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I have to agree that SMU in general is pretty bad at developing and maintaining its relations with many alumni. I have been a Mustang Club member since '94. Mostly prior i had donated to Meadows, my school at SMU. Both Mustang Club and Meadows have been pretty inconsistent in keeping up with me. I have worked on many major motion picture and TV productions, but never get recognition from Meadows. I've offered to network for kids, but am generally ignored. MC has generally ignored me too. My fav moment was getting a call from Kelvin Beachum thanking me for my MC donation. I had a great time speaking with him.

SMU needs to develop its base early and work harder on keeping up with its young alumni to build up the base. I have been back to campus on and off over the years, and always would buy FB tix for myself and friends. I have also gone to games in CA and NC over the years. I am getting discouraged though. SMU needs to show a stronger commitment to athletic programs, especially football. If stinking tcu can do it, most certainly SMU can do it too. I hope I will not need to walk away from my school after all these years.

Go Ponies! !

Interesting comments.

I think that the MC whittled down to such a small size over the years that it essentially became an old man's network. Everyone knew each other, and it was a club that wouldn't really welcome in the younger generations of fans. I'm no longer a young alumni, but still find it hard to break into that group. It is kind of off-putting to younger alumni or new members of the MC.

As for reaching a wider audience, SMU needs to have a winning tradition and a few conference championships for an extended period of time in order to become Dallas's team. 3 years isn't enough. We were good for spells in the 60s and 80s. But not enough consistency to develop a strong, solid fan base. TCU has become Fort Worth's team, but that is a recent transition that took them at least a full decade of winning (and winning big) to start developing.

Our position in Dallas is not going to change until we have 10 years of winning seasons and 5 10 plus win seasons. That is what it took for TCU. It is possible, because TV is more important in college football than ever, and there is a lot of corporate interest. That will help us pull it off if we make the right decisions. But it isn't easy, and it isn't as simple as hiring one person or coming up with a single marketing campaign.

if the Big East can stay together as a basketball conference, that provides us an added chance because it is easier to build a basketball program than a football program. The coaching staff is in place to create a bang. But we will need to win consistently in order to build a program that the Dallas community stays connected with.

well travelled pony wrote:I am getting discouraged though. If stinking tcu can do it, most certainly SMU can do it too. I hope I will not need to walk away from my school after all these years.
Go Ponies! !

well said

I will say this. If we can possibly make some noise in BB over the next few years, that should help our marketing and recruiting for football.

ponyinNC wrote:I will say this. If we can possibly make some noise in BB over the next few years, that should help our marketing and recruiting for football.

True.

ponyinNC wrote:I will say this. If we can possibly make some noise in BB over the next few years, that should help our marketing and recruiting for football.

I agree with your point. I also hope their is a Big East Conference still around in a few years.

I look at the BE teams like Georgetown. Every gang member in DC has a Hoya's hat (even though none of them could get five feet onto their campus without being arrested). The Verizon Center sells out more often for Hoyas games, than Wizards games (of course Georgetown is good, the Wizards stink). So, being good in hoops gets you casual fans. Georgetown has no football team to speak of. But, in terms of being better on the football field because of a good hoops program, its a disconnect. Look at Duke, UNC, Maryland, UVA, Syracuse, Pitt, Kentucky, Kansas, and Memphis. No boost from Hoops to Football.

EastStang wrote:I look at the BE teams like Georgetown. Every gang member in DC has a Hoya's hat (even though none of them could get five feet onto their campus without being arrested). The Verizon Center sells out more often for Hoyas games, than Wizards games (of course Georgetown is good, the Wizards stink). So, being good in hoops gets you casual fans. Georgetown has no football team to speak of. But, in terms of being better on the football field because of a good hoops program, its a disconnect. Look at Duke, UNC, Maryland, UVA, Syracuse, Pitt, Kentucky, Kansas, and Memphis. No boost from Hoops to Football.

Georgetown has a football team, they play 1-AA ball.

I look at the BE teams like Georgetown. Every gang member in DC has a Hoya's hat (even though none of them could get five feet onto their campus without being arrested).

Now that's a 'riot', EastStang!!! LOL!!!

EastStang wrote:I look at the BE teams like Georgetown. Every gang member in DC has a Hoya's hat (even though none of them could get five feet onto their campus without being arrested). The Verizon Center sells out more often for Hoyas games, than Wizards games (of course Georgetown is good, the Wizards stink). So, being good in hoops gets you casual fans. Georgetown has no football team to speak of. But, in terms of being better on the football field because of a good hoops program, its a disconnect. Look at Duke, UNC, Maryland, UVA, Syracuse, Pitt, Kentucky, Kansas, and Memphis. No boost from Hoops to Football.

And out of that list, only Duke, Memphis, and Kentucky haven't had solid football teams in the top 15-20 at some point over the last decade. It may not be a huge boost, but it helps people realize S-M-U isn't just the acronym an illiterate Mississippi St alumni uses.

sbsmith wrote:

Georgetown has a football team, they play 1-AA ball.

They have an FCS team in name only. They play what many would call a lower tier FCS - division II schedule in football. Davidson, Wagner, 4 Ivys, Holy Cross, Lehigh, Bucknell and Fordham. Not games against FCS powers like William and Mary, Delaware, James Madison, Richmond, Liberty or even fellow BE teams like Villanova which are all close geographically.