The lesson of Hayden Fry at SMU

[NavyCrimson]

Good job '59. Very interesting. Makes one wonder what history 'could have been'?

And YES, we were definitely a 'sure win' for the hogs.

[Rayburn]

Broyles was not in the running when Fry was hired. Broyles was on the staff at Georgia Tech when Meek was hired. When Meek was hired Darrel Royal was also considered but showed little interest. Fry was an assistant under Broyles at Arkansas when Fry was hired. The story is that Mattie Bell wanted Broyles but the Alums. with the money chose Meek because he was a "proven" head coach at Houston.

Some believe that Broyles pushed Fry for the SMU job because he was a nuisance on the staff at UA and because he knew that with Fry coaching at SMU it would always be a sure win for Broyles.

The first half of this account is correct the last half is ludicrous. Broyles offered Fry a raise to stay at Arkansas. Also, if Broyles thought Fry was a soft touch, why would he hire him on his own staff?

[Topper]

Thanks, Navy.

Navy, do you recall that SMU could have had Hank Stram as head coach before the Dallas Texans/KC Chiefs got him instead of Meek?

Yes, and there were discussions with him when Dave Smith was fired but the school couldn't afford him by then.

[rich59]

I agree that it is probably not true that Broyles foisted Fry onto SMU for ulterior reasons but some believed that was the case. If SMU had hired Broyles instead of Meek it would have probably changed history. SMU was still getting very good recruits in those days and Broyles would have more than likely done very well. It was said that Broyles told Bell he would crawl on hands and knees from Atlanta to Dallas to get the job. Lots of what ifs!

[NavyCrimson]

Oh that hurts!!! But have to agree with you. The 30's & 40's teams were still in everyone's mind thus the recruiting advantage!!!

Have to admit we've made some terrible coaching selections!!!

[lwjr]

Oh that hurts!!! But have to agree with you. The 30's & 40's teams were still in everyone's mind thus the recruiting advantage!!!

Have to admit we've made some terrible coaching selections!!!

Why do you think that is? Alumni to involved? Bad AD hires? I have always wondered when it came to football and basketball, to a certain degree, this school seems to screw things up. Of course football has had its moments but overall the history is certainly not stellar.

[NavyCrimson]

LOL!!!

When we're stellar we're STELLAR! The only problem is getting all 8 cylinders running correctly.

[Rayburn]

Why do you think that is? Alumni to involved? Bad AD hires? I have always wondered when it came to football and basketball, to a certain degree, this school seems to screw things up. Of course football has had its moments but overall the history is certainly not stellar.

We are dealing in two bad assumptions here.

The Broyles/Meek thing looks bad in in hindsight. At the time, Broyles had no head coaching experience and Meek had success as a head coach at UH. We are also working under the assumption that Broyles would have stayed at SMU. People forget he was head coach at Missouri for one season before he jumped to Arkansas. He left Mizzou because the whole mindset there was wired wrong.

It always helps to be able to see into the future and to figure out what would have been if things had gone a different way.

[Bergermeister]

It always helps to be able to see into the future.

This is what we need to do. It will eliminate a lot of problems down the road.

[rich59]

There is no question that the culture of the SWC began to change in the mid late 50s. Prior to that time, it was a rather relaxed atmoshere and coaches like Bell, Meyer and Neely could successfully recruit enough good players to compete with the state schools. Royal and Bryant changed that culture to where recruiting became very competitive both over and under the table. Prior to Royal, TU just went out and took most of the top players from the top high schools with almost no limit on numbers. Some of those players were good prospects and some really not. That left a lot of good players for SMU, Rice, TCU and Baylor. Royal and Bryant both were more selective and as a result had fewer busts recruiting. A&M was a much tougher sell in those days and Bryant had to be more inventive to recruit well. Royal and Bryant also probably conducted much tougher practises than had previously been held at those schools. I know for a fact that practises at TU were a lark pre Royal and I heard that changed after Price was gone. We have all heard about Junction under Bryant.

[SMU Cyclist]

I have heard that after Fry, Dave Smith was the choice over Bum Phillips because Smith was more "polished." I hated it when I was 12 years old that Fry was gone, then we get a guy who made our uniforms look like Ohio State.

[lwjr]

I have heard that after Fry, Dave Smith was the choice over Bum Phillips because Smith was more "polished." I hated it when I was 12 years old that Fry was gone, then we get a guy who made our uniforms look like Ohio State.

I never knew one of SMU's colors at the time was Silver.

[Rayburn]

The culture changed because post-WWII American culture became more corporate and structured and football drifted that way as well. Matty and Dutch used to play Gin Rummy together in the off-season; can you imagine Bob Stoops and Nick Saban doing that? Tom Landry is the perfect example of the corporate coach. Darrell Royal is too because Royal projected the cracker barrel image but governed UT football like the CEO of a Fortune 500 outfit. He danced with what brung him in $500 shoes.

Ed Price was a lack disciplinarian and UT practices were a lark, so much so that his players began going out to the honky tonks on game weeks. he and his head coaches had to form a posse to round em up! Ask Herb Gray.

TV changed the game as well, made it much more of a commodity. Without TV you wouldn't have had the AFL, the Super Bowl, or contracts that dwarf the GNP of some nations. Check the NBA or NHL before 1955 and see what TV has done for them. It did the same for and to the NCAA in the early 1980s. My sons laugh when I tell them that, as a kid, I could only watch one college football game a week (two if there was a night game). Now you've got college games on Thursday, Friday, even Tuesday nights.

But the rules also changed. SMU could compete better with the big boys when there was limited substitution because that equalized so much and made it easier to get more good players and less expensive to field a team.

[PoconoPony]

Heres a little trivia for u. Frank Broyles was in the running when Fry was hired. The rest is history.

I think you have your stories and decades wrong. The Broyles story is true according to old timers,but he was the young aggressive coach to have replaced Mattie Bell and Bell nixed his hire. This was circa. 1952 and reportedly Bell was afraid that Broyles would make people forget Bell and his accomplishments. Hayen Frye came on board in 1962 at a time when Broyles was producing top 10 teams at Arkansas.

[rich59]

It is absolutely not true that Broyles was considered for the job when Rusty Russell got it. It is true that Broyles was in the running when Meek was hired.

Of course I was prejudiced because Dave Smith and I were good friends but I liked the uniforms he picked. He was kind of ahead of his times in making drastic changes in uniforms from old traditional ones. I like the old traditional ones like the New York Giants wear.