4 failed to resurrect Mustangs before Jones

[dcpony]

http://starbulletin.com/2008/04/07/sports/story03.html

4 failed to resurrect Mustangs before Jones
By Mark Wangrin
Special to the Star-Bulletin
DALLAS » Sir Isaac Newton, modest to a fault, used to write off his myriad achievements thusly: "If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants."

June Jones isn't a scientist, hasn't made any life-changing discoveries, and isn't remembered as one of the greatest thinkers in the world.

But he gets it.

Jones knows that he's standing on the shoulders of others, not quite giants, perhaps, but their sacrifice has afforded him the chance to do something special at Southern Methodist.

"The guys before me did the work," Jones said. "Forrest Gregg, Tom Rossley, Mike Cavan, Phil Bennett. They went through the Death Penalty. They got it to the point where it is now. They lived through all the hard times that were handed to them. To be honest, I feel everything is in place to turn things around. (Athletic director) Steve Orsini has vision. (R. Gerald Turner, SMU president) is a football man. Everything is in place. Now all we have to do is win.

That's also something each of the four coaches who preceded him after the NCAA killed the program in 1987 because of flagrant and repeated violations fully expect him to do.

They are the ones, who lobbied for -- but didn't necessarily benefit from -- a loosening of the stringent academic standards, new facilities, a new stadium and all the other necessities to rebuilding a once-proud program.

Gregg, the former SMU star, NFL Hall of Famer and coach, was brought in for the first two seasons after the program was resumed in 1989.

"I knew going in what the deal was," Gregg said. "We had the toughest recruiting job in the conference."

"The first year we had freshmen, and that means a little chance of winning and a big chance of losing," said Gregg, who went 2-9 that first season. "We had a bunch of things that were bad. We had a horrible stadium, the facilities weren't great. A young man came in and he'd look at the whole picture."

Rossley coached from 1991 to '96, went 15-48-3 and was named Southwest Conference Coach of the Year for going 5-6 in 1992. That's when the Mustangs still played at Ownby Stadium (razed to make room for Ford Stadium, which opened in 2000) and when teams like Wisconsin, North Carolina, Arkansas, Oklahoma and UCLA were on the nonconference schedule.

"They fired me and I still love the place," said Rossley, hired in December as the quarterbacks coach at Texas A&M. "We had a lot of wounds on us. We had some different hurdles. But year after year it got better. SMU has had very little to celebrate the last 20 years.

"Everybody's pulling for Jones. They'll be so happy when he wins. I think June is the guy who's going to get it done for them. He's at the right place at the right time."

Cavan, who followed Rossley and who in 1997 had the school's only winning season (6-5) since the Death Penalty, said the NCAA's banishment of the program in 1988 and the school's decision not to field a team in '99 weren't the most damaging blows to rebuilding the Mustangs' program.

Cavan, now in fundraising at the University of Georgia, pointed to the breakup of the Southwest Conference after the 1995 football season, forcing the Ponies to move to the WAC and hurting the school's visibility. He also said that tough academic standards made it difficult to recruit.

"We couldn't bring kids in to even visit until they'd been accepted," he said. "Sometimes a 1,000 SAT was turned down; sometimes a 900 got in. You never knew.

"The academics were ridiculous. We had no chance in academics. I hope it's changed."

SMU now uses standards similar to the other colleges in Texas.

Cavan said the decision to tighten academics didn't make sense.

"You can compare that to a car running out of gas and changing the tires," he said. "The Death Penalty was because of cheating, not academics. I've heard their president say they are on par academically (in admission standards). If they are, Dallas is a great place."

Bennett, who coached the last five seasons at SMU and has since been hired as the defensive coordinator at Pittsburgh, declined through a Pitt spokesperson a request to discuss the SMU program.

Jones, in turn, said he benefited from the demands made by Fred vonAppen, the coach who preceded him at Hawaii, and said new Warriors coach Greg McMackin will benefit from Jones' departure.

"The next guy gets what the other guy wants," Jones said. "That's the nature of my business. I got everything Fred vonAppen wanted. New field. Locker room. Everything. When I got there, they were $4.5 million in the hole (in the athletic budget) -- I couldn't ask for anything more.

"If I had stayed and not entertained the SMU position at all, things would not have changed. By me leaving, things changed."

[StallionsModelT]

Thanks for posting this. Very interesting read. Its nice to hear our former coaches who had to endure near impossible situations say they are pulling for SMU to get it done and how they think June is the guy who is going to get it done.

[RGV Pony]

Interesting which of the 4 ex-coaches declined to comment.

[StallionsModelT]

Haha. I noticed that too RGV. That said the man did everything within his power to get it done here. I met him several times on campus and seemed like a very nice, down to earth type of guy. It just didn't work out for whatever reasons. Best of luck to him at Marshal and wherever else he goes.

[Stallion]

which one of the 4 Coaches is still subject to a confidentiality agreement? None of those other Coaches would comment either in the years following their settlement with the university.

[PK]

Interesting which of the 4 ex-coaches declined to comment.

I would say his wound is the freshest and has not started to heal yet.

[Samurai Stang]

Interesting which of the 4 ex-coaches declined to comment.

I would say his wound is the freshest and has not started to heal yet.

So you are saying we could have cut deeper...

[mr. pony]

"... the NCAA's banishment of the program in 1988 and the school's decision not to field a team in '99 weren't the most damaging blows to rebuilding the Mustangs' program.


Whaaaaa? Come on, dude.

I distinctly recall having a team in '99.

[mr. pony]

"Cavan said the decision to tighten academics didn't make sense.

'You can compare that to a car running out of gas and changing the tires," he said. "The Death Penalty was because of cheating, not academics.'"

Amen, amen, amen, Brother Cavan!!!!! You got that right, my man!!!!

Idiot faculty ....

[Otto]

Love Coach Rossley's quote:
"They fired me and I still love the place"

[Billy Joe]

Bennett was by far the worst coach since the DP. He did less with more than any of his predecessors. He should have been fired after his winless season along with Copeland. But he was a nice guy right?

[StallionsModelT]

Billy Joe,

I agree he was the worst of our post D.P. coaches and he should have been fired along with Copeland after the winless season. That said I have no doubts the man did the best he could. It just wasn't a good fit for a variety of reasons.

[George S. Patton]

The thing I like about this series is that it's giving the readers out there an education of this program and it's history -- telling them a lot that we already know.

If I was a third-party reader to something like this, I would be very interested in reading. Despite some factoid problems (still not sure what he meant by refurbished Ford stadium), it's been a pretty even-handed series.

[EastStang]

Because Bennett was a nice guy, was tight with DISD coaches, and liked by other NCAA coaches, firing him after his second season would have been even a bigger blow to the program in my view. Who would have come to SMU which won't even give a guy a chance to have his recruits make a difference? They gave him plenty of rope and gave him a goal which wasn't met. Jones knows he has one goal winning. If he does that, he's set for as long as he wants to stay.

[jtstang]

Because Bennett was a nice guy, was tight with DISD coaches, and liked by other NCAA coaches, firing him after his second season would have been even a bigger blow to the program in my view.

Your honor I offer Exhibit A, Jimmy Tubbs.