SMU looks internally in AD job search

Today's DMN has a blurb on the AD search:

Senior associate athletic directors Carlton Cooper and Scott Secules were asked by school officials to apply for the pending athletic director job vacancy. Jim Copeland, who currently holds the position, will retire May 31.

Tom Barry, the chairman of the search committee, said potential candidates must send their information to the Plano-based search firm of Eastman and Beaudine.

I am sorry, but I just have no interest in existing AD staff getting this job. I have only met these guys in passing and they would not know me from Adam. I don't pretend to judge what kind of people they are or their qualifications. But an existing SMU employee will be a tough sell with me and with most SMU alumnae.

Take Secules for example: as far as I can tell, outside of being an NFL quarterback, he has had one job and that was working at SMU. Is that really what we are looking for? A guy that that has no experience in administering collegiate athletics outside of working directly for Jim Copeland. I don't think so. You can't convince me this is the right thing to do.

Seriously, if you look at my list of possible replacements, anybody working in the SMU athletic department is at the bottom of the list, right next to Knicks GM Isiah Thomas.

Maybe this is to be polite, but it makes me mad. I could go on and on about this, but why bother? I don't have any say over this decision. I will say this. I think Dave Maggard, the Houston AD, is a nut. Maggard talks about Houston's goal is win and ultimately to get into a BCS conference. I think he is crazy to think that will ever happen at Houston. But I think Maggard believes it. And I think Maggard is working his ass off to achieve it. And I swear to God that SMU better hire a guy just like him if they want to make me happy. On day 1, the new AD better come in with publicly stated goals, publicly stated timeframes within which those goals will be accomplished, publicly stated plans on how to achieve them.

Dude, Seriously. WTF?!?!

So, my nightly google news search that comes in my inbox comes in tonight. Imagine my surprise when this headline greets me:

SMU athlete charged with child indecency

Seriously. What the hell is going on in the SMU athletic department? NCAA rules investigation; star athlete gets tazered; and now some tennis player apparently boinks a 16 year old girl. Top notch. Now the guy, who is here on a student visa is charged with a felony. Have fun back in Mexico, dude.

Want to know what creeps me out? That guy that threw his girlfriend off the Bush turnpike and then jumped? He was a former SMU tennis player he started dating that girl when she was a teenager. Is it related at all? No. But seriously, dude, can't you date chicks that can at least get into an R rated movie?

When I was in high school, I wanted to date college chicks. When I was in college, I wanted to date college chicks. Now that I am 32 with a wife and two kids, I still want to date . . . just kidding, honey.

This one goes out to all the SMU fans that were clamoring for more coverage of SMU sports. Yeah!

College Football News C-USA Spring Preview

Check out today's articles on collegefootballnews.com. First, there is the C-USA Spring Looks.

Here is what they had to say about good ol' SMU:

SMU Spring practice starts March 3, Spring Game April 8
The big spring question is ... Can SMU stop being so flaky? How could a team that lost to Texas A&M 66-8 and a nomadic Tulane team 31-10 also beat TCU, Houston and UTEP? Had the Mustangs been able to pull out an overtime win over Marshall, they would've been bowl eligible. Things are definitely on the upswing for Phil Bennett's club, but consistency has to be the key.
The most important position to watch is ... Linebacker. The quarterback situation will eventually be fine with Chris Phillips good enough to handle the job, but the defense has to maintain the relatively high standard it set last year when it finished second in the league against the run and in the top half in most of the other categories. Safety/linebacker Alvin Nnabuife was a top playmaker who'll be sorely missed on the strongside, while Reggie Carrington has to prove he can replace the man in the middle, D.D. Lee.
Spring attitude... Build on the three game winning streak that ended 2005. Not only did SMU win it final three games, it beat bowl bound Houston and UTEP teams. There was even a great battle with eventual Conference USA champions Tulsa before the streak. In other words, the program has taken a big leap forward to become more competitive. Now the extra step needs to be taken to become bowl eligible. The team has to have that sort of positive attitude from day one.

One has to wonder how much they follow SMU when they say Phillips is good enough to handle the job. That may or may not be true, but one thing the fans that follow the program closely know is that the coaches are not sold on Phillips at all. Yes, linebacker is a big concern, but for some reason, I think the LB situation will work itself out. It is just a feeling I have. QB is the issue that needs to be resolved before any other.

As for the team being flaky, I think that has as much to with youth and inexperience as it does anything. But more important is what is only hinted at in the "Spring Attitude" section. After the Tulane game (a game that still drives me bonkers), SMU had seven games. SMU won four of the seven. The records of the teams SMU beat were 5-6, 1-10, 6-6 and 8-4. The records of the teams they lost to were 4-7, 5-6 and 9-4. The margin of victory in those wins was an avg. 9.75 points. The margin of defeat was 5.67, with no loss by more than seven points and one loss in overtime. This team started to come together. The team in its last seven games averaged eight more points than it did in the first four; the defense allowed an average of 13 fewer points in those last seven games. This team played better in the last seven games last year than it has since the second half of 1997. The difference is that this team is returning a hell of a lot more starters than that team did.

The other article is "Spring Storylines". There are a few SMU references, mostly about improvement. There is one note about the schedule, which echoes a point I made when it came out: three out of four road conference games in a row is going to be a bitch.

And on a side note, for the people that bitch about the schedule, I will again suggest you look at Rice's schedule and ask yourself which you would rather have. Seven road games with "home" games against Houston and UT. I'd rather drive to Ford and watch SMU whip Sam Houston than drive to a bar and watch Rice get crushed by UCLA or be outnumbered in the stands at home 10:1. But that is just me.

Board of Trustees asking questions about Football

The Trustees Athletic Committee wants to know why football has a combined 50-126-3 record since 1989. There is now an ongoing inquiry into the possible causes of the football program's preformance. Proposals that result from this inquiry will be discussed in the Faculty Senate Athletic Council (Boo!) and the Board of Trustees (Yea!).

A new AD; the Board of Trustees is asking questions. One gets the sense that things are finally starting to happen.

SMU Condo Fight Round I

The Latest on the SMU Condo lawsuit. The DMN article says round one went to Mr. Vodicka, but I don't see it that way.

Visiting Judge M. Kent Simms granted Mr. Vodicka's request in civil district court to inspect all 347 condos within University Gardens. Mr. Vodicka will have a total of 90 days – three 30-day increments – to complete the inspection. He must inspect a third of the total at a time. When he's finished each increment, the university can begin prepping those units for demolition.

First, I seriously doubt Mr. Vodicka has any intention of getting an engineering report. Obviously, for Mr. Vodicka, this is about money. Is Vodicka really going to spend his own money for an engineering report on a condomimium complex that he does not want to keep and will be torn down anyway?

Second, SMU still gets to demolish the place. The demolition is what is really important. The lawsuit will not significantly delay the demolition of of the condos, which is a good thing. This is not a political issue. It doesn't matter if the site is for the Bush Library or something else; it is important that SMU does what it wants to with the property it owns.

Finally, to relate this to SMU football, SMU was represented by the GREAT (I mean it) and loyal Mustang John McElhaney. McElhaney goes to the football games; he goes to the basketball games. McElhaney has represented SMU in various ways for more than twenty years. FYI, McElhaney represented SMU during the NCAA investigations in the 80's. Yes, those investigations. He is probably as good and as ethical lawyer as you are going to get.

SMU Condo Squabble

This Dallas lawyer that is fighting the SMU Condo deal is sounding like a real A-hole. In my opinion, this whole thing is an attempt to stir up as big a shitstorm as possible with the intent to get SMU to settle with him. I like how none of the articles written about this mention that the guy has two rental properties in this complex and actually lives in Coppell. "'They're taking my home,' said Gary Vodicka, ...." Taking your home, my ass.

Article 1.

Now, he is trying to drag Texas Tech and Baylor into this.

Article 2.

No doubt the Baylor and Texas Tech subpoenas will be quickly quashed.

I guess he likes the media attention. I hope somebody in the media asks him about his public repremand in May 2003. I mean, who doesn't get reprimanded and ordered to pay attorneys' fees for continuing to practice law after their license was suspended for failure to pay occupancy taxes?

Giant Geek Alert

I should be working on my taxes. Instead, I just added "Peruna" to my iPod. Thanks to the SMU Mustang Band website for the MP3.

Men's Basketball and Martin

Well, bummer.

The school is looking into a possible NCAA rules violation by the men's basketball program. I generally stay away from discussing the men's basketball program and anything other than basketball. I have no idea what this is about. Hopefully, it is something minor and amounts to nothing. But if several players have been interviewed, I am curious.

I was not a fan of the Tubbs hire and still not a big fan of Tubbs. Still, I was content with SMU giving him a one year extension at the end of the season; he should have been given a five year deal anyway as that is pretty standard for coaches at this level. Blackistone with the DMN seems to have made the extension a personal crusade of his. Well, sorry Mr. Blackistone, but you can't, in good conscience, give an extension to somebody whose program is under investigation for a rules violation. What truly got SMU into trouble with the NCAA before was its arrogance and its thumbing its nose at the face of the NCAA sanctions. SMU can't even appear it is going down that road again, especially for a coach with a sub .500 record.

This could have come at a better time. First, SMU is still in the mix for a really good local basketball recruit, in Darrell Arthur, the 6-9 power forward who is the 19th ranked recruit in the country. That just really stinks; any negative pub for the program hurts. Second, and this relates to the football program to a degree, we are in the early stages of an AD search. I am not so worried about possible NCAA sanctions scaring away candidates as I am to the internal administrative and faculty reaction to the whole thing. SMU had been rocking along with no scandal for several years and with the exception of the budget and the quality of product on the field, no one had a cause to bitch. The faculty will seize on this behind the scenes, regardless of what the allegation is. The faculty rumor mill is as strong as anything.

Apparently, SMU leading rusher Demyron Martin was arrested Thursday night on Lower Greenville along with three others and charged with public intoxication and resisting arrest. Posted a $500 bond and was released. Bennett will deal with the situation internally. Again, SMU hasn't had a dustup like this in several year. Personally, I am not that worried about it. I chalk it up to a young kid acting stupid. Not going to make apologies, but there is nothing as far as I know that shows this kid as a troublemaker. Now if there is a pattern, that is another story. Same for the football program. One kid does not a bad program make. There is no indication that this an out of control program. Look, SMU at one time was 50% greek (don't know what it is now). Football team is roughly a little larger than the largest fraternity on campus. Every fraternity had some stupid incident during my years at SMU. There is no reason to think, the football program would be any different. And every football program has something like this come up; usually, it is much worse. No reason the Coach should not look him in the eye and say, "Martin, you are stupid. I am going to run you into the ground all Spring. Don't let it happen again or else there is going to be a real problem."

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Feel free to tell me I am wrong.

New Orleans

I, and I think a lot of alumnae, were very excited SMU joined Conference USA, if for only one reason, to be in the same conference as Tulane. When last year's schedule was announced, I was disappointed the Tulane game was a home game. That, of course, turned out to be a relief, when the hurricane hit. Now, the painful task of rebuilding is taking place. I still plan on going to the Tulane game in 2006, which is why I found this NY Times article of interest. Yes, it is about Mardi Gras, but it is really about a city struggling to rebuild. And it gives those alumnae that plan on making the trip (and I encourage everyone to do so), an idea of what to expect.

Spring Ball

Real quick, I am told that Spring practice starts March 3rd; the Spring game is April 8th.

Strength of Shedule

Here is a link to Collegefootballnews.com and their story on CUSA scheduling.

I disagree on a couple of points. I actually think that SMU has the easiest schedule in C-USA West (they think Tulsa's is easier). I think there strength of schedule is more a "relative" thing in that they play more teams that on paper they are sure to beat than SMU. I think Tulsa's C-USA East games are harder than SMU's: So. Miss, ECU and Memphis as opposed to ECU, UAB and Marshall; based on last year's performance, SMU has it easier. I think SMU's nonconference is a little easier than Tulsa's.

Anyway, more interesting info is their analysis of SMU's schedule, which I have pasted here:

SMU
Realistic best case record with this schedule: 7-5
Barring total disaster worst case record: 4-8
Realistic record: 6-6
If Phil Bennett's team is ready to take another positive step up, the schedule is there to do it helped by four home games in five before closing out the year with a winnable season against Rice. Outside of the opening day game at Texas Tech, there isn't a certain loss to worry about with the toughest road game at UTEP; that's not that bad. There's no UCF or Southern Miss from the East, and Tulsa has to come to Dallas.

Sept. 2 at Texas Tech
Sept. 9 at North Texas
Sept. 16 Sam Houston State
Sept. 23 Arkansas State
Sept. 30 at Tulane
Oct. 7 at UTEP
Oct. 14 Marshall
Oct. 21 at East Carolina
Oct. 31 UAB
Nov. 11 Houston
Nov. 18 Tulsa
Nov. 25 at Rice
- Almost certain win/Likely loss/Could go either way

Realistic best case scenario of 7-5?!?! I am no sunshiner, but you have to be on crack to look at that schedule say and say SMU is going to do no better than 7-5. I know this is qualified as "realistic," but in my mind, that would be 9-3, not 7-5. I agree that Tech is a "likely loss" as they suggest and I would say that four losses is the worst case scenario. But I think people really discount what the early losing did to this team in past years. If SMU is on a roll in September, I like its chances this year in a big way.

AD Search Committee Formed

According to today's DMN, a search committee was formed to find a new AD. The usual suspects are on the committee: Gerald Ford, David Miller and Bobby Leach; Turner, Tom Barry (EVP of External Affairs.

Also, the Plano-based search firm of Eastman and Beaudine was hired to help the committee find prospective candidates. Eastman and Beaudine has a website (who doesn't?). The website lists the "recent" searches they have been involved in. It is either very, very recent or not terribly recent because SMU is already on the list. So they either added that yesterday, or the list goes back 11 years. Take your pick. Other schools include Miami, Duke, Navy, Army, Va. Tech, TCU and Vanderbilt. Uh, is Vanderbilt a typo? I thought they didn't have an athletic director?

The new schedule is here! The new schedule is here!

The 2006 football schedule is out. It is like an early Christmas present that has to be unwrapped.


Sept. 2: at Texas Tech

Sept. 9: at North Texas

Sept. 16: Sam Houston

Sept. 23: Arkansas State

Sept. 30: at Tulane

Oct. 7: at UTEP

Oct. 14: Marshall

Oct. 21: at East Carolina

Oct. 31: UAB

Nov. 11: Houston

Nov. 18: Tulsa

Nov. 25: at Rice


SMU plays eight weeks in a row. A couple of small details stand out. First, SMU plays the first eight weeks (and arguably nine) without a bye. Second, in an ideal world, SMU would alternate home and away; it really bugs me that SMU starts with two games on the road and plays three of its first four conference games on the road before playing three straight at home. I knew what the non-conference schedule was, but SMU could not have worked the conference schedule a little better?

Anyway, the big news is that SMU plays UAB on national television. Curiously, SMU says the game is on ESPN 2, while UAB says the game is on ESPN. UAB also has a game on ESPN 2, so I presume that wasn't just a typo on their schedule. Anyway, we all know how that game ended last year. It should be a good matchup.

The bad news is the SMU-UAB game is on Halloween. This poses an interesting marketing problem. It is one that will be difficult to solve; evidenced by my wife, upon learning the news, announcing that we were not going to the game. "But honey, I am the SMU Football Blogger! I have to go! Please?" Scene control is an issue in my house. I got nine months to wear her down; I'd better get to work.

There seems to be much hand-wringing over this. But it can't be helped. Would anyone suggest that SMU turn the game down? If so, you are an idiot. If SMU had turned it down and it was made public, there would be an equal amount of screaming over the idiocy of that decision. If SMU wants to be on national TV, this is how it has to be: Weeknight games and odd dates and even odder times. That is how it is for any school in any non-BCS conference. If it wasn't Halloween, given our and UAB's records, we wouldn't have been offered at all.

This game is an opportunity to be taken advantage of. Does anyone realize what our record could be leading up to that game? I count seven winnable games to that point. Not that SMU will win all those games, but it is very possible that SMU could become bowl eligible with a win that night and possibly earlier.

Tell the marketing department to get to work. Quit running scared. Quit bitching.

Facilities

In 11 years on the job, Copeland raised more than $81 million for the athletic department, yet there are still financial concerns.

Copeland is on his second set of blueprints for a new basketball practice facility, which could cost $10 million to $12 million. Coaches say a new practice facility is vital to the success of the basketball programs. SMU's peers, TCU and Rice, have them. The offices at Moody Coliseum also need work or to be replaced. When it rains, a puddle forms in one of the offices.

"I certainly knew facilities needed significant work, Turner said. "And having done [Ford Stadium] we're turning our attention to [other areas]. We just don't have the fan support and donor support to go at things across the board all at once."

No quote in anything in the Dallas Morning News has bugged me more than the last quote by Turner.

Does anyone actually believe this tripe?

I criticize SMU a lot. I criticize the over inflated self esteem and ego that many SMU alumnae and faculty and administrators have toward SMU. That being said, money is rarely SMU’s problem. Let’s not forget that in the last big fundraising drive, the "Campaign for SMU: A Time to Lead," raised $542 million for facilities, academic positions and programs, scholarships, and student life initiatives over five years. That is half a billion dollars. There is not a spot on campus that you cannot look around and see a new building.

SMU will soon start its next big fundraising effort, the “Centennial Campaign” to coincide with the 100th anniversary of SMU's founding in 1911 and its opening in 1915. Make no mistake; this fundraising campaign will be massive. Yes, I know this is for academics and not athletics. But the point is the same.

And has the money for athletics been there in the past? Yes. Was that money wisely spent? Well, to be glib, SMU finished the year no. 2 in the nation in 1982. Yes, there was some money going places it should not have, but don’t forget SMU was also paying for top tier coaches at the time and had a budget that rivaled major universities. At the time, if a coach needed something, all he had to do was ask and the alumnae would provide.

The point is that any suggestion that SMU cannot sustain more than one athletic fundraising endeavor in a year is pure crap. The only reason there is not fan support and donor support for a basketball practice facility and a renovated Moody, an upgraded Wescott field and a new Natatorium is because nobody has faith in what you are doing. Twenty years of losing does that to a fan base. Years of not caring on the part of the administration does that. If you want to show that the current administration does have a minimum amount of pride in its athletic department, then prove it. Hire an AD that will first tell you to stop making excuses and second, tell you what you have to do to fix the problems with the athletic department.

And while you are planning the Centennial Campaign, I will remind you that your predecessor, President Hyer, knew the importance of football to the top tier universities in the nation (stolen from your stated goals addressed to the Board of Trustees). One of his first hires was the football coach. And in the same year that SMU opened its doors, it also played its first football game.

Blackistone, et al.

I don’t get the Saturday paper at home. But I looked at the DMN website Saturday morning and saw only one small article and thought little of it. I figured I would write something, if anything, later. I didn’t think to look at the columnists. My mistake. Little did I know that Kevin Blackistone did his best impression of Ivan Drago in the first few rounds of the last fight in Rocky IV. Punch after punch after punch. Uppercuts, jabs, hits to the body. You name it.

My impression really is this. Turner pissed Blackistone off. SMU pissed Blackistone off. The article reads like Blackistone wanted to go on a rant about SMU in general and needed some material to fill 800 words so he asked Watkins what was wrong with SMU and then Blackistone filled in the gaps. Blackistone is a little revisionist about the record crowds in Fort Worth and in Austin that did not exist until recently.

Part of Blackistone's beed is that he wants an extension for Tubbs. It is also theorized that it was because Turner blamed part of SMU’s woes on the DMN- if the DMN covered SMU more, there would be more support. I think I have said several times, be careful what you ask for; there is little about SMU sports that is worth talking about positively. Those that complain of the lack of coverage would soon complain about the negative coverage. Looks like I was right.

Anyway, there is way to complain about such things, and the President of the University quipping about such things in a press setting ain’t it. You go to work; you lobby; you take them to lunch; you invite them to your offices; you meet them in their offices; you call relentlessly. And at the end of the day, it still may make little difference. During the brief time I was in politics, the staff I worked on used to marvel at (envy is another word) the press coverage George Bush got as Governor of Texas. Like him or hate him, he ran the press in the state of Texas like a well-oiled machine. He got better coverage for three reasons: (1) he was a bigger story than our relatively small race; (2) he (and his staff) worked harder at it; and (3) he (and his staff) was just better at it.

And that is how it is at SMU. As long as SMU athletics is a small story, as long as SMU athletics doesn’t work that hard to change things and as long as SMU athletics doesn’t do a very good job of selling itself, nothing is ever going to change. SMU athletics becomes a bigger story if it becomes relevant in Texas football and basketball again. The athletic department will be better served to reexamine itself and stop pointing fingers (Turner: blaming the DMN) and making excuses (Turner: SMU isn’t big enough to fund multiple projects at once).

Which is why the Blackistone column and today’s Watkins article are good things. The process is good. And it is something that probably needed to happen years ago. When you junk the football coach, you examine the football program. When you junk the AD, you rightfully examine the entire athletic department. And that is what is happening right now. It also gives us a chance to hear what the people in power really think. I prefer this to some asinine column fondly wishing Copeland farewell and whitewashing his time at SMU.

Both Blackistone and Watkins list several things wrong with SMU athletics. They omit a few, too. I'll address each one over the week. But generally, I see the issues as: (i) lack of success on the field; (ii) financing and fundraising and facilities; (iii) alumnai and fan support; (iv) community support; and (v) media relations. Obviously, all are related issues. If I am leaving something out, let me know.

SMU Football Game on ESPN in 2007

Well, the title is how it would sound to your ears. But, actually, written out, it would look like this:

SMU Football (Stadium will host a high school football) Game on ESPN in 2007.

Southlake will play Concord (Calif.) De La Salle in 2007. See here.

Dude, I am so there.

Thoughts on Copeland

So, Copeland is gone. I never liked Copeland much. I would say he really accomplished nothing while he was here, but a year or so ago I started really looking into the building of Ford Stadium. I think some give him too much credit for getting it built, but most people give him zero credit. The truth is somewhere in between. He really did work to get the thing built and it really may have been his vision. So, kudos for that.

I officially got sick of Copeland in early 2001 when I got my season ticket renewal package after the 2000 season. It was the first season in Ford, the team won three games. I can best describe the renewal package as an invoice. We felt like we were being taken for granted. Where was the letter saying the 2000 results were not acceptable and that SMU was doing everything in its power to get better?

We were so incensed that we decided not to renew. There were ten of us that had season tickets that year in a group. Of those ten, I think I am the only one that consistently goes to games anymore, let alone has season tickets.

And then after four coaches were hired, one NIT invite between them to date, I think it is pretty clear that a change in direction was needed. I think I said it about a 100 times, but I would be damned if I would accept another coach selected by Copeland.

On top of that, fundraising just didn't seem to be there at the end.

Anyway, on to more interesting matters: finding a new AD. According to today's DMN, Turner says the new AD will need experience. Turner also said prospective candidates will need to fund raise, build strong relationships with the city of Dallas and develop credibility with the faculty.

With the exception of not really giving a shit about the faculty, that pretty much sums it up for me. I kid. If "develop credibility with the faculty" means doing whatever is needed so that SMU can recruit the same HS, Juco and I-A transfers as TCU, then I am all for it.

Candidates mentioned include SMU's two senior associate athletic directors, Scott Secules and Carlton Cooper.

Secules is a former Virginia QB who spent a brief unmemorable career in the NFL. He is also kind of the "fan favorite" of the ponyfans alumni. Secules is in charge of external operations and fund raising. He has been at SMU ten years. I really don't know Scott even though I met him once or twice. I won't judge him as a person. The guy is in charge of fundraising; anybody think SMU athletic fundraising is going great guns?

Cooper apparently played basketball at Texas. I have never met Cooper. Cooper, we are told is the "supervisor for several sports including men's and women's basketball and soccer, helped form the search committees that hired men's basketball coach Jimmy Tubbs, and women's soccer coach John Cossaboon." Tubbs, huh? This is the SMU Football Blog for a reason. I will be blunt: I don't like Tubbs. I think he was a bad hire. I never thought he would deliver what we were promised he would bring, and that is quality HS recruits from the area. And to date, he hasn't.

I just don't have much interest in a guy that is already here. I would rather have a guy start fresh.

Former SMU associate athletic director John Montgomery is also a candidate. He is now the President of the "Ram's Club", which is the fundraising arm of UNC's athletic department. If you want to know a little bit about what that group does, check out its website.

I could go on and on, but I will just quote mrydel on the message board, who I think hits the nail on the head:

... I would like to pursue someone like the Asst. AD at USC, Miami, or some other school that we could build a model like. Now be assured that I do not know the actual status or experience of those 2 individuals, it is the concept I am suggesting. We need for the Board to decide first that they are willing to invest the money and open up their eyes to the need to "massage" the model under which we now work, and go get someone that knows how to do it. Now is not the time to be content with the slow progress that is being made, but rather use this opportunity to do things that either Copeland could not get done or was not supported in doing. This is a key time in the future of SMU athletics. I personally like Jim Copeland. He has chosen to retire. The opening is there and we need to take advantage of this time and take a major move forward or we will be stuck where we are for another 20 years. This could be one of the biggest hire decisions in SMU's history, in that a wrong move could be our last move in big time athletics. A right move could put us on track to the recovery that should have occurred several years ago.

Time to start blogging again

Wow. It has been almost a month. Time to dust off the keyboard and start blogging again. I haven't been posting because:
1) I have little interest in recruiting news, just recruiting results;
2) Not much else going on in SMU football land;
3) Most of what I have to say has been posted on the message board and by the time I think to put something here, it is stale; and
4) I have two kids and they have been sick as dogs and they in turn get my wife sick and then get me sick and then we get them sick. Really, they ought to just put the ET plastic bag over our house.

Anyway, we have a recruiting class to talk about and the news that Copeland is indeed leaving. Also, Bennett got an extension and the staff got raises. Spring ball is a month away.

Time to get back into it. I will have more tomorrow.

Also, The SMU-UAB last play made it into the Homer call of the Week Superbowl on the Ticket. Tune in in two weeks (the 16th) at 12:50 to listen to it one last time and and see if Rich and Craig win the Homer Call of the Year. I heard it again today, it still makes me smile.