Who is still standing by June

[ponyinNC]

Most of us thought we would realistically go 1-3 in our first 4 games. However, most of us thought we would at least be competitive at Baylor. We have one of the roughest OOC schedules in the country, so let's see how CUSA play goes.

I've had my problems with JJ playcalling, but the man took over a pretty tough situation at SMU and has turned things around for the better. Personally, I want to take that next step and do 3 things:

1.) Recruit better against our conference mates as well as lower level regional BCS teams (i.e., Kansas, Baylor, TT, Iowa St.) We are never going to compete with the kids that get recruited by UT, TAMU, OU, USC, etc. But we should be more active in our recruiting efforts and win some battles with the big boys occasionally. This is the biggest problem I have with JJ and staff, and could be rectified with more effort. Just look what Klemm was able to do. No reason that cannot be duplicated by the right guy. I was hoping for more from Jason Phillips in this regard.

2.) Win CUSA - we had a shot against UCF and our offense let us down in that game. With this years CUSA west, we have a shot.

3.) Start beating some heavily favored/powerhouse teams on our schedule. We did that last year at TCU, so it is possible. This is what gets butts in the seats and the publicity to actually market ourselves as "Dallas' team". A win at home against the newest SEC member Aggies would do wonders for attendance and publicity.


My $.02

[East Coast Mustang]

The delusional June haters on this board who think we can hire Nick Saban will stir up controversy no matter what. It will only intensify after a loss. Pony Up

[ponyinNC]

The delusional June haters on this board who think we can hire Nick Saban will stir up controversy no matter what. It will only intensify after a loss. Pony Up

True. I'm no sunshiner and I have HUGE problems with JJ playcalling (throwing inside the 5 when we have Line and Wimbley, qb running to the sidelines every play, no I formation, no use of the no-huddle, etc.), but be careful what you wish for. For better or worse, JJ is a proven commodity and I'm not sure who we could get to fill the HC role should a change be made. Petrino? Morris? Not sure they would come here. Dykes probably would.

[sbsmith]

The delusional June haters on this board who think we can hire Nick Saban will stir up controversy no matter what. It will only intensify after a loss. Pony Up

True. I'm no sunshiner and I have HUGE problems with JJ playcalling (throwing inside the 5 when we have Line and Wimbley, qb running to the sidelines every play, no I formation, no use of the no-huddle, etc.), but be careful what you wish for. For better or worse, JJ is a proven commodity and I'm not sure who we could get to fill the HC role should a change be made. Petrino? Morris? Not sure they would come here. Dykes probably would.

Let's just keep June forever if we're scared his replacement might not be any good. I mean 24-29 with Sun Belt level recruiting classes is such a tough act to follow.

[RyanSMU98]

To answer the question posed by this topic's title, I am most certainly standing by June despite how frustrated I was about Baylor. Someone posted (either here or on another spot) the notion that JJ treats the OOC games like NFL pre-season, which I find frustrating because a) they still count, and it creates a tougher situation in conference to qualify for bowl games if you lose them all and b) I get tired of being all excited for that first game of the year only to watch us lay an egg on national TV. Do I wish he would take them more seriously? Hell yes. Do I think the fact that he doesn't is cause to run him out of town? Hell no. I am hoping that we see steady improvement from here on out this season, and it sounds like the players know that more is expected which is lightyears ahead of where we have been before. Now let's see them live up to it.

My biggest, consistent beef with this coaching staff is in recruiting, specifically two things: first, they seem to still be recruiting for CUSA, which will KILL us when we hit the Big East. They need to push for higher caliber kids, and I think we have enough to sell them, which leads me to my second issue: how many times have we heard a variation of the following: "well, I was talking to SMU and loved the experience, but I haven't heard from the coaches in x weeks/months so I don't know if they are still interested". Absolutely NO EXCUSE for that to happen. Yes there are blackout periods, but outside that I expect these guys to be on the phone, on the plane, in people's houses getting it done, and that does not seem to happen.

All that said, I know where we were and while I'm happier now with where we are, I am willing to give the guy who got us there a chance to get us where we need to be if he is willing to put in the effort. We can [deleted] and moan all we want about things, but at the end of the day our job as fans is to support the guys in the pads for better or worse, and right now JJ is their leader so he has my support.

[East Coast Mustang]

The delusional June haters on this board who think we can hire Nick Saban will stir up controversy no matter what. It will only intensify after a loss. Pony Up

True. I'm no sunshiner and I have HUGE problems with JJ playcalling (throwing inside the 5 when we have Line and Wimbley, qb running to the sidelines every play, no I formation, no use of the no-huddle, etc.), but be careful what you wish for. For better or worse, JJ is a proven commodity and I'm not sure who we could get to fill the HC role should a change be made. Petrino? Morris? Not sure they would come here. Dykes probably would.

Let's just keep June forever if we're scared his replacement might not be any good. I mean 24-29 with Sun Belt level recruiting classes is such a tough act to follow.

Yeah, especially considering all of those bowl wins we were reeling off before he got here....25 years ago. Who is going to want to coach here if we run off our most successful coach in God knows how long?

[BigT3x]

You're right. Losing the opener the last two years against Big 12 teams really put a damper on the second and third straight bowl games I have been to.

How many more years of going to minor bowl games will you be happy with?

The fact is, we have been treading water since the Hawaii Bowl.

[ponyinNC]

The delusional June haters on this board who think we can hire Nick Saban will stir up controversy no matter what. It will only intensify after a loss. Pony Up

True. I'm no sunshiner and I have HUGE problems with JJ playcalling (throwing inside the 5 when we have Line and Wimbley, qb running to the sidelines every play, no I formation, no use of the no-huddle, etc.), but be careful what you wish for. For better or worse, JJ is a proven commodity and I'm not sure who we could get to fill the HC role should a change be made. Petrino? Morris? Not sure they would come here. Dykes probably would.

Let's just keep June forever if we're scared his replacement might not be any good. I mean 24-29 with Sun Belt level recruiting classes is such a tough act to follow.

That's not what I said or implied and you know it. Don't put words in my mouth. If you had actually read my earlier post instead of rushing to write yours, you would have seen that I complained about the recruiting and the failure to take the next step. This board has way too many folks who don't take the time to even read.

[sbsmith]

Yeah, especially considering all of those bowl wins we were reeling off before he got here....25 years ago. Who is going to want to coach here if we run off our most successful coach in God knows how long?

We weren't playing with a competitive model before he got here and his bowls aren't exactly the same caliber as the bowls of our heyday. With the resources we have in place plenty of people would want this job of course we'll never know until the job is open again. June Jones is not the best we can do.

[couch 'em]

There is a generational divide it seems - the older generation that thinks a bowl game means something and the younger that realizes it is irrelevant unless it has "BCS" at the beginning.

[SMU_Alumni11]

I'm on the younger side of it and I hate having to listen to Big 12 and SEC friends laughing when I talk about SMU hence my horrible idealistic view that SMU (sooner than later) be a big boy which leads to my dismay for our mediocre bowls. However going bowling every year is something we need to do regardless of how good then bowl is.

[gostangs]

does anyone think it would be hard at all to fill this job? SMU has crazy advantages we have not even scratched the surface. 2.3 million a year gets us some very nice options. When June leaves or gets left we will be fine - probably better. The issue is there will be a talent drop off after next year - so someone better get busy NOW.