SMU Mustangs' AD has a winning blueprint

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SMU Mustangs' AD has a winning blueprint
Orsini set up Central Florida for success
By Phil Stukenborg

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Steve Orsini was discussing a path he had traveled before, and, no, it had nothing to do with the route he took Monday around Ridgeway Country Club during the AutoZone Liberty Bowl Golf Classic.

Orsini, the athletic director at SMU, was talking about hiring coaches and turning around downtrodden football programs. During his tenure in Conference USA, he's made a name for himself as the chief architect for such reconstruction projects.

When he was the AD at Central Florida, he hired George O'Leary, the former Georgia Tech coach, to take the reins of an upstart NCAA Division 1-A program in 2004. After going winless in its first season under O'Leary, UCF has played in two bowls the past three seasons, including earning a Liberty Bowl berth last year for winning the C-USA title.

In January, Orsini, who left UCF for SMU two years ago, pulled off another coup. He convinced June Jones to leave a highly successful program at Hawaii to come to Dallas. At SMU, Jones inherits a team that went 1-11 last year and hasn't been to a bowl game since 1984.

''It's the same blueprint,'' Orsini said. ''I'm a big believer in that it's all about the coaches.

''As an AD, if you get the right coach in the right situation, all of a sudden things kind of take care of themselves.''

Jones' impact has been immediate. Orsini said season-ticket sales have increased 50 percent, a boost generated without a marketing campaign.

''It starts this month,'' Orsini said. ''Our sales people say we are going to double season-ticket sales. Now, granted, we didn't have a lot to begin with (about 5,000). So we've got a lot of ground to make up, but I'll take that percentage increase anytime.

''And it's all about June. We were 1-11. We have the same players. But the players are all positive. They have smiles on their faces. They can't wait for the season to begin. June has made a major impact already off the field, and I think he'll make a major impact on the field, too.''

In nine years at Hawaii, Jones led the Warriors to 76 wins and six bowl appearances. Hawaii had gone winless the year before Jones arrived, but he led the Warriors to nine wins his first season, marking the biggest turnaround in NCAA history.

''When I got to Hawaii they had lost 18 straight,'' Jones said. ''If I had said I thought we'd have the biggest turnaround in the history of college football, I would have been lying. But it's a system that works.''

And it's an offense (the run-and-shoot) that attracts.

SMU has 12 verbal commitments for its 2009 recruiting class. The 2008 season kicks off Aug. 29 at Rice.

''As I say to June, I'm not too worried about the quantity, I'm worried about the quality," Orsini said. "He told me, 'Steve, they're good-looking kids.' He's very optimistic. He said it's better than he thought it would be.''

At UCF, Orsini had to change the culture. The program had enjoyed success at the Division 1-AA level, but was relatively new to the ingredients required to succeed at a higher level.

''Showing them the commitment, between the hiring of a coach -- O'Leary was a former national coach of the year -- and then to see the new stadium (45,323-seat BrightHouse Networks) come out of the ground. Fans saw it, they saw what I call the Olympic Village (surrounding the stadium) come out of the ground. I was so happy to hear they averaged 45,000 in the first year.

''They averaged a sellout in the first year. My financial advisers I worked with said we overachieved our financial projections. That's just been a great thing.''

When he was AD at UCF, Orsini said he traveled to Dallas to take a tour of Gerald J. Ford Stadium, SMU's 32,000-seat on-campus stadium that opened in 2000.

''Ironically, I went to SMU to see how they did that and I duplicated it at Central Florida,'' Orsini said. ''I didn't know I'd be the AD there.''

Having to pay what Orsini called ''market value'' for a coach of Jones' background, $500,000 each was given by 20 donors to cover the costs of the five-year, $10-million deal.

Orsini said he's looking forward to the excitement Jones will generate this fall as the Mustangs attempt to, as Rivals.com described, make SMU football relevant again.

''The only way to go is up,'' Jones said. ''And I enjoy going up.''

If there is a game on the 2008 schedule that may cause Orsini to be slightly torn, it will come Oct. 4 in Orlando.

''We play 'em down there and, in fact, I just bumped into O'Leary in the locker room,'' Orsini said.

''I said 'I'll be cheering for you except for one game.' He said 'Which game is that, Steve?' Which game is that?'''

-- Phil Stukenborg: 529-2543

[RednBlue11]

I just bumped into O'Leary in the locker room,'' Orsini said.

i guess O'Leary wasn't expected to be in his own locker room.