Jonathan Williams III Visit

[smupony94]

How we acted after the death penalty doomed us

[mrydel]

But we were dead

[Pony Boss]

The DP happened 30 years ago and is no longer an excuse. In fact, SMU could have done things right in 89 and maybe we would not be in this pickle we are in today. Other programs crawl back and get up to where they were, see USC, Penn State and others.

[LA_Mustang]

Or we could get in a time machine and go back to 2011. Remove the coach who tried to leave and bring in a Chad Morris type coach. Had that happened, SMU would likely be on the P5 doorstep looking pretty today. If we don't eventually get in, which I still believe is highly unlikely, the failure to make that move in 2011 will haunt SMU forever.

[skyscraper]

There are many, many moves that haunted us way before 2011. That wasn't the tipping point.

[LA_Mustang]

Perhaps, but we were in the best position post-DP to build our case for P5 inclusion while the door was still open. The absolute give up job by our HC from 2011-2014 most likely crippled any chance we'll ever have. It was devastating.

[PoconoPony]

Historically, Mattie Bell failed to hire Frank Broyles after he retired with Broyles begging for the job. Bell was afraid that Broyles would have an even better legacy. Broyles then built Arkansas into a national powerhouse and influenced the university for decades as a coach and AD. How much different would the history of SMU have been if they had continued the tradition and built on to a ND type legacy?????

[GiddyUp]

This is the hoops board

[PoconoPony]

This is the hoops board

The question was what if???

[Pony Boss]

Perhaps, but we were in the best position post-DP to build our case for P5 inclusion while the door was still open. The absolute give up job by our HC from 2011-2014 most likely crippled any chance we'll ever have. It was devastating.

Indeed 2011-2014 was devastating in football, but the overall athletic program moved forward under AD Rick Hart and now with Morris expect that to keep trending upward. It's the entire SMU package that will get us in the P5, not just success in one sport by itself.

[EastStang]

Unfortunately for all of us hindsight is 20/20. When JJ didn't get the ASU job, I don't think anyone expected him to pack it in. And even then we went to another bowl or two. It was only last year when it became painfully obvious that JJ had left the building long before he physically left the building. The demise of the SWC was to me the tipping point, but the fact that unlike TCU, we never seized upon the opportunity given us to dominate in those other conferences cannot be ignored. We have never won a conference championship for 30 years in football and for 20 of those years we were in mediocre conferences. Prior to that, we'd manage about 1 per decade. We made our own bed and now we have to sleep in it. Absent the P5 conferences turning cannibalistic, or adopting some form of a British Premier League model with promotions and demotions (which ain't gonna happen), then I don't see our lot changing for a long time.

[hoopmanx]

I'm an SMU pessimist as it pertains to P5, cause I just don't see what we offer. Incredible school, beautiful campus, lots of CEOs, student body and alumni money. Most would say location, but we don't deliver on the market and never will, unless we go Big 12, and then it's mpre like the rest of the conference delivering Dallas. That said, they own the market anyway, so why do they care?

Football sustainability at the highest levels, w/o P5 money, is for a generation that actually remembers the Pony Express years. Nobody 45 and younger has ever seen even a modicum of football success and i'd bet donor levels reflect those lost generations. The point is, make a move now, or shut it down cause we're about lose the greatest generation of donors. There will be a point when it detracts from basketball being a dominant program. Let's hope Morris can get it to the point it actually helps hoops and delivers us to P5 cause the alternative isn't worth the effort

[LA_Mustang]

I agree.

[gostangs]

We have to become to Dallas what USC is to LA. That is the only chance we have. Winning will do that in football but not in one year or so.

winning will bring some serious corporate sponsors. That will help our story also. About the only people TV networks listen to are their advertisers - like say....ATT.

[Pony Boss]

I'm an SMU pessimist as it pertains to P5, cause I just don't see what we offer. Incredible school, beautiful campus, lots of CEOs, student body and alumni money. Most would say location, but we don't deliver on the market and never will, unless we go Big 12, and then it's mpre like the rest of the conference delivering Dallas. That said, they own the market anyway, so why do they care?

Football sustainability at the highest levels, w/o P5 money, is for a generation that actually remembers the Pony Express years. Nobody 45 and younger has ever seen even a modicum of football success and i'd bet donor levels reflect those lost generations. The point is, make a move now, or shut it down cause we're about lose the greatest generation of donors. There will be a point when it detracts from basketball being a dominant program. Let's hope Morris can get it to the point it actually helps hoops and delivers us to P5 cause the alternative isn't worth the effort

The only team that will ever deliver the DFW market is the Dallas Cowboys. No one in the big 12 does individually, maybe cow gets the most views followed by oklahoma. SMU delivering 15-20% of DFW market would make it a solid contributor to any conference.