CNNSI's Stewart Mandel's 7/9 Mailbag

by **SMU Football Blog** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:55 am

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/w ... bag/1.html

Do you think Mike Sherman can actually return the Texas A&M Aggies to the upper-echelon that Dennis Franchione was supposed to, or is it kind of a wait-and-see process at this point?
-- Josh, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada

I have to admit: Sherman is a complete mystery to me. With nearly every other high-profile coaching hire this offseason, I feel I can make a fairly educated guess about that coach's prospects, like:

...

Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ June Jones will be the greatest thing to happen to SMU football in a half-century that doesn't later turn out to be illegal.

by **smu diamond m** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:59 am

In 50 years? Interesting. I figured more like 25 ot so, because of all that suck before that

by **ponyte** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:04 am

I wasn't aware that SMU did anything illegal. Were criminal charges brought during the DP/ pre DP era? I thought we broke rules of a governing body but nothing illegal. Why the illegal crack if nothing illegal happened?

The lawyers that know and understand law can better explain this and clear up any confusion. Thanks

by **jtstang** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:10 am

I think he was referring to "illegality" under the NCAA rules, not the law. I thought it was kind of funnny myself. We are always going to have this stigma, why not laugh at it like everybody else.

As for true illegality, I'm not so sure that if the AG's office had looked closely at the governor's involvement in the death penalty scandal, some violation of the law could not have been found. But that's speculation on my part.

by **StallionsModelT** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:18 am

Take this all with a grain of salt but a guy I know here in Dallas who is an older Texas alum and has venomous hatred of all things SMU said that we were bankrolling our players with money from Savings & Loans. Said that what we did was beyond criminal and that many, many people suffered b/c of it. I'll try to get in touch with him later to see the specifics.

by **Mustangs35SMU** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:28 am

So sick of hearing about the freakin DP.

Please June. Save us from it.

by **OC Mustang** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:39 am

StallionsModelT wrote:Take this all with a grain of salt but a guy I know here in Dallas who is an older Texas alum and has venomous hatred of all things SMU said that we were bankrolling our players with money from Savings & Loans. Said that what we did was beyond criminal and that many, many people suffered b/c of it. I'll try to get in touch with him later to see the specifics.

Mulder & Scully will be to see him soon. What a load of crap.

by **StallionsModelT** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:55 am

OC Mustang,

That's what I figured but this guy was just so damned convinced that we were financing our bankroll for players through a savings and loan scam where lots of people lost lots of money. I sent him an e-mail so I'll get back with his side of the story as soon as he gets back in touch w/ me. I figured he was just sour on SMU.

by **Otto** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:56 am

StallionsModelT wrote:Take this all with a grain of salt but a guy I know here in Dallas who is an older Texas alum and has venomous hatred of all things SMU said that we were bankrolling our players with money from Savings & Loans. Said that what we did was beyond criminal and that many, many people suffered b/c of it. I'll try to get in touch with him later to see the specifics.

Oh please. What we did was no worse than what was going on at just about every other school in Texas, and a lot of schools around the country - and that includes your buddy's lovely little cesspool down in Austin. He can put his grain-of-salt theories where the sun don't shine.

by **PonyLove** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:59 am

An opinion from an older Texas alum really doesn't mean much...

by **couch 'em** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:01 pm

StallionsModelT wrote:Take this all with a grain of salt but a guy I know here in Dallas who is an older Texas alum and has venomous hatred of all things SMU said that we were bankrolling our players with money from Savings & Loans. Said that what we did was beyond criminal and that many, many people suffered b/c of it. I'll try to get in touch with him later to see the specifics.

Wasn't our total amount of money spent only in the $60k range? I doubt that hurt anyone, Blount probably had toilet paper that cost more than that.

by **RGV Pony** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:01 pm

ponyte wrote:I wasn't aware that SMU did anything illegal. Were criminal charges brought during the DP/ pre DP era? I thought we broke rules of a governing body but nothing illegal. Why the illegal crack if nothing illegal happened?

The lawyers that know and understand law can better explain this and clear up any confusion. Thanks

Excellent point. Attorney friend of mine says accusing of a crime in such a manner is libel per se. Sue 'em, I say.

by **Stallion** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:02 pm

there have been some reports of term annuities being used by SMU in recruiting in those days but I don't think that was ever proven and I don't think they were in the findings of the SMU or NCAA report.

by **Otto** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:03 pm

PonyLove wrote:An opinion from an older Texas alum really doesn't mean much...

Actually, age doesn't matter.
Opinions from any Texas alum/fan are meaningless.

by **KnuckleStang** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:30 pm

Mustangs35SMU wrote:So sick of hearing about the freakin DP.

Please June. Save us from it.

I get tired of hearing about it too. But it will never go away, and JJ cannot fix it. Even if Jones takes us undefeated to the Sugar Bowl one of these years, we will hear about the DP even more, not less. * We are stuck with this stigma for life, whether we like it or not, so we'd might as well just come to terms with that.

*Edit: Only difference is...we won't care, cause we're in the Sugar Bowl.

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