Cavan's staying. Now what?

[couch 'em]

None of the previous post DP guys had this expertise.

What do you base that on?

[Stallion]

I love how Ponyboy reduces it to -"maybe you're right -1 or 2 players maybe would have pushed us over the top". We were talking about 23 in only 2 years. I used examples like Shawnbrey McNeal , Marquis Frazier and Sterling Moore because they were non-qualifiers or JUCOs or Division 1A Transfers with academic problems. Still got 20 more academically marginal players to "build that camraderie" to push us over the top. A lot of naivete as usual.

[ponyboy]

June Jones succeeds because he tears down the culture from the ground up. Sure, coaching is important and sure recruiting is important. They are *necessary* but not *sufficient* conditions. You gotta change the culture of losing. Very, very few coaches specialize in this.

[ponyboy]

I love how Ponyboy reduces it to -"maybe you're right -1 or 2 players maybe would have pushed us over the top". We were talking about 23 in only 2 years. I used examples like Shawnbrey McNeal , Marquis Frazier and Sterling Moore. Still got 20 more to "build that camraderie" to push us over the top. A lot of naivete as usual.

If it's naivete, it's shared by the coach. Do you not buy the culture change theory? Do you not buy Jone's quote above?

[SMU2007]

A lot of naivete as usual.

show us the light oh genius.

[ponyboy]

By the way, you want to talk about naivete? Oversimplification of a complex system by reducing the conversation to recruiting and recruiting only is the very definition of naivete. Psychologists call this projection, I believe.

[rich59]

IMO, Cavan was a marginally better coach than Bennett at SMU. Schumann, Cavan's defensive coordinator was an impressive guy personally and did a good job, especially against option attacks. I felt that Bennett was a poor choice after his first game at SMU, where we lost to a Navy team, which had not won a game the year before and would win only two that year, 38-7. As I remember, SMU had had the best defense in the WAC, the year before and almost all were back. Navy tore us up with it's option. It was the first game of the year, Bennett was supposed to be a defensive guru and SMU showed no signs of a good defense. After the game, I told a close friend, former SMU player and coach, that Bennett would never get it done. If it had been up to me, I would have fired him that day. One of Bennett's big failings, IMO, was his failure to delegate authority. He seemed to micromanage everything, perhaps because his staff was weak.

Having said all that, after Cavan's first year at SMU, when he had some success and allegedly was being courted by other programs, I was talking with a very influential Georgia alum and mentioned that I hoped Georgia did not hire Cavan away from us. He said, "Cavan will never get the head job at Georgia" emphatically. He did not elaborate but I gathered he had his reasons.

Cavan did recruit some very good players including Josh McCown who is stii hanging around in the NFL, I think. The most interesting recruit under Cavan was, IMO, Shanderrick Charles. I have read that he had more talent than his brother, who is playing for KC. As a freshman, Shanderrick was among the most impressive running backs I have ever seen, including Dickerson, James or Waggoner, when they were freshman.

[SMU2007]

By the way, you want to talk about naivete? Oversimplification of a complex system by reducing the conversation to recruiting and recruiting only is the very definition of naivete. Psychologists call this projection, I believe.

[PonyTime]

"I am pretty sure"

Are you? Really because much of that information is avaliable on many players. Also Marcus Moseley was not the player that Malin had someone take the test for it was Corlin Donaldson. Marcus Moseley didn't last long enough to even flunk out because he decided he didn't want to bother to attend class and was gone in a metter of months or was it weeks, Category C at the time was a higher 950+ SAT and above at the time and there were very few exceptions. In the last 2 years Jones has had commitments from 37 players in a lower Category C with either below a 2.5 GPA or below a 900 SAT. 23 were admitted, 2 were not and 12 were non-qualifiers. Are you pretty sure who those 23 players are? What I'm pretty sure about is that very few of them could get admitted to SMU at the time. I remember at the time that SMU's Category C started about 125 points above the average for African Americans in Texas at the time. Are you still pretty sure. Make no mistake I'm ecstatic that SMU can offer these players-no one argued longer or harder that we should be able to sign them. But comparing who these Coaches recruited and who they could recruit is comparing Apples to Oranges-I'm more than pretty sure.

You are right - my memory is hazy - it was Corlin Donaldson - and you are correct that June has access to transfers that Caven did not. Point taken.

I ask only this - can you admit that June Jones is a better evaluator of talent than Mike Caven or Phil Bennett?

[ALEX LIFESON]

Tic toc, tic toc.

[Statler]

Only on Ponyfans would folks respond to a ten year old post..

Waldorf once again is the "Master of Distraction." It is amazing to watch him divert folks' attention from things that actually matter like gelding talk!