SMU Looks West For Plan For Success

[ALEX LIFESON]

Would like to see the game played in Dallas, but would be surprised if it's not in the Alamodome. Big payday. Pony Up!

[Longtime]

Back on topic: There are so many holes in this espn article you could watch "Pony Excess" through it.

First, the article is written by a Horned Frog, a frog who spends most of his time covering the Rangers. It's not written with a negative SMU slant, but the amount of research and perspective could fill a thimble.

It's laughable to discuss any kind of marketing of the program with Orsini. We all know why. SMU has no athletics marketing.

But the big lie in the piece is that the SMU is traveling the same route TCU did to football success. TCU had a much, much easier time re-establishing its football program. There was no death penalty at TCU. And more importantly, unlike SMU, the entire university including the administration has always been supportive of TCU athletics. There's still a huge anti-athletics bias among the faculty at SMU that never existed in such large proportion at TCU. And SMU students' apathy toward athletics in the post-death penalty era is exponentially larger than anything TCU ever experienced.

So SMU football is climbing out of a much deeper hole than TCU did, even though TCU football was terrible for a long period of time, most of the 60s and 70s.

And the author makes a huge mistake by saying that TCU's winning and marketing has made it Fort Worth's team. TCU has always been Fort Worth's team. Even when TCU was bad to mediocre, many Fort Worth residents still claimed ownership of the team because of civic pride. That ship sailed for SMU in the 1960s when the Cowboys got good - and when SMU willingly became associated with the elitist Park Cities. TCU, although also a private school with lots of spoiled rich kids, has never been stereotyped as such. You can't find a person under the age of 60 who roots for SMU because it's Dallas' team. Fort Worth, in general, has always had more civic pride than Dallas, probably because Dallas gets the majority of the attention.

None of which is to say TCU had it easy getting back to football prominence, just easier.

[westexSMU]

I agree with the Cotton Bowl idea for aTm next year because Jerry wants to much of the gate. To have that game during the State Fair would draw over 60,000.

[Topper]

It should be noted that Jarr-y has donated substantial amounts to SMU. Jerry Jones hasn't been the problem.Hasn't seem to bother TCU. They used to make that excuse too. Jerry and his wife have served SMU in various capacities and have an alumnus son

http://smu.edu/newsinfo/releases/00320.html

Then he should quit scheduling games in Arlington on the same day as ours and quite picking off Arkansas and the Big 12 teams that need some dates in Dallas for recruiting purposes. But you are right, winning is the ultimate promotion.

[SMU2007]

Link to this article on front page, main story of espn right now

[East Coast Mustang]

How difficult would it be for us to get high profile programs (think ND, USC, LSU, etc) to play us at either the Cotton Bowl or Jerryworld as part of a home-and-home or 2-for-1? I would think it would be advantageous for them to play a game in TX for recruiting reasons, and they might perceive us as an easier W than TCU, A&M, Tech, etc.

[Topper]

How difficult would it be for us to get high profile programs (think ND, USC, LSU, etc) to play us at either the Cotton Bowl or Jerryworld as part of a home-and-home or 2-for-1? I would think it would be advantageous for them to play a game in TX for recruiting reasons, and they might perceive us as an easier W than TCU, A&M, Tech, etc.

Pretty difficult. When I was a kid we got Ohio State to come down here after playing them up there 3 or 4 times in a row. The Cotton Bowl actual attendance was probably 35,000. They said never again. We have had series with ND, Fla etc over the years without them reciprocating. Alabama cancelled a scheduled game here during the Pony Express days because our crowds were too small for them even then. I can't imagine LSU bringing enough people to fill the Cotton Bowl. Arkansas is another story. They always liked playing us in front of their fans at the CB. But now they go to Jerryworld to play the Big 12, my original point.

[TCUBCSBOUND]

The biggest problem SMU has is in how the landscape of college football has changed since TCU started its climb, specifically in recruiting.

In recruiting TCU was at least 50/50 with SMU when going for recruits and the only other conferences to compete with were the Big 12 and C-USA.

SMU now is not on the same tier TCU is, and has the Big East now crawling in its backyard looking for talent.

College football was more a niche sport in the late 90s and early 2000s. Still very popular but there was no College Football Live or ESPNU's the experts for 4 hours a week. It was viewed nationally as just a gateway to the NFL draft, except for those schools who were fans of their team.

Now college football is as big on SOME weekends as the NFL. Personally I think championship Saturday, the first wkend in Dec., is better than anything the NFL gives because so many teams can be in the national championship going into the day and you see dreams live and die in the manner of 10 hours.

I bring this up because schools now have more vested interest in going all over the U.S. to find talent. It used to be just USC and Miami would be national recruits but now everyone knows to come to Texas.

[ponyboy]

I believe I found the source of the whining. It seems to me that many on this board have unbelievably unrealistic expectations right now.

Yes, TCU's success is the goal, as it is for 99% of college football teams out there who'd give their right nuts to replicate what has happened over in Fort Worth. But it's not the immediate goal. Our immediate goal is do what a Houston or a Tulsa has done over the last few seasons: winning percentage in the mid sixties, appearances in the top 25. We seem to be almost there. Next step after that will be to maintain a top 25 presence and win multiple CUSA titles.

Let's get there before we start to worry about busting the BCS and playing for national titles.

[Metropolis777]

I believe I found the source of the whining. It seems to me that many on this board have unbelievably unrealistic expectations right now.

Yes, TCU's success is the goal, as it is for 99% of college football teams out there who'd give their right nuts to replicate what has happened over in Fort Worth. But it's not the immediate goal. Our immediate goal is do what a Houston or a Tulsa has done over the last few seasons: winning percentage in the mid sixties, appearances in the top 25. We seem to be almost there. Next step after that will be to maintain a top 25 presence and win multiple CUSA titles.

Let's get there before we start to worry about busting the BCS and playing for national titles.

The whole thing is a process. It was for us. We didn't just overnight go from ruining y'all's 1997 season to the Rose Bowl and #2 finishes. It took major commitment over 13 years to get to this point. SMU is really only 3-4 years into the process of commitment. You will get there if you stay the course. But, there's gonna be a lot of heartbreak and a lot of empty seats for a while still. You've got to accomplish every smaller goal to get to the big one:

1. Have a winning season every year. CHECK
2. Get to a bowl game every year. CHECK
3. Win your bowl game. SORT OF CHECK
4. Win CUSA West. CHECK
5. Win 10 games.
6. Win CUSA.
7. Win Liberty Bowl.
8. Finish in Top 25.
9. Win 11 games.
11. Finish in Top 15.
12. Win 12 games.
13. Finish in Top 10.
14. Get to a BCS game.
15. Win BCS game.
16. Win 13 games.
17. Finish in Top 5.
18. Finish in Top 3.
19. Play for National Title.
20. Win National Title.

So there's an idea of what the path looks like. Y'all have taken a piece of the CUSA West crown in both of the last 2 years. It's time to make the next step. Win 10 games, win CUSA, win the Liberty Bowl. With your schedule, there's no reason to accept anything less than 9 wins in the regular season. A CUSA title and the Liberty Bowl should be the expectation.

[ponyboy]

Bingo.

[One Trick Pony]

No SMU gear anywhere in the malls. Reminds me of my Orlando days...

[ponyboy]

That's not entirely true -- I haven't seen as much SMU stuff in a long time. But the degree to which we're underrepresented is because we're only at step four of twenty right now. Good news is we've got a great coach and a plan -- and are showing progress towards that plan.

It's ok to be a happy SMU fan. Really, it's ok. We don't have to b1tch and moan and cry all the time.

[NickSMU17]

Good news is we've got a great coach and a plan -- and are showing progress towards that plan.

Lets hear the plan...since you are in the meeting room...

[Stallion]

Don't let Facts get in your way Ponyboy while you are setting the facts straight. TCU won 2 conference Championships and was in the Top 20 (No. 18) by the end of Franchione's 3rd year and was immediately competitive against Texas BCS programs in recruiting from Day 1. The defining difference between the SMU and TCU programs is that TCU got after it in Texas recruiting and SMU appears to be floundering in Texas recruiting in Year 4. Until that is solved I don't see much comparison between the 2 programs