20 total committments

[Stampede]

Guys ...Don' worry...be happy. The University has it right and is doing htings the right way. BTW, did nayone take notice of the increased graduation requirements put on by the NCAA? Thank goodness SMU does not have to address this as a problem. We are ahead of the curve. In addition, we have 5 JC's to date.

[Dooby]

Guys ...Don' worry...be happy. The University has it right and is doing htings the right way.

That depends on your perspective. Has the Unversity had it right and been doing things the right way for past 18 years? IMO, no.

[EastStang]

I think the professor's board is to try and get students in whose numbers don't quite add up. A kid from Fork Union who says "yes sir" and "no ma'am" might actually look impressive compared to the usual gum chewing slob who slouches in and responds, "yeah". Of course that would not include the professor I had my first class at SMU in "Nature of Man" who told me his name was not "sir" it was "Bob".

[Mustang75]

Glad to hear 'Nature of Man' (your showing your age!) might still be a frosh requirement. Is it really still mandatory?

[Diehard Pony]

Guys ...Don' worry...be happy. The University has it right and is doing htings the right way.

That depends on your perspective. Has the Unversity had it right and been doing things the right way for past 18 years? IMO, no.

I would have to agree. As much as I hate to say it, I would be willing settle for not being among the top 5 in graduation rates for enough W's to at least make us respectible on the field again. I am not saying we should be blatantly stupid in our admission policies, but giving kids a chance is part of being a university, and a key part of having successful football in particular.

[PK]

This whole academic thing has been a big scam all along since the infamous DP. Academic fraud was never a part of the problem. It was paying the players that brought us down...STUPID. I'm glad we graduate a large percentage of our players...it is the right thing to do and in the end it is the degree that is going to carry most of them once they leave SMU and it is what being a STUDENT-athlete should mean...BUT and I think this is an important BUT...there is no good reason that SMU's admission standards for these student-athletes should be any more stringent than it is at any other fully accredited university including the likes of lowly tier one schools like UT.

The NCAA has set minimum standards for qualifying student-athletes that the majority of Div 1A universities accept as good enough...WE SHOULD TOO...PERIOD (steps off soapbox).

[EastStang]

The main thing is that we don't have a Dexter Manley situtation where a guy attends SMU for four years, maintains eligibility and leaves without the ability to read. To me that's fraud. These kids at least deserve to leave SMU with more than basic life skills, and if they don't invest in that they should be gone. Coaches who follow that philosophy are more successful long term than those who don't: Joe Pa, Bobby Knight, George Welsh, Dean Smith, Coach K, and their players find more success in life after college, than players who played at another school. Winning is important, but educating is the primary reason why SMU exists.

[GoRedGoBlue]

This whole academic thing has been a big scam all along since the infamous DP. Academic fraud was never a part of the problem. It was paying the players that brought us down...STUPID. I'm glad we graduate a large percentage of our players...it is the right thing to do and in the end it is the degree that is going to carry most of them once they leave SMU and it is what being a STUDENT-athlete should mean...BUT and I think this is an important BUT...there is no good reason that SMU's admission standards for these student-athletes should be any more stringent than it is at any other fully accredited university including the likes of lowly tier one schools like UT.

The NCAA has set minimum standards for qualifying student-athletes that the majority of Div 1A universities accept as good enough...WE SHOULD TOO...PERIOD (steps off soapbox).

Yeah, but...

The problem is, when you let in 'lesser' academic prospects they have a lesser chance of graduating because we don't have many 'lesser' acedemic programs like the big boys (rather, we have far far fewer), such as Basketweaving, Criminal Justice, Sociology for Auburn Athletes (of the 140 or so Sociology students in the ENTIRE campus, 90+ are athletes), Aggie Economics, Aggie Range Management, TCU Kinesiology, and a host of other real-world majors usually taught at trade schools. Also, our athletes don't get 8 hours of credit for FOOTBALL like Ohio State that counts toward graduation, nor do they get

So when you let a guy in with a 700 SAT and a 2.2 GPA from public High School that graduates you with 16 credits (I graduated with 28 I think), they aren't very likely to graduate even with a 2.0 from SMU with an Accounting degree.

In the 80s, we did away with P.E. major, and we don't have a teaching major (so you could be a 'coach' say with a history degree or something).

But, they are working on some viable majors that are not so Engineering / Accounting / high end as we speak.

[GoRedGoBlue]

What they REALLY need to do, is enforce legitimate majors in College throughout the NCAA, but that would be tantimount to racism since that would negatively affect more black students than white, just like limiting by 1 scholarship the basketball allotment affects more blacks than white and why the NCAA Black Coaches association fights it so much.

By the way, why is it that EVERYONE falls into this tired argument that SINCE Div1A football is 50% black players, then the coaching black percentage ought to be higher (granted, it will be with time and should be, but NOT 50%, jeez)?

Since when is being a Div1A football player a pre-req for being a coach?

The determinitive pre-req, aside from FB knowledge is:
- a college degree (to be a HS coach you need one, to be a GRAD ASSIST, you need one)

CHECK out the grad rates between white v black athletes on NCAA.org

- Check out any college football sight and look at WHERE the the coaches went to college (Assistants and Head coaches).

MOST coaches went to Div1AA or DivII-DivIII schools (where the vast majority of football student-athletes are white).

SO, when they talk about raising the 'standards' for college entry to play football, you necessarily are saying that you plan on decreasing the amount of black participation in these sports, according to the NAACP.

In fact, the effect is true. But that is not the reason for raising the standards -- its for a fair playing field and recognition that this is COLLEGE, not minor league football.

[jtstang]

This whole academic thing has been a big scam all along since the infamous DP. Academic fraud was never a part of the problem. It was paying the players that brought us down...STUPID.

Ah, PK, the old chicken and egg delimma....

Without illegal payments, no death penalty...without death penalty, no firing of Shields...without firing of Shields, no hiring of Pye...without hiring of Pye, no higher academic requirements for athletes...and so on, and so on.

That said, we are NCAA member institution, so it makes no sense not to follow NCAA requirements. I mean, you can't very well drop from NCAA, start your own high-academics collegiate athletic organization, and proceed to play with yourself year after year, can you?

And as for that prior poster's racial rant...kindly take that crap elsewhere.

[Dooby]

Ah, PK, the old chicken and egg delimma....

Without illegal payments, no death penalty...without death penalty, no firing of Shields...without firing of Shields, no hiring of Pye...without hiring of Pye, no higher academic requirements for athletes...and so on, and so on.

What the heck? This isn't a chicken and the egg argument; this is factual, but illogical, progression by a bunch of high-minded intellectual idealists. The death penalty led to Shields getting sacked and replaced by Pye who took advantage of an opportunity to create an athletic department that was run the way he thought it ought to run, even though he had no experience in doing so and no idea what athletics entailed. The result was an abomination and arguably the least successful athletic department over the last 18 years.

That said, we are NCAA member institution, so it makes no sense not to follow NCAA requirements. I mean, you can't very well drop from NCAA, start your own high-academics collegiate athletic organization, and proceed to play with yourself year after year, can you?

This makes no sense, unless you are saying that SMU should abandon the notion of holding itself to standards higher than the other learning institutions in the NCAA, which I would agree with. If you are saying that SMU should hold itself to higher standards and stay in the NCAA solely because there is no alternative to the NCAA, I would disagree. That is tantamount to saying that SMU has made the conscious decision not to be competitive. If that is the case, please let me know so I can give my Mustang Club money elsewhere; my fraternity is trying to build a new house, I am sure they can use the money.

And as for that prior poster's racial rant...kindly take that crap elsewhere.

Agree completely.

[jtstang]

This makes no sense, unless you are saying that SMU should abandon the notion of holding itself to standards higher than the other learning institutions in the NCAA, which I would agree with. If you are saying that SMU should hold itself to higher standards and stay in the NCAA solely because there is no alternative to the NCAA, I would disagree. That is tantamount to saying that SMU has made the conscious decision not to be competitive. If that is the case, please let me know so I can give my Mustang Club money elsewhere; my fraternity is trying to build a new house, I am sure they can use the money.

You're right in the first instance. The rest was sarcasm.

[BUS]

Good afternoon - The BUS has been in NON-Sunny LA for the week. Bad traffic but good business and card game.

SMU still does not have enough BIG uglies - I count 8 in this class. My preference would have been for 12 to 14.

Better - Oh hell yes.
Go Coaches - Finish out the class with a couple more BIG MEN.