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EastStang wrote:Stallion to be honest, we were out recruited for 23 years in a row because we started out hog- tying ourselves in recruiting and ever so slowly released one appendange at a time. I would say that now, we can probably offer almost any kid that TCU would offer. The problem is that would they rather go to a BCS program that will dominate the BE, or would they rather go to a building non-BCS program in CUSA? We have two things to sell these kids. Life after college (not every 4 star makes the NFL) and academics (not every four star makes the NFL). That said, we have more players getting NFL looks than before and we have greater name recognition than most non-BCS schools. And CUSA has most of those teams in the fold (SMU, Tulane, Memphis, Rice, Houston). Only perhaps Navy, Army, Boise and AFA have greater name recognition.

We may be able to offer any kid TCU can, but it seems we still have a long way to go toward keeping them eligible for four years. Can't sell the kid an education if we can't help him be successful in the classroom.

In my opinion, the university has offered the student athletes what they need to be successful in the classroom. It's possible the the coaching staff is not placing enough emphasis on the importance of going to class, but at some point the kids need to take personal responsibility for getting their butts to class and doing what they need to do to remain eligible. It's really not that hard. Especially with the resources already on campus and nearly every professor having an open-door policy.

Stallion wrote:
BTW Andy Dalton was a 3 Star No. 23rd rated QB in the Country and that was before the 100% grade inflation in Rivals rating system-probably would be about a 5.7 3 Star these days. He also was a Texas Top 100 and rated No. 98.

He had offers from TCU & UTEP. He wanted to go to Baylor but they didn't offer.

Dalton also committed about 4 months before signing date. He was a quality recruit from the very beginning as his rankings show. 2005 is different from 2011-early, early recruiting was just beginning. For example on the day he committed SMU had exactly 2 commitments. In fact, he was only TCU's 3rd recruit that year. Different deal and incorrect to say he wouldn't have been offered by many other schools. Sometimes those conventional wisdom theories get shot down when some one really knows the facts.

smudubs wrote:In my opinion, the university has offered the student athletes what they need to be successful in the classroom. It's possible the the coaching staff is not placing enough emphasis on the importance of going to class, but at some point the kids need to take personal responsibility for getting their butts to class and doing what they need to do to remain eligible. It's really not that hard. Especially with the resources already on campus and nearly every professor having an open-door policy.

Almost impossible to win consistently in D1 football unless you take kids who can't cut it academically. I think we're at the point of deciding whether we pass these kids like everyone else or allow this to hamstring us. I'm for special treatment of athletes who just can't cut it, like the majority of other schools are

We still don't measure up, no specific majors (athletic friendly), higher maintainance requirements (hours and grades) and a disfunctional administration.

And yet we are winning. While making these excellent observations, never, never, never forget from where we've come. Now, let's go dominate CUSA and get a ticket to the big game when the next big reshuffle occurs.

Time to get on my soap box. The assumption that athletes are not capable or intelligent enough to do what it takes to succeed in the classroom is just flat out wrong. At some point, these kids need to understand they are in the real world and will face real world expectations once their playing days are over. If they did not learn this lesson at home, they should learn it in college. If the university lowers the bar for athletes, they will likely view that bar as the ceiling, not the floor. Some who could have gone on and done great things with their lives will settle for the easy road. If the University started doing that, I would be done with SMU athletics.

I said this when I was at SMU and I still say it to my kids. If you do the bare minimum to get by in the classroom, I doubt you are putting forth maximum effort in other aspects of your life--including your efforts on the field. And please don't give me the BS excuse that these kids come from disadvantage backgrounds and schools. I did too. Just means you have to work harder than everyone else.