The SMU Football Blog Speaks!

[jtstang]

I'm fine with having a little academic standards if there has to be......but how can you compare letting in athletes who have been cleared by the NCAA clearing house to paying recruits and their families like back in the day. I understand it is all a slippery slope, but not sure we can compare letting in marginal student athletes to total chaos and lack of control.

It's not the destination, it's the jouney that's dangerous. If there is a system in place to evaluate marginal students (and again I don't think there should be--NCAA standards are fine with me), if you let the football coach or a bunch of boosters or a circle of champions dictate that it be banished, that's the problem.

If the administration just decided it would be better for SMU to accept athletes that make it through the clearing house, that would be the best of all worlds. This has to be a decision made and approved by the adminsitration, or else we are just letting a new set of inmates run the asylum. Who knows what would happen next.

[leopold]

The comparison comes from an indiction of a bigger problem; I think we can all agree on that even if we disagree on what problem it is.
I don't think anybody is happy with the way the situation was handled, but if the two kids honestly, by whatever standard has been set by the university - regardless of what Dr. Turner promised someone - did not belong here in the first place then the university stepping in and saying "no," even as late as they did, was the right thing to do.
I'm sorry the kids got screwed. But I would rather have egg on our face than create a standard which the university never actually agreed to and could set either a precedent or a power fight that sets the school back in the direction Stallion's talking about.

Any attempt of alumns, fans and supporters to call the administration's hand,is not "lack of institutional control", but rather the opposite.

Maybe. Depends on which way outside powers wish to take the school. It has pointed out that sometimes, especially in our history, these outside powers haven't been the social, academic, moral compass we would all hope.

[Dooby]

There is only one way to do this, and that is to have clear guidelines for admission of student athletes.

Those guidelines need to be clearly communicated to coaches, who in turn clearly communicate that message to prospective student athletes. This "review" is what bit us in the butt. We wait until we have all grades, which necessitates a mid-June review, which in turn pushes the decision back to July. That doesn't work. The standards need to be clear. If we need to tell a kid that he has a scholarship, but won't be admitted unless he gets a C in Algebra 2 his second semester of his Senior Year, we need to tell the kid that. There should be no "should or should not" or "maybe or maybe not" in this process, there need to be only "will or will not" when it comes to setting the expectations of prospective student athletes.

As I already said, I would set those clear guidelines at the NCAA full qualifier floor, give the kids they help they need, not cut corners and and hold the coaches responsible for keeping the kids in school progressing towards a degree.

[RGV Pony]

something else I'd be okay with, but don't know how well it would go over, would be to fully implement the "Jackson Compromise" across the board. Kid doesnt make it in, he greyshirts and takes DART to El Centro for the fall semester. 2.0 across 4 classes, and welcome aboard. Have to be transparent about greyshirting early in the process, though.

[EastStang]

I don't think we want straight-jacket rules in admissions. We don't need bright red lines, if we did, they would probably look like the one's Pye drew and that would be a disaster.

[Nacho]

use the ncaa guidelines and be done with it. to not do so is to ask for failure.

[Mestengo]

I smell BBQ chicken slow cooking over hot coals. I hear the sound of a number of imported beer bottles disturbed by a large hand thrust into a cooler so cold it hurts.
I see a crystal clear image of a football game on 50 inch plasma. I know its game day and I’m glad I’m alive.

That is all.

[leopold]

Hallelujah!

[San Antonio Mustang]

I essentially agree with Dooby. I just have a couple of observations. SMU is a University first and foremost. It is not a professional football program. We do not have athletes - we have student athletes. Every University where a degree is worth something has it's academics controlled by the faculty. Admissions is and should be controlled by the faculty and not the fund raisers or athletic department. That does not mean they cannot do what Dooby suggests - set out clear standards. At the time a student athlete signs his NLI and accepts a scholarship offer his transcript and test information can be submitted and evaluated. If he needs to make a certain grade or retake the SAT and get a certain score he should be told at that time. It is not a bright red line for all, but each student should know what he has to do. If he doesn't do it he knows he will not be admitted and he will need to look elsewhere. Now, I personally would favor admitting anyone who is an NCAA qualifier, but I sure understand the argument that if the admissions committee says that admitting a particular student is a waste of time even with academic support the student should not be admitted.

My second observation is that lowering our admission standards below the level required to pass the classes does not serve us well in the long run. It does not really matter what other schools are doing if in fact following their example will result in student failure. If we admit someone who clearly cannot make it the coaches essentially waste their time. I happen to believe that at SMU, if a student athlete has the proper academic support, it is not that tough to stay eligible. We are not Harvard and we are not even the toughest school in Texas. That is why I think we could lower our standards to the NCAA qualifier coupled with extra academic support. Support that encourages an attitude that success academically is possible combined with the coaches insistence on meaningful participation. When student athletes see that they can compete with their non athletic classmates they will apply their competitive nature and willingness to work.

[jtstang]

What serves SMU better in the long run, taking a few risky athletes who may flunk out even though there is a system in place to help them out? Or taking a bunch of kids who meet admissions standards but just want to join a frat, get high and drunk 7 days a week, sleep through classes, and flunk out that way?

At least if the athlete helps us win a few games in the year or two he manages to hold on, he stands to have a positive effect on the general population of applicants. Kids want to come to a school with quality athletic programs. The drunk frat boy is just an idiot who wastes not only his own time but everyone else's who is connected to SMU as well.

Give me the marginal athlete and I'll take my chances with him. At least he has an upside.

[RGV Pony]

What serves SMU better in the long run, taking a few risky athletes who may flunk out even though there is a system in place to help them out? Or taking a bunch of kids who meet admissions standards but just want to join a frat, get high and drunk 7 days a week, sleep through classes, and flunk out that way?

At least if the athlete helps us win a few games in the year or two he manages to hold on, he stands to have a positive effect on the general population of applicants. Kids want to come to a school with quality athletic programs. The drunk frat boy is just an idiot who wastes not only his own time but everyone else's who is connected to SMU as well.

Give me the marginal athlete and I'll take my chances with him. At least he has an upside.

post of the month

[Nacho]

smu doesn't even set out clear guidelines for regular students. they are very vague about what gpa and sat scores are good enough. you will never get a straight answer from them. why should they tell athletes what they don't tell regular students? they want leeway in whom they take. they want to feel like they have some magical insight into the mind of an 18 year old kid. some of those can't miss regular students will end up as alcoholics or drug addicts partying every night. some of those marginal athletes will far surpass expectations. at best the admissions committee is throwing darts, hoping they hit the target. the ncaa has set forth guidelines that its member schools are allowed to follow. by not following them we are putting ourselves at a distinct disadvantage to those many schools that do. june wants to win. he wants the best athletes he can get. he wants great success not mediocrity. i have the feeling that many smu fans want to lose. it is some kind of pennance for them. some way of atoning for past sins. it is a sickness that permeates smu. well i'm not going to stand by and take it. i demand excellence from the football team. i demand great players. i am in it to win.

[Mestengo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGIY5Vyj4YM