Topper wrote:Krieg wrote:gostangs wrote:The all time record would matter to June, except he is probably unaware we used to be in the same conference with these guys.
I always hold a little special piece of hate for Baylor since they took the spot we should have in the Big 12 - I mean really - what did the Big 12 get from Baylor that they couldn't have gotten ten times over by pulling us in? Plus they could have skipped waco altogether.
so i would love to sneak up and beat them, but my brain tells me there is no way. They will win the Big 12 this year and then UT will figure out a way to get them turned in to someone. But until then they are going to hammer us - so i am really only worried about UNT.
Took your spot? Uh, what? We were the third winnings team in the SWC during its last phase of the conference, have had more football success since (yes, even with our terrible 15 years), have more fans, have better facilities, and have had more success at every sport that matters. What exactly would you have improved upon here? I'm not trying to be mean, but nobody can seriously believe what you just posted. You sound like a TCU fan.
"The last phase of the conference?" That is pretty creative. I'm not sure that Baylor took "our spot," but I know for a fact that they would not have gone to the Big 12 had it not been for the Governor and Lieutenant Governor at the time. The really impressive tale regarding Baylor is how they have rebounded after being in the toilet for so long. Finally they have parlayed their Big 12 membership into some impressive recruiting classes and there is no doubt that they could teach SMU a few lessons about building a program and a fan base.
"Last phase" is a lazy way of not wanting to look up the exact numbers, but it was at least the last decade and probably the last 15-20 years of the SWC. We were also the only program (other than Rice I think) that hadn't been on probation recently, so that also helped.
Obviously political connections helped get us in, but it's not like they would've taken just anybody with those connections. Our resume at the time made us tolerable. We didn't do much with the invite for awhile, and that is especially true in the only two sports that matter (football and men's basketball), but the point remains that we were one of the best programs at the close of the SWC.
As for the rebound, yeah, I still can't really believe it sometimes. Just last season I was excited to only have 5k empty seats at our stadium, and right now I'm shocked that the final home game isn't a sell-out yet. I'm also disappointed that we're picked 2nd in the Big 12 by most when last year we were picked 5th (I was more disappointed in that pick, though). When I was at Baylor we won 5 games in our best season, so this rebound is honestly hard to completely wrap my head around at times.
All of that said, though, there's no reason it can't be done at SMU as well. It simply took us a great coach and a commitment to building better facilities, such as our practice facility that was built BEFORE we improved. The coach part is the hardest part and we hit a grand slam there, but he's far from the only great coach out there. If June isn't the guy, find someone who is and you'll be in great shape. Then the problem becomes keeping him, but that's a good problem to have.