DMN's Cowlishaw hits nail on the head re: SMU

[MV pony]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/colleg ... big-12.ece

Jones has been good but not great. Real success won't come until the NCAA is completely gone and SMU can buy receivers and running backs. Dallas love for SMU is a hard sell given its a small private school in a town with 4 sports teams. He seemed to hit the nail on the head.

[Mustangsabu]

I think his points in JJ and basketball are both pretty well made, except that we have made four bowls instead of three, which shows how little the Dallas sports scene cares about SMU. And for those who think Moody will be packing 6000-7000 for the long term, I hope we do, but outside of the big draw opposition I don't see it happening on a consistent basis.

[NavyCrimson]

Very negative.

W/ the correct leadership in place the positive will happen & Cowlishaw is dead wrong. W/ Turner & the current board it ain't happening nor will ever.

Long story short. No ones really knows.

USC is a school far more expensive than us to attend but they're very protective of their football program which equals success. THEY WIN!!!

The problem isn't the fan base and crowds but our administrators & how they run our athletic dept. Ultimately SMU wins & wins big & the crowds will come. Quit blaming the fans!!!

[Charleston Pony]

He's right that SMU can't count on casual DFW sports fans' interest; improved attendance has to come from SMU students, alumni and their family and friends. SMU under Ken Pye did it's best to kill enthusiasm for athletics in the post death penalty era so it will take "generations" of a new culture of sports acceptance to get back to where we can fill the majority of seats in Ford and Moody with our own fans.

[NavyCrimson]

Don't blame the fans!!! Fans will come but only w/ wins and championships. Blame the administrators for not creating a winning attitude WHICH TRANSLATES INTO BIG WINS. Love ya CP but your priorities are wrong.

[SMU 86]

I think his points in JJ and basketball are both pretty well made, except that we have made four bowls instead of three, which shows how little the Dallas sports scene cares about SMU. And for those who think Moody will be packing 6000-7000 for the long term, I hope we do, but outside of the big draw opposition I don't see it happening on a consistent basis.

I think 5,000 is what I have been reading is more the expectation not 6000 to 7000. In fact I don't think there is a post that has ever made saying that 6000 to 7000 would be the average. Most schools I see that do not have major schools coming to play them in hoops do not have a very good turnout in OOC. I think 4000 to 5000 during conference play is reasonable. As at most basketball schools conference play is what you judge. But hoops perception is getting better with LB and staff recruiting the inner city pretty hard (they are very visible there) and being pretty successful at it.

[JasonB]

With the exception of the Cowboys, when any of the teams here struggle, attendance dips. They aren't happy with .500. This is a pro town, but even more than that it is a winners town. TCU is going to dip unless they are considered a really good team. if the Stars are .500, their attendance struggles. If the Mavs struggle to make the playoffs for a few years, they will struggle in attendance; look at the numbers for Reunion in the 90's. Look at Rangers attendance just 7 years ago.

SMU is a worst case scenario - 25 years of losing in both major sports. Just like TCU, they won't grab the attention of the Metroplex until they are top 25...

[EastStang]

How many Dallas area alums do we have? That's our market and they should be loyal no matter what. A&M sells out their games, mostly to alums. Baylor and TCU are similar to us and play a better schedule (and attract a lot of opposing fans), but they do get some casual fans. But Waco is different than Dallas. Looking at similarities, we are more like perhaps TCU (although Ft. Worth is kind of a different city) Tulane and Rice because we do compete for entertainment dollars with the NBA, NHL, MLB, NFL as well as with the larger state university fans. We are going to have to generate our own fans. Georgetown and Villanova generate about 10-15,000 fans for hoops, but are FCS for football with attendance below 10,000. Again they can't compete in football for Nationals, Capitals, Wizards, Terrapin and Redskins (Phillies, Flyers, 76ers, Penn State and Eagles) fans. Duke and Wake Forest attendance is quite similar to ours except like Baylor and TCU, they play in-state rivals and easy road trip rivals (UNC, NCS, UVA, VT, Clemson, FSU, GT). So, we can't fix our attendance by complaining about it. We should focus first on our local alums, then build out from there. We are never going to capture the average Dallas sports fan unless we win lots of games and beat teams like Baylor, Tech, and A&M.

[RGV Pony]

Between 30-40,000 alumni live in Dallas area

[CBpony]

Cowlishaw is an alcoholic and a blowhard. Get some wins we aren't supposed to and win a damn opening game and fans will come. Hard to get people to come to the games when you lose the season opener year in and year out.

[PoconoPony]

Put a good an consistent product on the field/court and the fans will come. We have done neither forever.

[NavyCrimson]

Thank you -Pocono. Correcto!!!

[Come and Take It]

Dallas love for SMU is a hard sell given its a small private school in a town with 4 sports teams.

This the worst excuse. USC and Boston College don't have this problem.

[SoCal_Pony]

He's right that SMU can't count on casual DFW sports fans' interest; improved attendance has to come from SMU students, alumni and their family and friends. SMU under Ken Pye did it's best to kill enthusiasm for athletics in the post death penalty era so it will take "generations" of a new culture of sports acceptance to get back to where we can fill the majority of seats in Ford and Moody with our own fans.

That is open to debate CP.

Fortunately for us, we will get a better grasp of this starting next month at Moody.

[NavyCrimson]

Winning will solve the fan problem. The problem is not the fans but our administrators who have accepted our losing. Don't blame the fans!!!! The whole 'fan argument' is absurd & a waste of time.