This is what happens.....

[SMU2007]

Don't want to forfeit ncaa status. Clearly we can't drop all sports. Just saying that if football and men's bball were nationally relevant, I couldn't care less how any of the other sports fared. No one else is going to openly agree with me because it is an "unpopular opinion", but I have a hard time believing anyone honestly feels differently unless they happened to compete in one of those sports (which I respect and think is great, I'm just personally uninterested).

[feelthehorsepower]

Don't want to forfeit ncaa status. Clearly we can't drop all sports. Just saying that if football and men's bball were nationally relevant, I couldn't care less how any of the other sports fared. No one else is going to openly agree with me because it is an "unpopular opinion", but I have a hard time believing anyone honestly feels differently unless they happened to compete in one of those sports (which I respect and think is great, I'm just personally uninterested).

Ask anyone...the Frog is only good at Football and Rifle...and this year, Football is pretty questionable

[SoCal_Pony]

Depressing at the moment, but more disturbing long term.

Men's and Women's Soccer has eroded from their national rankings and expectations, but Swimming & Diving is even more problematic given our prominence starting in the Fifties through the Nineties. All-Americans, National Champions, Olympians and routine Top Ten Finishes in the NCAAs for our Men and Women Swimmers and Divers are rapidly becoming a only memory.

This season, we lose Duals Meets by Men at TCU and Women at Rice is evidence that our two programs, like soccer, are in death spirals. Given our dated (obsolete) Natatorium, how is it possible to recruit, train and compete in the state of Texas, much less nationally, our historic role in college sports? The prospects for a new Natatorium are dimmer than at any time in the last twenty years. Statements that a replacement is a priority are empty rhetoric without foundation or substance.

I feel for Soccer, as well, but with the right coaches you can imagine a recovery. For Swimming & Diving, the future is probably non-existent. Yes, I am on the ledge.

Correct me if I am wrong WaterPony, but didn't UT began to catch up on us and eventually surpass us when they built their own state-of-the-art facilities in the '70s?

I wish Hart would lay out a plan for you guys. Say this the total cost, this is what is expected as a lead gift, and, as an exception to our stated rules regarding construction funding, this is an additional amount SMU will fund above and beyond what is 'typical' given Swimming & Diving's unique history at SMU.

For those of you too young. Swimming was our crown jewel, a perennial Top 10 program. And SMU2007, I understand your sentiments about non-FB/BB sports, but there are exceptions to most rules. Swimming is that exception. You wouldn't understand because you didn't know how good they were and for how long.

When you are the best at something, it's hard to simply give it up.

[Bergermeister]

For all of the Orsini love around here, he sure seems to get a free pass for how much he ignored non-revenue sports. Is any NR sport (other than equestrian which is new) better off now than it was when Orsini was hired?

You can go a lot further back than Orsini. SMU should have made a move when The University of Texas opened their state-of-the-art swim facility way back when. That is what marked the demise of the SMU championship streak. We have seen others pass us by ever since. SMU continues to be content.

[PerunaPunch]

For all of the Orsini love around here, he sure seems to get a free pass for how much he ignored non-revenue sports. Is any NR sport (other than equestrian which is new) better off now than it was when Orsini was hired?

This is not atypical behavior for PonyFans; we're a fickle and illogical lot. For example:

Orsini gets credit for hiring June and extending his contract. And yet the same PonyFans don't want June.

Orsini hired Doherty, but ran off Hyndman.

PonyFans talk trash about Jim Copeland, and yet he was able to raise funds and construct Ford Stadium. Orsini couldn't get us a natatorium, IPF or even a real training table.

We all [deleted] about marketing, but Orsini is the one that got rid of our marketing dept.

So far, I think we traded up when we hired Hart.

[PK]

We use to come in pretty highly ranked in the Director's Cup for a small school on a yearly basis due mainly to our olympic sports. I believe in the early 2000s we were ranked in the 40s. By 2009 we had dropped to 87 and in 2012 we had dropped to 100.

http://thedirectorscup.com/current-standings1/

[Stallion]

We used to be in the single digits in the 1980s-every sport was nationally competitive-there were consequences to emulating Ivy League Football-fans of all sports should have seen the consequences of an failed football and basketball program that can't win or draw enough fans to stay competitive. We dug ourselves a huge ditch for all sports. Those directing our athletic program in the late 1989s and 1990s bear a larger responsibility than those today who are simply trying to climb out of the hole their predecessors built. Bottom Line: We simply have not had at any time in 25 years enough recvenue or attendance to do all the things SMU alumni want to do in comparison to the teams SMU alumni want to compete against.

[gostangs]

I think the drop - some would say demise - has been well chronicled, and to keep beating the horse is now bordering on masochism. Its tiring and unproductive.

The question is how does a 6k undergrad private university in a great media market, with pretty good tradition, an average football team and a basketball team on jet fuel, get the attention of one of the 5 conferences that matter when it comes to money, and persuade them to extend an invite. Only then can we really compete at the non rev's - because one of our rev's is hanging on by a thread.

I personally think it will take a really tactical hire in football - which needs to happen now, of a young aggressive coach/recruiter who will bring or recruit a great staff to join him. They will have to be skilled at embracing and expanding a community of interest. I would in fact be in favor of dropping down to 1.5 mil on the HC, and getting more dough to a great staff of rock star recruiters. We have seen the solid x and o coach that doesn't emphasize recruiting and it doesn't work well enough for what we need.

we need the PAC, ACC or Big 12 to see the benefit of adding us. Big 10 and SEC wont do it - we are definitely not a fit. Someone needing to add or defend the Dallas market is our only chance.

That said, next year will be tough in football. Lighter schedule is a help, but the cupboard does not look competitive at this point. we cant let JJ coast though another year before we fix this or it will be a disaster for the next guy - and any smart hire is going to see that.

[GiddyUp]

Unpopular opinion: I would gladly give up every single non-revenue sport at SMU if we could be nationally relevant in football and basketball

We're already at the minimum for Division 1 membership.

Well, drop men's and women's swimming. Add back men's track and something else. Bulldoze the Nat and build a IPF. Easy peezy..

NCAA minimum needs to be rethought w/ about 10-15 in all of schools making any AD money or are breaking even from what I have seen/heard