Norm just addressed this situation on The Ticket

[RGV Pony]

"what is wrong with the football program"

talking mostly about Jackson. "The report on this says...he is still in Dallas, while the SMU coaching staff tries to find him a new school"

Norm also saying "we were told there were changes in the admission policy and they were committed to competing on a national level" "What's happening here...don't you think the coaching staff has better things to do than to have to give away players? I'm going to make calls and find out what's going on. But this doesnt make sense"

[Diamond Girl]

He also mentioned he's going to make a few calls to find out exactly what's going on. I applaud him for his outburst.

[jtstang]

He made us sound good, didn't he.

[WSGJ]

Not easy to make chicken salad out of this.

[ALEX LIFESON]

Ritchie Witt from 105.3 the fan, has been all over this, and calls it "crap from SMU's administration"
Ritchie is also writing a lead story on this in next weeks Observer. This is MUCH bigger than Hall and Jackson, it has to more to do with the (future?), and the stench coming out of the presidents office.

[couch 'em]

Ritchie Witt from 105.3 the fan, has been all over this, and calls it "crap from SMU's administration"
Ritchie is also writing a lead story on this in next weeks Observer. This is MUCH bigger than Hall and Jackson, it has to more to do with the (future?), and the stench coming out of the presidents office.

The Observer hasn't been much of a Rah Rah SMU Football paper... is this going to be critical of the Admin, or will it also trash the athletic department?

[RGV Pony]

Ritchie Witt from 105.3 the fan, has been all over this, and calls it "crap from SMU's administration"
Ritchie is also writing a lead story on this in next weeks Observer. This is MUCH bigger than Hall and Jackson, it has to more to do with the (future?), and the stench coming out of the presidents office.

The Observer hasn't been much of a Rah Rah SMU Football paper... is this going to be critical of the Admin, or will it also trash the athletic department?

my guess is it will spotlight the line in the sand between the two

[NickSMU17]

Prob will mention some details left out by the press

[Stallion]

the problem is finding out where that line in the sand is drawn. Wish SMU would release a general profile of athletes admitted and denied admission-but doubt that would happen.

Over the last 3 years I count AT LEAST 25 FB and BB commitments who probably were academically marginal admissions to SMU. My guess is that there were more especially in the last 2 classes because some I didn't count have already left the university and they came from schools which historically have had difficulty excelling at SMU. Folks that a lot.

From my understanding we are talking about 2 full qualifiers denied admission this year. One we know had a low SAT-so low he was instructed to take the ACT to improve his chances of admission. FEEL FREE TO CLARIFY IF THIS IS ERRONEOUS.

But what about the other 4-6 or so kids who didn't qualify and what about the 8 or so last year who signed but didn't make it in. None of them entertained any offers from other Division 1A schools if indeed they were qualified and went straight to JUCO. If they were FULL QUALIFIERS they could have transferred to SMU after their freshman JUCO year-none did. The only peep I heard was from Chris Frazier but he never stated he was a qualifier and he in fact has not enrolled at SMU. We know that even late in the Recruiting season SMU went on a last minute BAYOU Shopping Spree picking up 3 commitments and losing out on 1 to Texas Tech all of which were EXTREMELY MARGINAL from Day 1. All 4 are going to be non-qualifiers and I think the Coaches knew that from Day 1.

So do we really have SMU unfairly denying admission to a bunch of fine student athletes or do we have the admission department being bombarded by long lists of marginal recruits. Lets get to the heart of the matter-because that's where the competitiveness issue is at. What is the profile of those denied admission. Don't pretend to have all the answers to these issues-I'm just telling you where the look for the truth

[RGV Pony]

do we have the admission department being bombarded by long lists of marginal recruits.

so NCAA qualified but "marginal"...how many D1 programs let these guys in..

[HB Pony Dad]

So do we really have SMU unfairly denying admission to a bunch of fine student athletes or do we have the admission department being bombarded by long lists of marginal recruits. Lets get to the heart of the matter-because that's where the competitiveness issue is at.

We are all disgusted with the timing issue; apparently (from the limited information we have) the admission committee had already denied admission to these young men, but they were waiting on the "appeal" process initiated by JJ.

I'm not sure if these are mere speculation or actual facts, however if JJ assured these marginal qualifiers that they would win their appeal, then there is a lot of others who bear responsibility in the matter.

The only obvious fact is that there is a wide gap in the understanding between the athletic department (SO, JJ, et. al) and the administration which needs to be clarified!

[Billy Joe]

My complaint is that these kids were told so late in the process. It is not the way to do business. If you want a nationally competitive football team then you admit all NCAA qualifiers and support them with the NECESSARY AMOUNT of tudors and counselors. This is what "TOP 25" teams do. We hired "TOP 25" coaches now implement "TOP 25" admission policies.

[Stallion]

when I say "qualified" I'm talking full qualifiers under NCAA Clearinghouse
when I say "marginal" I'm referring to SMU's own standards

Oh and btw I think we have 100% consensus that this situation was handled terribly so I took that out of the equation.

[HB Pony Dad]

and support them with the NECESSARY AMOUNT of tudors ...

[huskerpony]

do we have the admission department being bombarded by long lists of marginal recruits.

so NCAA qualified but "marginal"...how many D1 programs let these guys in..

Same thing happened at Michigan a few weeks ago. Kid landed at Louisville, I think. He may have had some additional legal issues though if I remember correctly, but it was definitely the admissions office that made the call there.