A Theory: The Problem with Student/Alumni Attendance

[MrMustang1965]

Just a theory...but one of the reasons that student & newer alumni attendance at SMU games is lax may be because these folks were never exposed to the same kind of SMU football that the rest of us were (SWC days).

In the pre-DP, pre-Kenneth Pye days of SMU, football was a sport that almost everyone who attended or graduated from SMU would go see on a Saturday, either at the Cotton Bowl or at Texas Stadium. Some students may have made their collegiate choice based on SMU's football exposure on the national level. I remember driving through the campus and seeing numerous cars with license plates from as far away as Michigan, Connecticut, South Carolina, California, etc. The 'unofficial PR campaign' worked.

However, since 1987, Mustang football - the way many of us knew it - hasn't existed on The Hilltop. These students and newer alumni made their decision to come to SMU over the past decade or more without any exposure to the same kind of Mustang football we remember. The 'unofficial PR campaign' has not been at work. And, as a result, it hasn't been important to the students & newer alumni whom you would expect to be in attendance at the games like many of us did years ago.

Many of the freshmen this year at SMU were born going into SMU's 'dark era' and have never seen a consistent winning program on The Hilltop in their lifetime. The names Ray Morrison, Matty Bell, Hayden Fry, Doak Walker, Kyle Rote, Don Meredith, Chuck Hixson, Jerry LeVias, Ricky Wesson, Craig James, Lance McIlhenny, Eric Dickerson, etc. don't hold any significance to these folks because there hasn't been a foundation for them to build upon.

These students and newer alumni weren't there to appreciate the wins over TCU that led to a Rose Bowl berth in 1936; the 1948 Cotton Bowl game against Penn State; the 1948 Cotton Bowl against Oregon; the 1951 SMU v. Notre Dame game in South Bend with the Mustangs coming away with a 27-20 win; the 32-28 upset win over Navy with Heisman trophy candidate Roger Staubach at the helm for the Midshipmen in 1963; or the 1968 win over the Sooners in the Bluebonnet Bowl.

While it disappoints me that SMU's current students and more recent alumni - as well as Dallas' citizens - don't attend the games at Ford Stadium, it doesn't surprise me as much anymore considering the circumstances.

These 18-23 year old undergrads and the newer alumni of the past 18 years just haven't had the history to build upon like the rest of us have had.

[NavyCrimson]

pretty good analysis - i agree

[HixsontoLeVias]

..it's ALL about scheduling...SMU "fans" have preferred the beer bus and Stadium Club to SMU football FOR YEARS. 1993 Season, post DP, home average was 23,000..why? we played Arkansas, Wisconsin, Baylor at home, was the ut / alamodome game counted as a home game? 1994, home average of 22,500..why? A$M game in San Antone was counted as a home game....we NEED to keep playing RANKED teams...good REGIONAL draws (A$M, tcu, UT, OSO, OU, Mizzou, LSU, Baylor etc., etc), pull off some scheduling spoofs (ie: San Antone games count as a home game..), I would MUCH rather do that then "tear up" 15 fake / no show tickets....oh, and btw, winning a few games would help, too....Long Live Cary Brabham.

[gostangs]

We need regional draws, but only the regional draws we can be competitive with - at least for the next five years -

avoid - OSU, A&M, UT top tier big 12 basically

schedule - Baylor, TCU, UNT, etc...

We can get away with one tech/arkansas/a&M a year - but not three. Good news is the demise of the frogs - going forward we have a much better chance of capturing the fans without the loss.

Huge crowds and wins are mutually exclusive until we build our own fan base - we can only do that with winning - SMU community plu sintersted Dallas will show if there is something in the balance - possible bowl, possible winning season, conference championship etc... We have had 20 years - a full generation, of training our fans not to care - only consistant winning can fix that.

[Sir Trolls A Lot]

Just a theory...but one of the reasons that student & newer alumni attendance at SMU games is lax may be because these folks were never exposed to the same kind of SMU football that the rest of us were (SWC days).

In the pre-DP, pre-Kenneth Pye days of SMU, football was a sport that almost everyone who attended or graduated from SMU would go see on a Saturday, either at the Cotton Bowl or at Texas Stadium. Some students may have made their collegiate choice based on SMU's football exposure on the national level. I remember driving through the campus and seeing numerous cars with license plates from as far away as Michigan, Connecticut, South Carolina, California, etc. The 'unofficial PR campaign' worked.

However, since 1987, Mustang football - the way many of us knew it - hasn't existed on The Hilltop. These students and newer alumni made their decision to come to SMU over the past decade or more without any exposure to the same kind of Mustang football we remember. The 'unofficial PR campaign' has not been at work. And, as a result, it hasn't been important to the students & newer alumni whom you would expect to be in attendance at the games like many of us did years ago.

Many of the freshmen this year at SMU were born going into SMU's 'dark era' and have never seen a consistent winning program on The Hilltop in their lifetime. The names Ray Morrison, Matty Bell, Hayden Fry, Doak Walker, Kyle Rote, Don Meredith, Chuck Hixson, Jerry LeVias, Ricky Wesson, Craig James, Lance McIlhenny, Eric Dickerson, etc. don't hold any significance to these folks because there hasn't been a foundation for them to build upon.

These students and newer alumni weren't there to appreciate the wins over TCU that led to a Rose Bowl berth in 1936; the 1948 Cotton Bowl game against Penn State; the 1948 Cotton Bowl against Oregon; the 1951 SMU v. Notre Dame game in South Bend with the Mustangs coming away with a 27-20 win; the 32-28 upset win over Navy with Heisman trophy candidate Roger Staubach at the helm for the Midshipmen in 1963; or the 1968 win over the Sooners in the Bluebonnet Bowl.

While it disappoints me that SMU's current students and more recent alumni - as well as Dallas' citizens - don't attend the games at Ford Stadium, it doesn't surprise me as much anymore considering the circumstances.

These 18-23 year old undergrads and the newer alumni of the past 18 years just haven't had the history to build upon like the rest of us have had.

Ponysnob posts this same diatribe every week.

[Lamont_Cranston]

MM65 makes a solid argument. Although a lot of fans may not agree with it, I've never read anything from ponysnob that even comes close to this.

Sir Trolls a Lot: why do you have such a [deleted] for MM65?