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Stallion wrote:"Marcus Tubbs was a skinny kid that nobody wanted" Please! get you facts straight.

SMUfan didn't say nobody wanted Marcus Tubbs, just that he was told that was the reason he wasn't offered a scholarship. I tend to believe him, since I'd heard the same story from a couple of people.
But you're also right, Stallion, that it's insane to say NOBODY wanted him. I'd say Mack Brown is pretty glad he ended up in Austin. Personally, I wish he'd ended up here. As do most PonyFans, I imagine.
Oh well - good luck to him in the NFL.

RGV- I don't think any of us want to go into what all Bliss did at SMU to get the players. Let's just say that the football DP saved the basketball team huge penalties also.
I think that since we can't attract a top candidate for the SMU job that Tubbs is probably our best bet. I also think that many of you who are supporting him very hard will be asking for him to be fired within a few years. The main thing I like about Tubbs is that he does have deep roots in the community and if anyone is capable as a coach to make SMU Dallas's team, it may be him. That is a heavy load but SMU alums and students won't support the team enough to ever make it a big time program. They never have. We were able to mask it for years in the SWC by drawing other teams fans for games but we don't have enough fans of our own. Dallas must want to support SMU. Let's hope that Tubbs (or whover is chosen) can build those relationships which make Dallas feel like it owns SMU. I'm not talking about the UT fans- I mean those who don't have college relationships and those who love college basketball but are too far away from their favorite teams. That is what we need and we need about 5,000 people like that. It may start with Tubbs, friends, associates etc who want him to succeed, then spread from there. That is our only hope to ever really have a crazy home court advantage like so many of our competitolrs enjoy.

It can be done. Look at DePaul this year. Dave Leitano has done a great job turning it around, faster than anyone thought possible. Kennedy was adisaster and bad actor and the DePaul program had little hope.

Blue Demons are in a big market with an NBA team (Bulls?) and do not have an on-campus Facility for Men's BB. They also compete with Northwestern, Loyola, UIC, Illinois, Big Ten etc. for recruits and fans.

The right coach makes it a good job. Students and fans will come out for a consistent contender.

Leitano didn't turn it around because coaching doesn't matter.