Straight From The Hart - Week 2

[Water Pony]

Straight From The Hart - Week 2

April 26, 2013

It's Wear Red Friday here on the Hilltop! I hope you are donning some red in support of the Ponies today.

It has been an historic week here in Dallas and at SMU. Yesterday we witnessed a once-in-a-lifetime event as all five living Presidents gathered to dedicate the Bush Presidential Center. The university enjoyed worldwide publicity as over 700 media outlets were on campus to promote the Center's opening.

Nothing I share here today will rival the excitement or impact of this unprecedented partnership between the Bush Center and SMU; however, I will attempt to provide some insight into our program and answer another round of questions from Mustang Nation.

The best part of my job is getting to interact with our student-athletes. Earlier this week, I presented The SMU Advantage to our Student-Athlete Advisory Council, a group consisting of representatives from each of our 17 sports. They are a conduit to the student-athlete population as a whole and provide us with a forum to exchange ideas, coordinate activities and gather input.

Spending time with this collection of talented young men and women serves as a reminder that the overwhelming majority of our student-athletes are doing an incredible job of successfully balancing their academic, athletic and social responsibilities. They are an inspiration; and you should all be proud of the way they represent themselves, our department and the university.

There is no greater reward than witnessing our student-athletes mature into adulthood. While I hope we play a small role in their development and success outside of the classroom, it would not be possible to provide them with this experience without the participation and support of the community. On behalf of our 398 student-athletes, thank you for all that you do!

And now, to the mailbag...

Bill (Hartford, CT): The Perkins Natatorium has been obsolete for at least 25 years. Nevertheless, our swimming program has been competitive and sent Mustangs to the Olympics. With a modern pool, our teams could compete for National Championships annually. What are our facility and fundraising plans for a new swimming facility?

Answer: I really do hope that we are able to provide our world-class swimming programs with an upgraded facility in the not-too-distant future. A new natatorium is included as part of the campus master plan; however, we currently lack the funding to trigger such a project. Our efforts to identify potential donors and funding sources will continue.
(Disappointing. We have been working for more than a decade on this issue and it appears that nothing is imminent, despite significant fund raising about 5 years, which was a substanial down payment.)

Sawnie (Riverside, CT): Will SMU have a D1 Lacrosse program in the near future?

Answer: Lacrosse is a great sport; and it is growing here in Dallas. As I shared last week, our focus at this time is to provide resources to our existing 17 sports. Should we arrive at a point where they are all positioned to pursue comprehensive excellence, and our program is self-sufficient, we will explore sport additions.

Austin (Dallas): What is the status of an indoor practice facility for the football team? Texas Tech (who are in the planning stages of building one) and Rice are the only other major football programs in Texas not to have one...

Answer: We are fortunate to have a supportive alumni and fan base. Their generosity has allowed us to upgrade and expand many athletics facilities over the last decade. Right now, we have several projects in various stages of development including Moody Coliseum, the Tennis Complex and Phase II at the DAC. We are optimistic about the Golf Complex at Trinity Forrest and the possibility of a new natatorium (mentioned in my previous response). Additionally, we have identified other needs outside of brick-and-mortar facilities, which require private funding. So, an indoor performance center remains in our plans - and we have completed a feasibility study regarding locations and space reassignments. I anticipate that our focus on this project will intensify once we meet our existing commitments.

If you have a question or concern, contact me through this form, or email us at [email protected]. You can also reach me on Twitter at @AD_RickHart.

[ReedFrawg]

Doesn't sound encouraging at all regarding an IPF.

[PonyPower]

The school's endowment is somewhere around $1.5 billion, right? If the Board would approve it, they could cut checks for the natatorium and IPF today. Call it a loan to athletics or something. Get it done.

[Pony Grey Hair]

Not sure President and AD fully understands the negative connotations that is shown by not having an IPF. We should be aggressively showing ourselves to be worthy of being a member of one of the Big 5 conferences and not having an IPF when even the top High Schools in Texas have one is naive. IPF should come before tennis, swimming natatorium or golf facility. If we don't get into a Big 5 conference in the next few years we won't have those programs because without big time football there will be no money to support them.

[MV pony]

Not sure President and AD fully understands the negative connotations that is shown by not having an IPF. We should be aggressively showing ourselves to be worthy of being a member of one of the Big 5 conferences and not having an IPF when even the top High Schools in Texas have one is naive. IPF should come before tennis, swimming natatorium or golf facility. If we don't get into a Big 5 conference in the next few years we won't have those programs because without big time football there will be no money to support them.

+1. I find it hard to believe a golf course preempted an IPF and new natatorium. If SMU has enough cash to build a golf course, it doesn't need my money as much as my local animal shelters.

[SMUer]

It just shows me the school as a whole doesn't care very much about being competitive in football...which makes it harder for me to continually reach for my wallet...we reap what we sow

[ReedFrawg]

It just shows me the school as a whole doesn't care very much about being competitive in football...which makes it harder for me to continually reach for my wallet...we reap what we sow

Priorities seem way out of order...I got no problem with golf, tennis or swimming but an IPF should be the top priority. No one outside the SMU student body or alumni care about those sports (same thing at TCU) but an IPF (and investment in the football program) can absolutely raise the profile of SMU beyond the borders of the campus - in athletics and academics.

[tristatecoog]

How much is the golf facility costing SMU? I didn't think they were building a new course.

Swimming -- well, they continue to fundraise but aren't making it a priority over hoops.

Tennis -- substantial upgrades here. Was that due to a specific donor who preferred that program?

A concern of mine regarding the IPF is space. Would you convert the field b/w the church and Ford Stadium into the IPF?

The athletic program is substantially in debt ($18MM/yr) so it's not like you're going to just dip into the endowment. I'd suspect most of the endowment is spoken for and helps to fund financial aid among other things. Total school cost is at $61K per year now.

[Stallion]

I guess next week we should ask him if funding is secured for IPF. I find it difficult to believe that SMU would slow-play an IPF if they had the funding. SMU doesn't build facilities-donations build facilities. I'm perfectly happy to let them build any of those projects in any order if someone wants to write a check

[Water Pony]

I guess next week we should ask him if funding is secured for IPF. I find it difficult to believe that SMU would slow-play an IPF if they had the funding. SMU doesn't build facilities-donations build facilities. I'm perfectly happy to let them build any of those projects in any order if someone wants to write a check

I agree. It is abundantly clear than Administration is more than happy to cover 10% of any facility, as long as donors are writing checks for 90%.

[SMUer]

So the University is going to sit on its hands until Big Donor comes along!?! That just shows they don't care enough. If they wanted one, everyone would be getting fliers about it and one way or another it'd get done.

[GRGB]

AN HISTORIC

Subject: Re: An History or A History

I'm doing my best. In fact, I opened a show a few months ago by talking about Nancy Pelosi's first speech as Speaker of the House, in which she used the expression "an historic" three or four times in a row.



In case you're interested, here's what I said at the time. "An historic" or "an history," in the mouth of somebody who pronounces the "h," is an affectation.



The rule with the articles "a" and "an" is that you use "a" before a word or acronym that starts with a consonant SOUND ("a euphonious piece of music," "a hotel," "a unicorn," "a YMCA"). Use "an" before a word or acronym that starts with a vowel SOUND ("an uproar," "an hour," "an unending saga," "an M&M cookie").



It's not the LETTER the word or acronym begins with that determines the article; it's the SOUND. So a word starting with "h" can go either way. Similarly, it's correct to say "a rhinoceros" but "an RFP from a client," because the letter "R" is pronounced as if it began with a vowel ("are"). Similarly, the letter "N" is pronounced "en," so begins with a vowel sound. "An NFL coach" would be correct.



According to the grammarian George O. Curme, there's been a long fluctuation in the pronunciation of the initial "h" in an unstressed syllable (as in "hotel," "historic") in literary (that is, educated) English. In literary usages, in England it was long common to drop the "h" if the syllable was not stressed, and to use "an" instead of "a" as the accompanying article. This is no longer the case. (In the U.S., in Ireland, in Scotland and in extreme northern England, it never was the case--people never did drop their "aitches.") Nowadays standard English pronunciation, both here and inBritain, calls for sounding the "h." Not all Brits do, though, so it's natural they would say "an 'istoric."



When you see in British literature the article "an" before a word beginning with "h," that means the "h" was pronounced either weakly or not at all. In early Modern English (early 1500s), this was true even of words of one syllable ("hill"), and of words in which the first syllable was stressed ("history," "hundred," "humble"). That's why you will see "an hundred" in Shakespeare and "an hill" in the King James version of the Bible. So "h" wasn't pronounced, or was sounded very weakly, in those words. Later on, "aitches" were dropped in literary usage only with unstressed syllables, and to this day some British writers persist in this (thus writing "an hotel," "an historic occasion"). But that too has now fallen away and is considered overly "literary" these days, even in England. In fact, Fowler called it "pedantic" back in 1926.



In my opinion, the persistence of some people in writing and saying "an historic" or "an history" or "an hotel" is another example of Anglophilia gone haywire.



This is probably more than you wanted to know. But I hope it helps. Thanks for writing, and all the best,


Pat O'Conner

[couch 'em]

I doubt he wrote "an historical" with any intention to follow obsolete British grammatical rules. It is more "an historical" expression and the only "an h------" situation I can think of that sound's right.

I guess it is like when someone says "grammar is my forte" and pronounces it "for-tay" like the musical term. If practically everyone is wrong......doesn't that become right?

[Digetydog]

I guess next week we should ask him if funding is secured for IPF. I find it difficult to believe that SMU would slow-play an IPF if they had the funding. SMU doesn't build facilities-donations build facilities. I'm perfectly happy to let them build any of those projects in any order if someone wants to write a check

I agree. It is abundantly clear than Administration is more than happy to cover 10% of any facility, as long as donors are writing checks for 90%.

Did you like my Natatorium question?