RGV Pony wrote:Let's list all the dog [deleted] schools thatve been top 25 the last 5 yrs and raise your hand if you thought they'd be top 25 before us.
Ball St
San Jose St
Vandy
Ohio
Kent St
...who else ?
The thing all of the teams have in common with SMU is - All had the DEATH PENALTY AND LOST MOST ALL OF THEIR GAMES FOR TWENTY FIVE YEARS.
I know virtually everyone on this board hates our program and our coach. But, that doesn't matter. Until JJ has a few bad years he will remain our coach. Interestingly, the general sentiment on this board has been that he has done a pretty good job pulling us up this far. The question is where do we go from here.
One of the accusations made on this topic was that I was a JJ 'worshiper' (which I take GREAT offence to as I only worship JESUS CHRIST). To the contrary I think JJ has deserved some criticism.
But, like Stallion indicated, this negativism has gotten out of hand. I backed off JJ after the Tulsa win. Moreover, I feel the continuous negativism is overkill and has become detrimental to our common goal.
I cannot see how a recruit would want to come to this school when nobody seems to be behind it; when SMU can’t even get a good crowd in the stands; when I read boards that unanimously agree on how terrible SMU's coach is. How do you expect SMU to recruit in that environment?
TELL ME THIS: If I’m a four star, why would I come to SMU? To get a degree? Why? My goal is to play pro ball! I can start for Texas Tech and play in front of a crowded stadium of about 50,000+ ALL SEASON. I'll be on national TV and front page on the Lubbock Avalanche (or whatever their paper is called now). And when I go to lunch, everyone in the restaurant will know who I am and probably pay for my meal. When I go to a clothier I will get free clothes because the owner 'likes' me. Think about that next time you knock JJ on his recruiting players above three stars. We really have nothing to offer.
So, where do we go? What do we do? I don't have the answers. I just don't want to be part of the problem.
I don't believe that there is another coach that we could have hired that would have taken us to four Bowl game (3 of them wins), in his first five years. I include all of the coaches who were considered at that time - Applewhite, Bowden, Johnson, etc.
I suppose this makes me a JJ "worshipper".
I would say that there is an equal amount of people who are so bitter about JJ that it permeates everything about their viewpoint of SMU athletics. My guess is that this is a group of people who perhaps lived through the top 10 years and are expecting similar results. Let me break it to you - unless we do the same things we were doing in the late 70s, early 80s - that is NOT going to happen.
I could care less if June Jones wants to add new rodeo clowns in the end zone, new helmet decals, new offerings in the concession stands, or require the Mustang band to play boy band songs at half time.
And another thing - if someone told me there was another coach out there who would lead to 10 W seasons, guaranteed - I am all for canning JJ tomorrow. That is about how loyal I am to JJ.
I am really not sure that there is.
BTW - Vandy had perhaps the softest schedule in the NCAA. They did not beat 1 team that had a winning record all year. If we scheduled UMASS and Presbyterian, and Kentucky instead of TCU, Baylor and A&M, I am sure we would have more Ws than Vandy this year...
We all have our own thoughts about jj. IMO he was brought here to rebuild our program, make it respectable, and make it a top 25 program that could compete with our former SWC conference mates.
Four low quality bowl games hardly make us a top 25 contender. We saw just how competitive we are with our former conference mates as they readily handed us our butts this season.
I will no longer buy tickets, go to games, support the athletic dept or the university until jj is gone. I have been a fan and supporter for over 55 years and simply do not care to continue to support a school whose admin fosters the motto- make mine mediocre. A school who turns their head when their coach recruits for another school and attempts to screw them royally. Yes, the 'glory days' can return but not with jj at the helm.
Hope all of you have a great and prosperous new year.
Now that is a sad post, Red. The team needs you, not the coach. He'll get his salary anyway. These kids are playing for us with honor, pride and commitment, and without payoffs. Hope time will heal your wounds.
AusTxPony wrote:Now that is a sad post, Red. The team needs you, not the coach. He'll get his salary anyway. These kids are playing for us with honor, pride and commitment, and without payoffs. Hope time will heal your wounds.
No SMU fan is happy with the, ah, deficiencies in the program, but no one can deny that JJ has lifted SMU football to a higher plane. You can be critical of June and still realize that before he was hired we were praying for a winning season, a bowl invatation. Watching the great performance in the Hawaii Bowl reminded me that Mustang football used to be pretty bad under Cavan and Bennett. Three bowl wins in four tries -- two of them smashing -- was a distant dream then.
The frustrations now are about moving up to an even higher level, into a respected conference and up to where we can be a relevent player in college football again (not just a sideshow). Jones may not be the guy to get us there, but he's gotten us part of the way.
But, there are inherent difficulties with SMU football that are much tougher to deal with and Mustang fans really need to face those without illusions. Getting to where we want to be requires the intersection of several conditions that are just not that easy to engineer.
