What about next season?

[jphowe72]

What happens next season when SMU is in a better conference. I'm sure no one in here will disagee when I state that CUSA is a better conference than the WAC. When you have to play Marshall, USM, Memphis, UAB, UCF, and Houston, almost every year, it's gonna get a lot worse than playing Rice, LaTech and SJSU. With Bennet at the helm, things will only go down hill. Perhaps a new coach for a new conference WOULD be a positive change. Maybe it could be played as a "new direction" and the community and recuits would be more willing to buy into it.

Now the names I have read on this board don't make alot of sense though. Jimmy Johnson? Spurrier? Cooper? Hill? Don't expect a 1-10 team (1-22 in the past 2 seasons) to be very enticing to those names. SMU needs a solid coach from either a smaller conference or a solid asst. from a bigger 1-A school. Try these names - they'll be more realistic than anything I've heard yet.

Scott Stoker - Northwestern (LA) State Head Coach
Tommy Tate - McNeese State HC
Ricky Bustle - ULL HC
Mike Santiago - SFA HC
Randy Butler - Southern Miss Assistant Coach
Mike Haywood - UTexas AC
Kenith Pope - TAMU AC
[deleted] Tomey - UTexas AC

All of these either recruit Texas extensively, have Texas ties, or have SMU ties.

[k pony]

How about getting rid of Bennet now during the off week?

[PK]

How about you learn to spell his name before you call for his head?

[DiamondM75]

Next year will be better! Just think, we got rid of a nationally ranked team in OSU and replaced them with a weaker rebuilding team like:

#16 ranked, TA&M

Do we always pick the short stick?

[EastStang]

I love these new guys who make up three or four names and then argue with themselves.

[Water Pony]

[Bergermeister]

We've got a head coach. We need to keep him. If you're looking for that "quick fix" it's not gonna happen.

[Water Pony]

We have a coach and he has a game plan. Expectations were set to this plan: go with youth, add size and enter 2005 with an experienced group.

To pull a trigger now would only make it worst for the players, the program and a new coach, who would want to hit the reset button with progress further deferred.

We can be disappointed, mad, p*ssed, etc. but why make it worst. We have to give the game plan and Phil until next year as we have said in the past. Injuries made our modest goals (2-4 wins) even more difficult this year.

[Mustangs35SMU]

Everyone needs to get the new coach idea out of their heads cause folks ITS AINT HAPPENIN!

[PonySnob]

We have a coach and he has a game plan. Expectations were set to this plan: go with youth, add size and enter 2005 with an experienced group.

To pull a trigger now would only make it worst for the players, the program and a new coach, who would want to hit the reset button with progress further deferred.

We can be disappointed, mad, p*ssed, etc. but why make it worst. We have to give the game plan and Phil until next year as we have said in the past. Injuries made our modest goals (2-4 wins) even more difficult this year.

Are you saying that in 2005, fans should finally be able to have expecations for this team?

[Stallion]

I'm not so sure we will play a better schedule next year. Tulsa(1-5), UH(1-5), UTEP, Tulane(1-5?), Rice(3-3) aren't exactly a murderous row in the East. Guess we also have Marshall, East Carolina and either Central Florida or UAB. Probably the weakest conference schedule in the history of SMU football.

[rich_alum]

How about UAB? There is a program that wasn't D-1 until 96' maybe? Whenever the case, they haven't been D-1 long. They have put together a nice little program over there. I believe Mack Brown's brother is coach over there.

The UAB's, UCONN's, and BOISE's of the world don't allow for the death penalty to be a valid excuse anymore.........Not to mention we are in Dallas.....a freakin hotbed for recruits.

[EastStang]

It wasn't the death penalty, it is what we did to ourselves after the death penalty.

[jtstang]

It wasn't the death penalty, it is what we did to ourselves after the death penalty.

Well, of course, that's the real chicken-and-egg issue, now isn't it. If our heroes of the late 70s and 80s had played by the rules, there'd have been no death penalty and no Shields resignation in shame and therefore no Pye and no Pye aftermath. Also, probably, no glory days of the late 70s and 80s. Was it worth it?

Having sat through two soccer homecoming games, I for one am still and forever will be pissed at the legacy of cheating that led to the death penalty coming down during my tenure at SMU.

[Southland]

It wasn't the death penalty, it is what we did to ourselves after the death penalty.

Well, of course, that's the real chicken-and-egg issue, now isn't it. If our heroes of the late 70s and 80s had played by the rules, there'd have been no death penalty and no Shields resignation in shame and therefore no Pye and no Pye aftermath. .

The strength of the program was built through Zumberge, not Sheilds. Zumberge, Potts and Meyer took the program to the top -- Sheilds, Hitch and Collins took it to the grave.

If you want to pinpoint a moment when SMU forfeited a chance at greatness, it was the moment they did not match USC's offer for James Zumberge.

That's all history -- time to move on.