Competitive Disadvantage – The Essay

[ponyboy]

Which sport? And was it just for one year?

This appears to be good news for the TCU athlete.

[GoRedGoBlue]

well don't look now Boys but TCU has a higher graduation rate than SMU for the last class counted by the NCAA. I would say that since Tubbs left and TCU no longer has 3/4 of the BB team made up of JC transfers, that TCU has done it EXACTLY right with a nice mix of academics and winning although they had to dig a little deeper into the JC football bowl last year with 6 JCs.

They also have P.E. and other Criminology majors

[NavyCrimson]

back from kansas now -

well - great posts...

why don't we just reorganize the $%$%# university again & put the faculty senate in their place - where they belong reporting to the president/board like most organizations where they have some type of hierarchy where shots are called and responsibility lies with some person who is a 'leader'?

uuhhhhh...its really simple folks.

but then again, like many organizations, the inmates tend to run the asylum - i guess.

[PonySnob]

Clearly the TCU model works for running a football program while the SMU/Pye model does not. I only hope that these years of futility have not truly been the death penalty for Mustang football.

[No Cal Pony]

We need to look at issues both individually and how they interact. First, SMU may not have as many "athlete friendly" majors, but there are those that can fit into that category. Also, we have managed to attract some very good student-athletes without having dummy courses. It would help to have some types, but it is no guarantee.

Transfer credits have always been a pain for ANY SMU student. When I was there (83-87), I always had to petition my transfer courses. In summers, I would go home to the LA area, and attend summer sessions @ Cal State Northridge. While this is no academic powerhouse, it is still a fine school. I would have to petition SMU to make sure any class I took would transfer. Why this is an issue, I can sonetimes understand, but not always. That many on this board haven't know this was an issue for any student can only say they never had to go through this process.

The bcs isn't going to go away any time soon. I wish it would, but I think monkeys are gonna fly out of my butt before that happens. You all should remember that $$ and politics go hand in hand. To that, remember that most of the schools are large public universities, whose finances are dictated by state legislators. (Many of whom are alumni of those schools.) Do you think they are really going to fight to take that money away? Some places even see the bcs/megaconference monies as a way to finance further the schools. Here in North Carolina, the state funds only 20% of the total operating costs of the UNC system, which includes all UNC schools, NC State, ECU, WCU, App. St., and a host of othe smaller schools. For UNC and State, they are more than pleased to see some extra revenue from the expansion of the ACC. We can start the fight, but it is going to take some time.

As for a student wanting to go bcs vs. non, yes, many will opt for the big boy, but I see plenty of fine athletes that will go almost anywhere for the chance to get recognition, start, and hope to make a name in the effort to play big time or work into a league related job.

What we need to do is just concentrate on getting our program situated so that we may improve. Yes, our faculty needs to see the bigger picture, but so does everyone around the University. Let us support SMU. Let us get the powers at large to make better decisions to embrace the opportunity to save a storied past from extinction. SMU deserves better.

Go Ponies!

[NavyCrimson]

you're right about cal state northridge...b/c from what i've heard their 'accounting dept' is as good or better than UCLA's so the transferring is definitely a pain...not even reasonable @ times!

[Stallion]

with regard to all of you that think Division 1A schools don't bend the "rules" for athletes---just how many of the UT and A&M Football and Basketball recruits meet the state mandated "Top 10% of their HS class rule" for admission into state universities. My understanding is that those schools are left with very little wiggle room for general admission after accepting that group of special state mandated admissions. Football players are admitted on an entirely different basis at schools like UT and A&M. Hell after reading the McKimson Report they are admitted on an entirely different basis at Rice although to a lesser degree. I can't believe that SMU can't bend the same rules to admit Division 1A transfers especially when they were full qualifiers out of high school. Spare me the justifications-I'm really not in the mood after 15 years of this crap.

[EastStang]

When the SWC folded and we were left out, we were effectively relegated to the minor leagues. TCU has done pretty well. Their timing was good, and their coaching hire was excellent. We started building a new stadium at the same time and hired a new coach, but did not remove the recruiting obstacles and secondly did not hire the right coach. TCU also went to a powder-puff schedule. All told they had some excitement, we didn't. We need to start winning soon. If we can muster some wins this year, I think we will start to emerge. If we go 0 for 11 again, then we may need to take some long hard looks at our long-term football viability.

[PonySnob]

When the SWC folded and we were left out, we were effectively relegated to the minor leagues. TCU has done pretty well. Their timing was good, and their coaching hire was excellent. We started building a new stadium at the same time and hired a new coach, but did not remove the recruiting obstacles and secondly did not hire the right coach. TCU also went to a powder-puff schedule.

SMU fans say that TCU plays a "powder-puff" schedule - aren't we one of the "puffs" on their schedule? Is our program really beneffiting playing teams in September that we can't compete with (OSU, Tech) and starting every season with 3 or 4 losses in a row. How many games have we won in September since the DP? When was the last September victory for SMU? Whatever TCU is doing, it certainly seems to be putting their program in a much more positive light than our struggling program. Our attendance is truly pitiful except when we play a team like Tech or OSU whose fans account for 80-85% of those in attendance. I am hopeful that this program will "rise out of the ashes" one of these days, but it appears that we are just as dead as we were in 1987 and 1988.

[EastStang]

with regard to all of you that think Division 1A schools don't bend the "rules" for athletes---just how many of the UT and A&M Football and Basketball recruits meet the state mandated "Top 10% of their HS class rule" for admission into state universities. My understanding is that those schools are left with very little wiggle room for general admission after accepting that group of special state mandated admissions... Spare me the justifications-I'm really not in the mood after 15 years of this crap.

Isn't UTEP a state University and part of the UT system. It has a 98% acceptance rate. I can't believe that only students in the top 10% of their HS class applied to UTEP. Or does that rule only apply to UT and A&M.

[PK]

The state schools are not limited to just the top 10% of each high school graduating class. The rule is that if you are in the top 10% of your class you are automaticly accepted into the state college of your choice. Depending upon the college, there may or may not be room for all the applicants from that pool depending upon how many of that pool wants to go to a particular college. I'm sure, making room for athletes is not hard to do. I haven't read the law, but I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a loop hole just for that purpose. You know that the legislators who graduated from UT and aTm aren't going to do anything to hurt those football programs.

[No Cal Pony]

PK, I think you are right about the grads protecting their alma mater schools. And again, that pertains to all the large state schools. I know some of the kids at unc are good students, but compared to the vast majority of their peers, they generally don't come close. That fact, I am sure, pertains to a$m, ut, and many other schools. (Including michigan, virginia, penn state, and my wife's alma mater, florida. She knew Cris Collingsworth @ florida. Said he was a nice guy, but not the brightest.)

This goes back to part of my statements regarding the bcs.

As for SMU, we need to work at every level to help the coaches and teams if we really expect to succeed. I sure hope we can get more powers that be to respond. I know that speaking about this here is just preaching to the choir.

Go Ponies!

[PonySnob]

How are the academics at Wake Forest compared to SMU? They seemed to have had some success in football recently in what is certainly a much more difficult league. I believe that they have gone to a bowl game or two in the last few years. In hoops, they certainly have much better athletes than we do and once again, they are usually very competitive in a premier league. What kind of model do they use to run their athletic programs?

[EastStang]

Then again, Duke is abysmal in football, yet great in basketball. Wake has the advantage in basketball of being able to offer kids the chance to play in the ACC a very high profile conference. They have long recruiting ties with HS coaches in DC, Petersburg, and Norfolk, as well as basketball crazy North Carolina. Having Billy Packer call you and tell you Wake is the place to be is something that few schools can offer. In football, their success is recent and tied to a great coach. Academically, Wake is catching up with other private schools. They were for a long time the bastard step-child to Duke and suffered to a degree from their Baptist roots with academic freedom discouraged to a degree. They have reconstituted themselves and can now compete for professors who would not have gone there before. They do have preferential admissions as does Duke for athletes. I don't know if they have any athlete friendly majors, but I assume they have some.

[No Cal Pony]

wake is a smaller more conservative school than SMU. As EastStang noted, they have suffered some from their heavy relationship with the Baptist Church. Although, I think they suffer more from being small, compared to duke. Academically, they are just as strong as university of new jersey, durham campus. (Oops, I mean duke.) I think that will tell you more about the differences between these two NC schools. Also, more kids will want to end up in Durham, part of the "Triangle" as opposed to Winston-Salem, which is a recovering tobacco town. Neighboring Greensboro is the faster growing city.

They do, of course, benefit from being in the ACC, which is now as powerful a conference as any. This more so helped them recently in football. As most folks know, they have always done well in basketball. This again part of being in NC, and part of the family of NC school rivalries.

As for athlete academics, they do not have any specific majors that seem especially dumbed down. I do believe that they do get a lot of special preference, especially the kids playing basketball.

Go Ponies!