JJ is burning this thing to the ground

[JasonB]

Didn't Jones say before the season to someone back in Hawaii that the skill positions here were fine, but that the linemen weren't good. And that has essentially bourne out over the course of the season.

Unfortunately, it takes a couple of years to rebuild lines, unless you get some JUCO transfers in.

JJ is setting the rules straight and is going to emtpy scholarships this year so that we can recruit more players. I expect more than a full load to come in next year.

Next year, we will see improvement on offense, and we will be close to a .500 team. The year after that will see massive improvements on the line and push us into a bowl.

[mustang91]

You guys are amazing!! JJ hasn't even been employed at SMU one year and some of you are ready to jump ship. Get serious! This is SMU, one of the worst football programs in the country for the last 20 years.

Give him 4 recruiting classes and on the 5th year if we don't win 9 plus games and a CUSA championship than we can consider a change. Until that time, get real and quit whining like a bunch of babies!!

[smupony]

How does this guy cash those enormous paychecks with a straight face? June Jones should apologize by giving half his salary back to the Mustang Club. He'd still be an overpaid multi-millionaire.

Put the green-eyed monster back in the chest. You're not paying one cent of his salary (I assume), and neither is the Mustang Club.

I am not thrilled with the way this season has panned out, but I am very proud of our football program for making the decision to do things right. We are lucky to have a guy like June working on our campus, in my opinion. I have no doubt this will work. I feel sorry for those of you that do.

Hey dude, the monster has been out of the chest for 21 years. Enough is enough. Anybody that bought a ticket this year contributed to Junes paycheck. And if that comes out to one penney, then I guess you get what you paid for.

Wrong. He was paid by 20 donors. Your money pays for his assistant coaches, recruiting budget, marketing, and all of our other sports that needs your support. SMU is an athletic department, not a football department.

[DiamondM]

I have stayed away from the boards for much of the season because I have truly never been more disappointed in a season than I am in this one.

I wasn't expecting 8 wins or some miracle turn around. But for 2 million dollars and the resume Jones had I was expecting at least SOME improvement over last year. We only had 1 win, but we had 5 or so other nailbiter games where it seemed to me that a good coach could make the difference, either because of better play calling, better motivation, better preparation in practice, or whatever. But this year we've had fewer close games, and the games where we've been close, I've seen a lot of the same questionable clock management and play calling that I saw last year. That's not to say I want Bennett back. I don't. I think Jones' hire was the best thing for the program, but for $2 million, I expected better results from the same players against the same competition.

Last year at least we had an offense that scored a lot of points against a lot of teams. Whatever you might say about Willis v. Mitchell and the future of the program, what we know is that with essentially the same line, the same skill players, against the same darn competition, Willis could score points -- more points, in fact, than we scored this year against a lot of teams. Willis made a lot of mistakes, but I sure as hell haven't seen Mitchell cut down on the number of turnovers or bonehead plays. And as for throwing a freshman quarterback to the wolves when you don't have the line or the skill players to run your system, why not send an experienced guy out as the sacrificial lamb -- if he sucks as bad or worse than before after 4-5 games, then you can put in your guy for the rest of the season, and no one ends up with the sinking feeling that Jones was willingly, knowlingly throwing the season away. Someone explain again how we would have worse off with Willis.

When they don't yet have the right personnel for their system, good coaches -- coaches that make $2 million dollars a year (regardless of whose money it is) -- should be expected to temporarily adapt their system a little to utilize the strengths of the personnel they DO have until they can get the right people in necessary to implement their full system.

As as for "this takes time." You can't tell me Duke was a less moribund program than ours. At least in comparison to the competition they play, Duke has severly subpar talent, and in comparison to the university's other athletic program(s) the Duke football team arguably has less administrative, alumni, and community support than SMU's football team. Yet they've managed to eek out a few more wins than last year under a new coach and give the people who do care about football something to be excited about. Cutcliffe hasn't had a chance to recruit "his" people either, but has taken what he had and done better than the previous guy. That's what I expected out of Jones, and that's why I'm so disappointed.
I haven't seen any reason to get excited. Any reason to hope. Any reason to believe everyone that keeps trying to reassure me that Jones is going to turn this thing around. Any reason to think that Jones even cares about winning any time soon.

That is all. See you at the next game.

[Cadillac]

Not to pick nits here, but they aren't the same O-line, and I think that has a ton to do with this years woes (granting that the best O-line int he world won't generate a passrush for our defense).

Last years line had 3 experienced Seniors on it. For most of this season the O-line has had only one returner, Sean Lobo.

-CoS

[Pony in SA]

Well said. Don't forget Graham adapting to the players at Rice to get them to a bowl in just one year.

[EastStang]

With regard to the Duke comment, let's be real clear. Duke has BCS recruits, it recruits in the ACC. The ACC is one of the worst BCS conferences. Thus, it is easier for a Duke to turn things around. I do recall mentioning Cutcliffe as a potential head coach here and got mixed reactions. I think that Cutcliffe's offense is not much different than the one Duke was using before, so there was not a huge learning curve. But I think JJ will eventually turn things around here. He's done it too many times before. He has a workable formula which will work here sooner or later.

[PoconoPony]

I have come to see SMU football as a vintage automobile needing restoration after years of neglect.

In its prime, it was hot, flashy and successful. All the babes loved it and all the other guys were envious. Then a wreck happen and the owners decided not to invest in rebuilding. After 20 years, some parts are worn out and some don't work at all. Inadequate replacement parts have been used for years just to keep it running. Routine maintenance was woeful and that lack of attention has made the vehicle even less reliable. To find the right personnel to restore a vintage auto or program will take time, working authentic parts and a bunch of money.

Once the restorer is hired, we can't expect showroom restoration in a short period of time. We have to let them tear down the thing, find out what is usable and what has to be replaced and then go about finding those replacements. Then reassembling the thing. And once reassembled, and then working out the bugs.

We hired JJ to restore the football program. Now we need to give him the resources to indentify the areas he needs to improve or replace and then rebuild.

I will continue my support of SMU athletics and season tickets. I am anxious to see the old gal running smooth and as good as new.

Ponyte is absolutely correct and his analogy is excellent. Another stale and hideous analogy is, "Rome wasn't built in a day", but it aptly applies. Often there are hidden issues buried as to why a team is not winning. A glimpse into some of these issues was revealed yesterday when it was reported that 17 kids had received suspensions this season for team violations. This alone should provide an insight that JJ inherited a team without focus, discipline and work ethic. JJ made an example of Justin Willis almost immediately after being hired to set a standard of his expectations and yet we still have 17 kids who " don't get it". Now we have 3 starters suspended because they still "don't get it." A winning team involves more than some initial wins to satisfy a few whinning alumni. The key word is PROGRAM. A PROGRAM must have a sound foundation before the tangible results start to show. A PROGRAM requires focus, dicipline, work ethic, talent, experience and all those things JJ did not inherit. Everyone should quit you [deleted]'n, just shut up, keep being supportive and give JJ the time to build a PROGRAM that will last and finally sustain the excellence that all of us are seeking. I am elated that we have someone of the calibur of JJ to lead us after 20 years in the wilderness.

[DiamondM]

Not to pick nits here, but they aren't the same O-line, and I think that has a ton to do with this years woes (granting that the best O-line int he world won't generate a passrush for our defense).

Last years line had 3 experienced Seniors on it. For most of this season the O-line has had only one returner, Sean Lobo.

-CoS

All the more reason not to send a freshman qb out as a sacrifice, but to at least try to utilize the strenghts of a mobile, experienced qb.

But whatever, I just hope we don't ever have to start Logan Turner, since you can't learn Jones' offense by standing on the sidelines.

The vintage car analogy works to a point -- and sure it's great to just keep it in the garage until you've got all the new parts you need and have at least given it a little shine before you show off your progress to your buddies. But when it's the only car you have and you've got to drive it to work, why not see if you can't make that engine run with some of the parts you have while you're still waiting for that great 1962 Mustang transmission you got for a steal on ebay to arrive.

[Cadillac]

But whatever, I just hope we don't ever have to start Logan Turner, since you can't learn Jones' offense by standing on the sidelines.

that's the funniest part of the whole QB contraversy isn't it? Turner seemed to pick things up just fine. My only point is that the O-line is a significant downgrade from last season, and there's no reason to believe that Willis would have had any more or less success passing behind it that Mitchell has.

-CoS

[Longtime]

I haven't seen any reason to get excited. Any reason to hope. Any reason to believe everyone that keeps trying to reassure me that Jones is going to turn this thing around. Any reason to think that Jones even cares about winning any time soon.

Bingo.

It's not just the losses, it's the lack of competitiveness, the lack of fire in the team. There's no spark, no sense that the players believe in the system. No feeling that our coach is smarter than your coach. How can anyone claim things are better after watching this year's Navy game? That was the biggest example of a team quitting en masse I've ever seen.

If Jones were a more personable or charismatic person, he could alleviate some of these feelings. He could use the media to bolster confidence in the fan base, to exude a positive attitude and instill hope. Instead, he complains about players not using the weight room, that he doesn't have playmakers, etc.

He is supremely confident he can turn this thing around, to the point of arrogance. And that's fine. But he's no different than Cavan or Bennett who also thought they knew better than the people who have been following this program for decades. This isn't a quick fix, most of us understand that. But we also understand that we aren't just suffering from last year's 1-11 season. It's been 20 years of pain and suffering, with no hope in sight.

So don't tell us to shut up, to go away. We've withstood bigger insults than that over 20 years. Instead, give us a reason to believe in JJ, because he sure isn't doing a good job of it.

[Rebel_Pony]

You guys are amazing!! JJ hasn't even been employed at SMU one year and some of you are ready to jump ship. Get serious! This is SMU, one of the worst football programs in the country for the last 20 years.

Give him 4 recruiting classes and on the 5th year if we don't win 9 plus games and a CUSA championship than we can consider a change. Until that time, get real and quit whining like a bunch of babies!!

Here is a voice of reason. This was not a season of high expectations. The difference between 1 win and 3-4 really is not all that much, either way you are looking at a program REBUILDING itself ... people on this board need to restrain themselves and exercise some judgment before making final appraisals of the head coach.

[Charleston Pony]

let's see who this coaching staff is able to sign to letters of intent for next season and what scholarships players are not renewed. Then let's see what happens after all the FR that are playing this year go thru spring ball and another season in this system. Year over year progress is what I'm looking for. The bar is set low to begin with, but that's OK. I'd rather crawl out from under back to back 1-11 seasons than go 3-9 this year only to follow with an 0-12. We all knew (or should have) that Bennett was toast after that relapse season.

I'm hoping for a Ron Meyer type of rebuild. Yes, we all know he had some recruiting "advantages" that Jones won't have, but Meyer took over a 4-7 team and went 3-8, 4-7, 4-6-1 and 5-6 before finally breaking thru with an 8-4 season in his 5th year. After that, SMU enjoyed a pretty noice run. Reality says we could/should be looking at the same kind of time fram...assuming Jones is the guy who can FINALLY change the culture of losing that has permeated SMU since the death penalty days. After all, the man has a 5 year deal, doesn't he? Ya think he's worried about season one after 20 years of this garbage?

[Rebel_Pony]

The way I look at the situation is this: if, after FIVE years, June Jones is unable to demonstrate significant improvement in the program (winning seasons, bowl birth, etc.), then (and only then) instead of calling him a bad coach/fraud you would have to say that he was the best/most qualified coach SMU could ever have hoped for given the circumstances, he couldn't turn the program around, and realistically then no other coach could have done so. Who are we kidding? June Jones was a tremendous hire and he inherited a miserable situation. We can't have expected a miracle-worker. Given Jones' history, he doesn't seem like the kind of coach to simply "throw in the towel" and accept losing. Give him time, then judge him.

[Charleston Pony]

The way I look at the situation is this: if, after FIVE years, June Jones is unable to demonstrate significant improvement in the program (winning seasons, bowl birth, etc.), then (and only then) instead of calling him a bad coach/fraud you would have to say that he was the best/most qualified coach SMU could ever have hoped for given the circumstances, he couldn't turn the program around, and realistically then no other coach could have done so. Who are we kidding? June Jones was a tremendous hire and he inherited a miserable situation. We can't have expected a miracle-worker. Given Jones' history, he doesn't seem like the kind of coach to simply "throw in the towel" and accept losing. Give him time, then judge him.

Actually we blew it when Forrest Gregg wasn't given the opportunity to rebuild the program. He was a proven coach who took a big step down in taking the SMU job back in that time frame.