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mustangxc wrote:

Junior wrote:Who on here has defended JJ in the last month?

I know I have. I will say it again, June Jones can coach. He just can't recruit to save his life. Additionally, June Jones and this team (applies to each of the last 3 seasons) think they are way better than they are. The evidence is clear. They show up against TCU and teams they respect, they walk all over the worst of the worst (i.e. SFA, Southern Miss) yet think they can sleepwalk through Rice and Tulane and sure enough it comes back to bite us in the end. I know that if we had just taken care of business I would be very pleased with this season as we would be 8-4 or 9-3 (with a decent showing against TCU as opposed to the albatross it was). I chalk up Baylor and Texas A&M to a huge talent disparity which is partially on June, partially on the fans, and partially on the institution. The UCF and Baylor games I attribute to the difficulty of winning on the road. Anyway, I will take a 4th consecutive bowl game. Just think, this season which was a huge disappointment is equal to Phil Bennett's best season at SMU.

Must not have watched the end of the Tulane game where he decided to kick the FG rather than go for it and basically force them to go 90+ yards to win the game. Even their coach was shocked by that dumb decision. Personally, I think the guys win in spite of him.

Except for probation....the Pony Express Team would have gone five years in row against....top 20 teams. has the JJ era played against top 20 teams in bowl games?

It has been said that this staff works harder/does more homework recruiting, and therefore identifies talent earlier than our competition. In my estimation, it's not a lack of effort, but more of a focus on camps and videos rather than the traditional "hit-the-road" recruiting. It's probably a bit of an oversimplification, but that system does seem to favor finding the "diamonds in the rough" rather than bonafide blue-clippers that everyone is already chasing.

Anybody who KNOWS knows Klemm had some issues. But I will concur with most of the haters in that we do need to get someone on staff who can recruit like Klemm (but preferably kids that can actually get into SMU) and get in the homes to compete for some of the blue-chip recruits. And we also need to get better in admissions, so these kids get in, and we need to offer more support so that our kids who want to work can be successful academically.

Nobody is perfect. Certainly not JJ (or myself). But I think what the haters fail to acknowledge is the complexity of what we need to do to continue down the road of improvement, and simply want to lump it all on JJ. Which is, by the way, patently unfair and ungracious considering where we are vs. where we were when June got here. And the haters also assume that we can get somebody else in here better (like NCAA Coach of The Year honorees grow on trees) and that there will be no step backwards installing new O and D schemes and new terminology and recruiting players who fit the new schemes.

Fact is, we had too much go against us to expect more success this year. Yes, we should have beat Tulane, but Tulsa should have beat us silly.

We have a young/patchwork OL and a new QB coming into the system having never played in it before and coming off MAJOR shoulder injury. I wasn't expecting much from the offense and was only hoping they'd be able to improve as the year went on, which they basically have (wasn't expecting all the WR drops tho). And our secondary has been decimated, so the D actually exceeded expectations IMHO.

We're going to sorely miss JG, Taylor, Zach and Margus' occasional block. But we're stocked at LB and RB, so I actually expect some improvement next year.

It is refreshing to see some optimism seeping back into the board. It’s nice that some folks recognize that we do have the potential for talent to develop.

if you expect improvement next year after losing Reed, Davis, Hunt,Line and DJ then you are on the verge of getting irrational fan of the year.

we will move backward anyway. Might as well do it while breaking in new systems and staff instead of moving backward a year, then prolonging it another couple of yrs.

Its called good management. You anticipate outside events and act, rather then responding to outside events after the fact.

ponyte wrote:It is refreshing to see some optimism seeping back into the board. It’s nice that some folks recognize that we do have the potential for talent to develop.

Yes. A temporary respite from the grinches.

"It has been said that this staff works harder/does more homework recruiting, and therefore identifies talent earlier than our competition"


OK I'll bite-who possibly could be so uninformed as to come to this conclusion?

June's son? Bob Sharp? Herkie Herkimer?

And once again PP comes on here and claims there is an admissions problem. And once again I'm going to ask him to point out a single recruit denied admission to SMU that has started a game in Division 1A Football. And if he names such a recruit then tell the full story of why the kid couldn't get into SMU.

This staff is outworked on the recruiting trail by virtually every D1A program in Texas.

A total swing and a miss Punch. Drop by the fb offices sometime after normal biz hours and see who is around. Last year you would find Klemm there until 9, and often 10 or later until he left for dinner.

78pony wrote: Last year you would find Klemm there until 9, and often 10 or later until he left for dinner.

I'd say he was slow getting his work done or unhappy home life. Klemm is GONE - he isn't coming back - move it...........

78pony wrote:
" Last year you would find Klemm there until 9, and often 10 or later until he left for dinner."

He was constantly undercutting the rest of the staff and publicly stating so in writing. He was a green coach, that was learning to be an OLC, and some of you people were openly promoting him to be the next head coach. How silly! You lost your crediblity on this subject.

And, he was shown the door because of it. He was also the only coach "cross recruiting" for ASU before the "i's" were even dotted.

Well, let's see burger. He is divorced and his boys do not live in Dallas. No family here. Oh, and he was recruiting coordinator, took it very seriously, and also was recruiting kids from CA to IN to TX. He gave a damn, unlike most of the current staff. Yep, he's gone. UCLA is better for it, and SMU - well ...

I would have been inclined to throw gas on them as well if they were screwing around and I was doing the work. And if the HC made me recruiting coordinator, and I took it seriously like he did, I would really take offense when I tried to help the slackers and they wouldn't even accept it.

There is no way he was ready for anything more than an assistant position, but some saw the longer term potential and liked the fact he had figured out who and how he could interest some kids in SMU. Psych 101. Keep him interested and maybe he will stay around, while learning the ropes and getting some experience.

Your HC should have been shown the door for making the guy the RC and then when he asked the HC for support, he got nothing. Yep, he certainly didn't handle the situation the way he should have, but I suspect we all made mistakes when we were young and passionate.

I think that our recruiting has improved a lot with the arrival of JJ. Just compare the recruiting classes of Phil Bennett with those of JJ and you will see improvement. Heck if it were not for JJ, Zach Line would not have been recruited by anyone. I think JJ is recruiting to the level that they can. It's a tough sell to a 5 star kid to come play at SMU over somewhere in the SEC or Big 12. Kids want play time and exposure when selecting a school. It's tough to offer exposure when you can't even fill the home stadium every week. Just my 2¢ worth. With all that being said it does feel like JJ is not happy here. If we do replace him it better be someone that has a lot of clout to recruit and coach well...not a coach that no one has heard of that is a development project.