Boondoggle ...

[newshound]

A boondoggle is a project that is considered a useless waste of both time and money, yet is often continued due to extraneous policy motivations.

Do six years and $12.6 million qualify?

[ponyte]

I have to disagree. 12.6 million over 6 years to bring a program from the worse, the absolute worse, college football program in the nation to one that has made multiple post season appearances is a bargain.

Sure, we aren't competing with Alabama with its decades of high level success or ND with it's multi generational success. Instead, we had generation of utter futility and ignominy. Just to move from absolute humiliation to middle of the road for a mere 12.6 Million is a great deal.

How much did we waste over a generation it insure guaranteed indignity?

Perhaps 12.6 million isn't enough to buy a top notch program. Perhaps it was the price to pay to improve from horrid to mediocre.

A boondoggle would have been to hire another Rossley, Caven or Bennett. 12.6 million to go from pathetic to consistent post season player sounds like a great deal.

[SMUer]

Didn't do bad, could have done better with $2M

[newshound]

ponyte, you are whistling through the graveyard.

This man has SWINDLED us. And, trust me, when he leaves -- the sooner the better -- the next guy is going to have a complete rebuild on his hands. At least PB left June some players (Sanders, Robinson, Beasley, Banjo, Morstead). June has NO Division I skill-position players on the roster. NOT ONE. Is there ONE player on the SMU roster that would START at TCU, Baylor or Texas A&M. ONE?

We could have found a coach for half the price who didn't crap all over our traditions (colors, mascots), and insult our knowledgeable fans with his antiquated offense and less-than-inspiring gameday demeanor to get us to 6-6 while actually leaving something to build on. There is ZERO foundation.

He's done nothing to recruit players and even less outreach to our football alumni (unless there were among his NFL pals). He's a joke. Far, far, far from the program builder we thought we were getting for $2.1 million per.

Please tell me you're just not seeing the forest through the trees.

[PonySnob]

We do have a player who started for UT.........

[Fooball]

Ponyte is correct.

[newshound]

ponyte is kidding himself.

Funny that a tight end supports the chuck and duck coach.

No tight ends in the chuck and duck.

Fans like ponyte are part of our problem.

Demand excellence and accountability. June does neither.

[mrydel]

Ponyte is totally correct. What Jones has accomplished is to move us from nowhere to somewhere even if the somewhere is not where we want and need to be. We floundered for many years after the DP. That was the boondoggle. I do not speak for Ponyte but no where in his post does he say not to move forward now with someone new. He merely points out that Jones did move us from nowhere to a level that we had not seen for 25 years.

[PerunaPunch]

Is there ONE player on the SMU roster that would START at TCU, Baylor or Texas A&M. ONE?

Acker and Gottschalk.

I think a large part of our current demise is that we're a throwing team and none of our starting WRs would sniff the field on a Big XII team despite how many scholarships we've allotted to this area. The downfall of the TCU game is that their DBs were simply better athletes, and our guys couldn't get open. They absolutely locked us down.

The other part of our current demise lies in age rotation and recruiting for position need. If you asked this same question in two years, I might expect my answer to include: Burcham, Gaynes, Hollie, Lasecki, Minor, Rice, Richard, Seals, Taylor and Yenga. And maybe more that we're not familiar with yet. The fact that our OL is studded with freshmen (and a center who should be a redshirt freshmen) says to me we didn't recruit properly for our needs. Sort of the same issue on the DL. We tend to like recruiting athletes who can grow into DEs, but right now we're having to throw them in before they have adequate time to grow.

I think you could actually make the argument that June has done a BETTER job since the ASU debacle. As much as we hammered on this last recruiting class, it probably has the most and best players in it of any class we've had in recent years.

[SMUer]

Acker would definitely be a backup in this TCU line-up...Gottschalk probably

[ponyte]

The question posed was, did12.6 million for Jones over 5+ years qualify as a boondoggle?

My opinion was no, it doesn't.

I remember sitting with Steve Endicott and Coach Meyer watching another typical Caven loss to TCU. Our players must have been paid by the mistake cause they didn't block, tackle or hold onto the ball. All of us were disgusted and non of us felt what SMU put o the field qualified as football.

Could we have paid less than 12.6 million and gotten someone that would have taken us to elite status by ow? Its possible. But when we hired Jones, we broke the bank for non BSC coaches and paid him more than many BSC coaches. That was the price it took to get any decent coach to come to SMU. Losing for a generation does that to a team.

Lets play 'what if'. What if we paid 12.6 million and had more of the Rossley, Caven Bennett era results. That would be a boondoggle.

What if we paid 12.6 million and within two years we go from the worse team in the US to beating the Hades out of Nevada in a bowl game and picking up a few post season votes for top 25? That wouldn't qualify as a boondoggle.

What if 3 out of the last 5 seasons we won big in three bowls. And kick the Hades out a off a team with a possible top 25 finish if they beat us? That would not qualify as a boondoggle.

What if we played in the conference championship game? That would not be a boondoggle.

What if 12.6 million dollars to produce a team that was never on TV to a team that for one year was in an AQ conference and one TV most of the years? That wouldn't be a boondoggle.

Alabama, Arkansas, Old Miss, Texas, Texas A$M, Ohio State, USC and others are paying their coaches a Hades of a lot more than 12.6 million over 6 years. Hades, they probably are spending that on the assistant coaches alone.

So 12.6 million for 6 years to have some winners, a 3-2 post season record and a complete turn around for the embarrassment of Rossley, Caven and Bennett to me isn't a boondoggle.

Please note, the question wasn't was 12.6 million dollars too much to pay for a coach that didn't take the worse college football program in the world to National Championship status?

And as pointed out in another thread, the second half of the TCU game was the only time I have seen SMU perform tot he Rossley, Caven, Bennett era of total ineptitude and futility. Now that was a boondoggle!

[Charleston Pony]

as long as we are at it...what if we had allowed Forrest Gregg and those who came after him to recruit without the restrictions they had (compared to JJ's tenure)? I'm guessing we might be right in there with TCU by now

[Vitale]

Didn't do bad, could have done better with $2M

He has done well. And yes, he could have done better. And still might. My guess, right or wrong, is that he'll get his extension and we'll see if he can do better.

[Rebel10]

My guess, right or wrong, is that he'll get his extension and we'll see if he can do better.

Even before the season is out the hard core JJ supporter want a contract extension. Corso, it seems you support JJ more than you support SMU.

[ponypatrick]

ponyte is kidding himself.

Funny that a tight end supports the chuck and duck coach.

No tight ends in the chuck and duck.

Fans like ponyte are part of our problem.

Demand excellence and accountability. June does neither.

lighten up !!!!