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I'll start this by saying we haven't played a game in the AAC yet or won very many BIG games (other than bowl games - air force)

In the beginning June Jones was the perfect fit for our program. I think if he his in the subsequent years to come is TBD. His offense is the perfect way to maximize average talent, and he hired Mason who switched to the 3-4 which we can all agree is a success. He took advantage of a very average roster and above average upper classmen by coaching up players, and we went to our first bowl game in 25 years and won. We then followed by going to another 3 strait bowl games and winning two of those.

The irony is... he may of brought our program to a level that he can't sustain within his own capabilities. We've come to expect, and to a certain level achieved, a standard for winning and recruiting.

I will say June recruits players well that have growth potential and fit our scheme, we'll find out this season if that's enough.

You had me until that last sentence. June doesn't really recruit and hasnt put any emphasis on recruiting at all - and didn't do that much at hawaii either.

it isnt the old days - an average bowl means you are anywhere from the 40th to the 80th best team in football. that is not the goal of SMU in anything we do. It is waaaay past time to see this move up a level.

i think he will get a renewal since our administration and money guys are scared to fall back. But i would hire young turk and turn him loose.

I like JJ. In many ways, he reminds me of Ron Meyer. Jones looks for hidden talent. Meyer was a walkon that earned a scholarship at Purdue. Meyer recruited and cultivated walkons. Walkons were the 'unknown' players back then as most had offers for Division 1 AA then. So Meyer recruited players that simply didn't meet the usual standards back then but could play.

Meyer had many successful walkons (Gordon McAdams was all SWC at center, Wes Hopkins was All-Pro)

JJ impresses me as one that can see that talent that others miss, not unlike Meyers.

And JJ is doing it without the recruiting 'tools' that Meyer enjoyed.

This is the most excited about a team I have been since the DP. We have depth, talent and experience. Granted it isn't the depth, talent, and experience we once had, but the most since the DP.

And we are increasing our competition. I know many are concerned about that but better competition increases the desire and performance of players. i for one like that we play a team like Rutger instead of USM.

For the Hades we endured for a generation, I think JJ has worked miracles and I am willing to give him time to work his program.

Blvd_Stang wrote:I'll start this by saying we haven't played a game in the AAC yet or won very many BIG games (other than bowl games - air force)



I will say June recruits players well that have growth potential and fit our scheme, we'll find out this season if that's enough.

June hasn't done that at QB or WR, if he had we'd likely be working on having our 5th straight 10+ win season.

I defend JJ on a lot of fronts...thank god we got him when we did, but...just 30 miles away we have an example of meteoric rise at TCU. A school that looks a lot like us. I know that Pye had much to do with this, but...there it is. And in this comparison, I am truly disappointed.

The fact that we are not in the same class as TCU is not on JJ. The fact that we are not improving is.

Jones' offense was best at taking advantage of lesser talent in 1993 when defenses were geared to anti-run. Today it is just another spread offense.

mustangxc wrote:The fact that we are not in the same class as TCU is not on JJ. The fact that we are not improving is.

We definitely need to get past this 6 or 7 regular season win total that we seem to be stuck on.

I posted this under another thread. I apologize for double posting, but my comments probably fit better here.

In 2012 I vocally was upset with the lack of recruiting effort by our staff. I called for Coach Jones to retire. In fact I wrote him a letter suggesting just that and in the alternative suggested to the President and AD he be fired. From my rather distant view it appears that all of our complaining about the recruiting resulted in an increased effort by the staff. There even were reports of Coach Jones making home visits (he may have made unreported visits in the past - I don't know.) From what I read we were actually in contention for better players, and got some. Time will tell. I certainly hope so and hope that I can write another letter to Coach Jones commending him on his staff's recruiting.

I have always thought that Coach Jones and his staff are very good at coaching up players and game scheming. I think the reason he has been stuck at the 6-7 game regular season wins has everything to do with the level of talent he has recruited. So to me his future success is tied into his recruiting.

Like most on this board, I spend a fair amount of time analyzing our recruiting efforts. Prior to landing Shead and Ashcraft through transfer, I considered this class solid (because it wasn't full of 5'10 slot receiver projects), but a bit pedestrian (i.e. no real standout, marquis players).

I was recently at Ford Stadium talking to some friends who work up there when some of the freshmen walked by. I said something like "Is that so and so?", and she remarked something to the effect of "you can usually tell who the freshman are because they're small and when you look in their eyes, they all look totally overwhelmed. But these guys look like full-grown men!"

I thought that comment was significant because she is an academic (not a football person) who works with the student-athletes. But the difference in the perceived size and development was enough that a non-football person who knows our kids would notice and comment on it completely unprompted.

So anyway, it's still TBD if any of them can play. But they definitely look more like big program athletes than what we've been recruiting in past years.

Jones did say after the we got admitted to the Big East he wanted to recruit taller corners. Again as PernuaPunch has said TBD to see if they can play. But it is good they passed the eyeball test. Granted that Deion Jr is 5'8" and Lancaster is 5'9,"

"The fact that we are not in the same class as TCU is not on JJ. The fact that we are not improving is."

so what would the minimum acceptable improvement be this year? 1-3 and 7-5 with a tough noncon and new better conference? 2-2 and 8-4?

sbsmith wrote:

Blvd_Stang wrote:I'll start this by saying we haven't played a game in the AAC yet or won very many BIG games (other than bowl games - air force)



I will say June recruits players well that have growth potential and fit our scheme, we'll find out this season if that's enough.

June hasn't done that at QB or WR, if he had we'd likely be working on having our 5th straight 10+ win season.

5th straight? So you are arguing that if he had recruited better QB and WR his first two years we would have won 10+ games the first year we went to the Hawaii Bowl? I am on board with the fact that we need to recruit better, but hard to claim that he did not recruit kids with "growth potential and fit our scheme" because we did not win 10+ games when those recruits would have been freshmen or sophomores.

Grant Carter wrote:

sbsmith wrote:

Blvd_Stang wrote:I'll start this by saying we haven't played a game in the AAC yet or won very many BIG games (other than bowl games - air force)



I will say June recruits players well that have growth potential and fit our scheme, we'll find out this season if that's enough.

June hasn't done that at QB or WR, if he had we'd likely be working on having our 5th straight 10+ win season.

5th straight? So you are arguing that if he had recruited better QB and WR his first two years we would have won 10+ games the first year we went to the Hawaii Bowl? I am on board with the fact that we need to recruit better, but hard to claim that he did not recruit kids with "growth potential and fit our scheme" because we did not win 10+ games when those recruits would have been freshmen or sophomores.

We were 9 points away from 11 wins that season. QB play was below average in all of those losses (especially the Wazzu game which BLM threw away single-handedly). If he had really gotten us a QB that "fit the scheme" those first 2 recruiting classes (remember how top QB and WR talent was supposed to flock to his R&S) then we would have at least gotten to 10 wins that season.

Is it possible that he could have recruited well enough in the first two years to have won two more games that year, sure. However, you are ignoring the posters comment about growth potential. A guy can have all the growth potential in the world and not lead a team to 10 wins his freshman or sophomore year.

There are a million things to pick on June for, but saying that if only he recruited better we would have won 10 games his 2nd year is a reach.