When will . . .

[Johnny Rock]

we get a new athletic director? Copeland's track record for revenue sports is one of the worst in the country. It is time to clean house in the athletic department and get a fresh start. I still do not know who we can beat on our football schedule. It looks like another winless season is going to become a reality.

[Water Pony]

JR,

As always, thanks for your constructive comments. We can depend on you. However, you may the only poster who enjoyed the outcome Saturday, since it justifies all your previous contributions.

Yes, this one hurt.

[LA_Mustang]

Allow me to cut and paste from a previous thread:

Copeland, Rossley, Cavan, Dement, Bennett......this growing list of scapegoats were fairly well thought of coming to SMU. Then after a few years on Hilltop they are considered inept? I wonder why that is????????????

It couldn't be that SMU puts it's coaches, it's fans, it's players and it's AD in a prime position to fail, could it?

Yes, I know we have made some changes but we are still no where close to being on a level playing field.....and I'm pretty convinced we never will be. Currently and probably for a long time, bball is the only major sport we have the chance to compete in at the highest level.

[Johnny Rock]

Since we are not on a level playing field and many of you now start to realize we may never be on a level playing field, then why should I or anyone else for that matter attend the games when we know what the outcome will be? Wouldn't it make more sense to drop down a division where we will be on a level playing field? I understand we would not be playing Tech, TCU, OSU, or power house schools like San Jose St., UTEP, and La. Tech, but we could at least be competitive. Hell, we may even win a game.

[PK]

Sometimes it's like talking to a ROCK. Go study the damn roster and see if you can't figure out what the current problem is. If you have lost all patience then there is nothing anyone can say to change that. If you are interested in going to games at the lower level of competion you suggest we drop to...have at it. There are those kind of programs already available in driving distance.

We did not get in this situation overnight and we are not going to get out of it overnight. Everyone knew going in to this season that our first three games were going to be tough and likely three L's...why be so surprised. What we should expect and see this year is improvement in our competitiveness. We still have nine games to go...give the "we are so bad" routine a break for awhile...OK?

[Mexmustang]

OK, just stop the BS. No one needs to be fired at this point, but if we still are attempting to compete on an uneven playing field what can we do about it? I would suggest that TCU, as much as I choke saying this, has improved accross the board, not just in football, and should provide our administration a model for our future success.

What can we do outside of buying tickets, attending games, giving money to the University or the Mustang club and being patient with our young team? Do we really have the adminstration's ear? If not, how do we get it? What are your thoughts and suggestions?

The last time we felt this way we said "no more", "pass the hat" , and did it the wrong way. Seems like we need alot more people in the university and faculty board to understand that the alumns not only think a competive program is important, but that the administration had better place this as a priority that they will be measured by.

[Water Pony]

Thanks, PK,

Withdrawing support for this team is not something a true SMU alumni has the option to do.

JR, I hope your threat to not attend game is a promise.

[PK]

Mexmustang, the problem of support, or more correctly the lack there of, goes deeper than just the Administration and Faculty. TCU has a Board of Trustees that is VERY supportive of the athletics at TCU as well as the academics. They have in fact lead the way on pushing their athletics to where it is now. I'm fairly confident that we do not have the same situation. Perhaps it is the Board of Trustees that needs to have their ears bent. If we can't do it with the efforts of a few wealth alums, perhaps an avalanche of letters from the masses would get the point across.

[Mexmustang]

Well, I think organizing a letter campaign, not indidual letters, might be a start. But it needs to be organized, not random. And, it needs to be from the entire country, all the alumni base.

As far a our Board is concerned, Jerry Ford is (or was last year) the chairman, certainly he is concerned and supportive, who else?

[WildHorse]

Well, I think organizing a letter campaign, not indidual letters, might be a start. But it needs to be organized, not random. And, it needs to be from the entire country, all the alumni base.

As far a our Board is concerned, Jerry Ford is (or was last year) the chairman, certainly he is concerned and supportive, who else?

Lamar Hunt, I think, is on the board. He certainly is as supportive and concerned as any alum.

[PK]

There are some names on the Board who are recognizable as probably good supporters of athletics, but they are not a majority. I have no way to know how many of the Board members are alums, but the last time I saw something that gave a brief resume of the individual members, it seemed to me that a very large number of the members were not SMU alumni.

Board members: http://www.smu.edu/leadership/trustees.asp

[Johnny Rock]

Pk,
How long should the alumni, students, and others that care about SMU wait for success in the revenue sports? Our football program is a complete joke. I am sick and tired of the athletic department sympathizers (which includes you) of always offering excuses and telling people that it will take time for the football team to have success. I believe the phrase in your post was a direct quote from Bennett. Are you two related? I have waited patiently since 1992 for SMU to field a competitive team. Since 1992, we have only one winning season and no bowl games. This is not excusable. It is time for house cleaning in the athletic department. Every one of Copleand's hires have failed and failed miserably. SMU is currently in the middle of its longest losing streak in the school's history and we play in the freak'in WAC!!! According to you, PK, we all need to be patient....give me a break!!!

[PK]

Dear JR,

I've been waiting since 1989. You unfortunately missed the beginnings of the Pye administration when he gave the store away to the Faculty senate. Academics was never the source of SMU's DP sentence, but the faculty with it's new found power went crazy...like a kid in a candy store with free reign. It has been frustrating as hell since then.

As much as Turner wants to help the athletics department, his position is not one of royalty with complete power. The system Pye set up is such that Turner has to work with the faculty senate and try to convince them to loosen things up...it's a slow process. We are currently as close to a level playing field as we have been since the DP. No it's still not level, but the results of the improved recruiting situation are only two classes old...that is the only reason I stay patient. Cavan certainly had to work under less than perfect conditions, but he could have done better with more effort on his part...SMU was just a job to him.

I am not going to let my frustration with the last 15 years keep me from giving this coach a chance to turn it around, because it may well be our last chance. You can not expect a roster dominated with sophmores and freshmen to compete at the same level of most Div 1A teams that fill their two deep with seniors and juniors. That situation is just around the corner and I can wait that little while longer. So support these young guys and give them reason to bust their butts again and again for SMU.

Your fellow PonyFan,
PK

[WildHorse]

If the "joke" (athletic department) is that embarrassing to you, don't come back to this site, because dang it, there are supporters (dare I say PonyFANS) everywhere here. It's a funny site that way.

I happen to fall on the side of those who believe Coach Bennett and his improved recruits will turn the corner. You, of course, disagree. Fine - we can agree to disagree.

So let's consider your statement that "Every one of Copleand's hires have failed and failed miserably...."

- Jimmy Tubbs: ready to run him out the door? Hasn't coached a game yet, but surely that's because of his own shortcomings. And that silly notion of having a bigger presence in a recruiting hotbed like Dallas is just meaningless, right?

- John Cossaboon: been at SMU one year, and all he did was lead the Ponies to the WAC regular-season title and the WAC postseason tournament title. He had five players selected first-team all-WAC (including Kim Harvey, who was on nearly every Academic All-America team), and his team's record of 17-3-2 was the best of any women's soccer coach in school history. By all means, get rid of him, right?

- Jay Loar: the men's Director of Golf (former head coach, still oversees things) has helped the men's golf team produce five NCAA All-Americans, a United States Amateur Champion, one semi-finalist in USGA Pub-Links and three NCAA Scholastic All-Americans. Another Copeland hire who obviously can't cut it, huh?

- Todd Selders: the women's golf coach has recruited a new level of players to SMU, and has them from being conference also-rans to a program that can play with the top programs in the nation. They're not a championship team (yet), but the program is miles ahead of where it was before Coach Selders' arrival, in terms of performance and in terms of recruiting. Can't imagine why Cope would hire a guy like this, huh?

If it makes you feel important or smart to blast everyone in the athletic department from Copeland to to the guys who hand out towels and water at practice. Just don't ever assume that anyone should take you seriously, because you have yet to say anything on this site based in fact.

The rest of us, however, will continue to support our teams, our coaches, our players and our university.

[jtstang]

You guys all crack me up. JR, I expect you to have to wait at least as long as the rest of us for SMU revenue sports to get good again. If you think Copeland is the problem, pull some strings if you have them and get him canned. If you don't have any strings, just keep whining and see if that does any good.

And PK, your patience is laudable, but don't expect everybody else to adopt the "changes are happening, let's give them a chance" attitude after 15 years of inept at best on-field performance. I can certainly see where anybody's patience would have run out by now.