach of the Year honors. We are debating his credentials for the SMU head coaching position. He got the MAC COY because he improved a 1-11 team to 5-7. He hasn't even beaten a team with a winning record!! If he shows he can maintain some success at Buffalo, then and only then should he be considered a qualified candidate. Now obviously we can't wait until he can validate that he has turned the corner at Buffalo. But, we all painfully know that just because you get to 5-7 or 6-6 in a pretty bad non-BCS conference does not mean that you have turned the corner because you can just as quickly relapse back to bad.

We disagree. Once Gill goes 8-3 at Buffalo, he won't be a guy SMU could hire anymore. too late. SMU has to have foresight and prudence in selection. Jones is as big of risk or bigger than Gill... for SMU, not Hawaii.

[Stallion]

A better list:

1. Barnett
2. Franchione
3. Neuheisal
4. Graham
5. Gill
6. Nutt
7. Dodge-this is going to look like a real screw up in a few years
8. Bowden
9. Gary Gibbs-just for my buddy(still better than every under consideration

These guys have the qualities which might actually be about to recruit and win in Dallas Texas.

[PonyKai]

I'm not going to argue your list. Or you at all, because that's a very good list. Except Mr. Gibbs doesn't seem to be too popular around these parts. But that's the list.

[perunapower]

We disagree. Once Gill goes 8-3 at Buffalo, he won't be a guy SMU could hire anymore. too late. SMU has to have foresight and prudence in selection. Jones is as big of risk or bigger than Gill... for SMU, not Hawaii.

IF he goes 8-3 (though he'll need to play his 12th game) and if we're looking for a coach, THEN I'd say we'd have a good shot. It is the wrong time to take a risk on an unproven coach for SMU.

How is Jones a bigger risk than Gill? Jones took a team from 0-12 to 12-0 with limited resources and physical recruiting restrictions. Turner Gill took a 1-11 team to 5-7 (no small feat in and of itself).