Subtle Criticism of SMU Admission Policies?

[rich_alum]

So how many guys do some of these top programs sign that have not yet qualified? Can anyone put some numbers out? For example, for all the guys that Miami's signs or Texas signs......what is the percentage of those kids who have not qualified yet?

[EastStang]

But on the other hand, the kids committment doesn't count until he is qualified, and thus as players get mad, transfer, flunk out or whatever, there are usually scholarships available in August. If he has qualified by August, there is no reason to believe that he can't graduate unless he goes pro early. He may need a ton of tutoring to get there, but life after football would be very rewarding if he put in the time to get through his classes.

[Stallion]

schools like Arkansas and LSU may sign as many as 8-10 of these kids, many top programs sign 3-4 a year-some I'm sure sign only a handful. Haven't some of you ever wondered how Arkansas could sign 32 in one recruiting class?

[jtstang]

Okay, hypothetically lets say SMU goes after five per year. If three fall off the radar at the last minute, aren't you hurting yourself by being left holding the bag? I mean what are the economies involved in going after these known risks?

[huntnfish]

Then you have UT w/ a 30% graduation rate, so they are not even graduating the kids they should. That's embarrasing.

[Stallion]

jtstang a scholarship also doesn't count against either the 85 man limit or the 25 man limit until August 1-so all you have lost is the opportunity to give the 'ship to a freshman who decided to go elsewhere--you could still give it to a late qualifying recruit who didn't sign a letter of intent-ala devin Lowery or give it to a Kendall Mouton or give it to deserving walkon if you want. Heck if you've offered more than 25 on the assumption some may fail to qualify YOU LOSE NOTHING.

[jtstang]

Then you have UT w/ a 30% graduation rate, so they are not even graduating the kids they should. That's embarrasing.

Not as embarassing as our record in football over the last 15 years.

[jtstang]

Heck if you've offered more than 25 on the assumption some may fail to qualify YOU LOSE NOTHING.

Well that's an approach I hadn't considered, but the likelhood that you end up screwing some kid over seems awfully high with that procedure. I guess you're right about one thing, though, even if your high-risks fall through there are always some players who have fallen through the cracks.

[rich_alum]

Then you have UT w/ a 30% graduation rate, so they are not even graduating the kids they should. That's embarrasing.

Not as embarassing as our record in football over the last 15 years.

This trade-off is a no-brainer......I don't care at this point if our graduation rate went down. The fact that we would have a better football team, increased revenue, and increased national exposure for our school would be well worth it.

It sounds like a policy change here could help us, however our ability to get JC's in here could be our biggest hamstring at this point. I think getting JC transfers to plug an immediate hole is invaluable.

[huntnfish]

Again another philisophical difference. I would rather graduate 70-80% of my players and be a .500 team or below(not that I believe that is what we have to settle for b/c there is no reason we can't win in the WAC or Conference USA, let's face it, it is not the old SWC). I just believe it is much more important to turn out quality young men and student athletes. By the way, NAVY is doing a pretty good job of this and still winning and being competitive, although many on this board believe this is impossible. WHEN IN FACT IT IS NOT.

[abezontar]

anything would have to be better than the way we are doing in now, 60 someodd percent graduation rate and 1, or 2 win seasons.

[Stallion]

Navy is not subject to either the 25 man or 85 man limit. As we have seen with Air Force they can sign 85-100 a year if they want-put the rest in the Prep Schools both Air Force and Navy have and play the rest. Ever notice how it seems like every school in the country has a transfer from Air Force? Heck we've had 3 in recent years.

[huntnfish]

There are many kids each year who would like to have the opportunity to choose an SMU over one of the armed forces. Again, you might have to search a little harder, but they are there.

[Stallion]

that may be true but when you are taking 25 "sleepers" anyway per year as we generally did in about 11 out of 13 years before Bennett then being able to take double or triple the amount of sleepers SMU takes every year is an advantage to the Academies.

[jtstang]

Stallion, I like the idea of pursuing some of these late qualifiers, particularly if the bigger schools will be full-up by the time they qualify. I do not think it's practical that we go overboard with such an effort--maybe one or two candidate recruits per year--but the more I think about that Moats deal, the more pissed off I get. Here's a guy who's a stud (albeit in the WAC) who wanted to come here, but couldn't get a nibble. Although he'd have had to make do with our offensive line, which has not been all world this season.