SouthernMustang

This is why I would never want to work in Marketing for a university athletic department. You don't spend $ using an advertising firm to generate a campaign where you put signs in prominent places along the highway -- people b*tch that you aren't doing anything. You do spend the $ and use a top-notch advertising firm, you take their work, and you put it prominent places along the highway -- people complain about the type of work. The billboards look fine. They're not breathtakingly amazing. But if nothing else, it has big letters, and it has SMU football on it. People will at least think about it -- and even though I don't register SMU as much a national blip on the football radar, the June Jones story was huge and did make national headlines. I would venture to say anyone who knows anything about college football knows that June Jones is now coaching at SMU. I had an SMU alumni visor on in the DC airport and people there were congratulating me (as if I had done something to make it happen) on June Jones. I'm not saying we're going to be a national power, I'm just saying that it's fairly common knowledge. As for Pony Up, not really a fan.. but I actually heard commentators all over using the phrase - so at least SMU's getting uttered and mentioned rather than completely ignored like they were previously. And this is directed not just at UNT fans, even some SMUers complain about the marketing. I think SMU is now marketing b/c Orsini knows how to run an AD his own way. If you are not a strong-willed AD, why would you spend $ on marketing? All people are going to do is b*tch about it anyway.. hence they don't spend the $ and you don't see any publicity. SMU was this way every year under Copeland.

I fully agree with #3. If SMU would market the hell out of themselves to the Park Cities, Ford Stadium could be more than half-full with SMU supporters. It's a large contingency of our alumni base. The HS sends over 90 graduate a year to SMU. Get them involved. If SMU became a community area school for Highland Park, all "Parkie" jokes aside, I think it would be a great place to start for a fanbase. SMU is still "cool" in HP and UP, so you wouldn't have to start fighting an uphill battle from the get-go with your marketing and advertising. As for the "shots," if SMU or UNT want to be any more relevant than they are right now, they need to far surpass what both schools have done the last 5 years. Going 6-6 in CUSA and going 7-5 in the Sun Belt isn't going to register any news blips in the metroplex, much less nationally. Do I think we need to schedule Notre Dame and Michigan? Hell no. I'm all about the TCU and Hawaii scheduling. They play jokes for the most part and wind up with 10-win seasons. They are ranked. They get talked about. However, if either school wants to be considered legit, and they want this game to be more than "Saving our Sorry Athletic Dept Budgets b/c We Can't Win and Produce Our Own Fans," then they've got a lot of on the field improvements to make before this game becomes relevant to anyone other than the 100 or so people who post on the 2 message boards. Look at Tulsa, non-BCS followers know them. But they play a decent non-con and only wind up winning 8-9 games, and there's not much national pub. If you go 11-1 or 12-0 with a weak ass schedule, people will at least "wonder" if you are THAT good, and a few people will cast some nice rankings at you... if you get blown out early in the season by an OU or Michigan or Nebraska, your 9 wins become worthless and just "show how weak your conference slate was."

Some people call us: * Ole Mess * Old Mrs (I dont get how that's funny) * Ole P*ss LSU = LS-Who or Corn Dog U TCU = Trash Can Univ OU = Zero U UH = Cougar High I can't think of any others right now..

Watch it there... the UF/UGA Presidents might come after you for referencing the old name "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party." It is now "The World's Largest Outdoor Event That's Not Really a Cocktail Party Party." By taking out that is really a cocktail party, all drinking and tailgating that leads to rough-housing and banter will subside. As for the predictions, Ole Miss in the Liberty Bowl? Hell yes, Damn right! Hotty Toddy! Lets go Rebs. Beware NT fans traveling to Red Stick (Baton Rouge) -- and no this isn't another LSU fans are the worst rant b/c that goes without saying -- the stench of CORNDOGS might follow you back. http://fromthebleachersblog.blogspot.com/2...-corn-dogs.html Hilarious read.. and probably Pullitzer quality writing for an Auburn student. 62 days until the season kicks off!

True.. but if they're looking at your undergrad #'s now - they might be following that magic formula to get to 30,000. I understand being frustrated with the reverse engineering, I just wouldn't overreact to the point of not wanting a brand new stadium merely b/c it will only seat 30,000. With a stadium that seats an additional 15-20k people, thats more restrooms, more lights, more concessions to operate. If you can't fill it up, that's more cost to your school. What if your school can't afford, at this point, to take on that extra cost? If there is no new stadium, I find it hard to believe that, as long many on this board have stated it's taken to get this far in your building process, more alums are going to start giving due to the size of the stadium. However, a new stadium that is nice might cause people to finally see that your school is serious about athletics and start giving. Look what happened when SMU hired Orsini and proved to the alumni base they were serious, we got Matt Doherty, a basketball practice facility, and boosters completely funded a new coach's salary. Giving is way up for athletics, as well as season tickets. Building a new stadium, in my opinion, would be a launch pad for your school. In this day and age, it has gotten harder and harder to attract fans to college games -- esp those outside the BCS. Schools like UNT, MTSU, SMU, TCU, etc are always going to have students that would rather support Texas, A&M, Tennessee, etc. It's not right, but it's very very hard to change that. Even if SMU, UNT, TCU were to win 10+ games every year... I don't see them drawing consistently more than 30-35k fans simply b/c of their conference affiliations. You'd be very hard pressed to find many non-BCS schools that draw 40k fan consistently (yes I realize there are some, but that is not the norm, and even more difficult in a pro-sports town). Even Boise State has a 30k stadium and draws right around 30k. And they've won a BCS bowl and win what seems like 10-11 games every year.

Question, in y'alls figure for 45,000 students at UNT. Are you counting graduate students? SMU only has 6,000 undergrads. 4,000 are grad students at MBA, law school, theology school, etc. I would never build a stadium to include capacity for grad students as most have likely established connections with a previous undergrad. Yeah it suck, but would you want someone from UNT who went to law school or business school to ditch UNT and not travel back to Denton for games? Isn't Southern Miss' stadium around 30,000? Pretty sure it's a large school, and they've had some great opponents show up. SMU has 32,000 and we've gotten Tech, Baylor, OK State, and A&M (coming in the future). Seems like Troy State has gotten some big name opponents, theyre a state school, and it seat around 30,000. I think Marshall has a similiar sized stadium as well. Not saying that you shouldn't want a bigger stadium, but it's not as doom and gloom as some make it out to be.

<Please Note Heavy Sarcasm is inserted throughouth this Post> The most insulting part of your comment was insinuating that SMU students wear Abercrombie. C'mon man, it's Polo and Brooks Brothers, maybe some Lacoste here and there. It's now very obvious you haven't been over to SMU with that kind of generalization and I don't approve of stereotypes. Now if you excuse me, I have to find my Sperry's as I've got to take the yacht out for a spin before our friends come in for the weekend while you go work on your art project/teaching plan/musical performance work. My opinion? Posters on both boards (that haven't been in school 10-15+ years) care way too much about the "social" rivalry between these two schools. SMU has a lot of out-of-state students, it's hard to develop disdain for a school in an area you've just moved to. If these students do have a superior aura about them, I can assure you that UNT is not the only target of this attitude so don't feel shunned and alone. The older alums (read: majority of posters on message board) are probably quite bitter as to the state of the athletics team. I guarantee you no one that's a current student or recent alum thinks that SMU is an elite sports institution, though I think it's sad and pathetic how apathetic the student body is and hope June Jones can change that. I did a little research to try and prove the point that SMU has normal kids, but evidently over 76% of the students come from households that make $200k+ according to College Dirt using FAFSA statistical info. However, money doesn't make one a snob.. and I've found that some of the snobbiest people I've met in life - are people that don't have $ but desperately want others to think they do.. I believe that these people can be found at ANY university or college. Are we really to believe there are no art freaks at SMU? and no preppy-frat kids/sorority girls driving around with POLO (no Abercrombie... major frat violation) in Tahoes and Range Rovers at UNT?

Beware, very wary of LSU fans. LSU fans are the worst (granted I've never been to Morgantown, WV). I remember the first time I heard the F-bomb was at Tiger Stadium as a toddler walking with my parents in Ole Miss garb towards the game. They are probably much less hostile towards non-SEC teams, but I'd hardly call them hospitable. And granted, I'm very biased since I'm coming at this from an Ole Miss perspective. Don't try to engage in any football talk that would point to any weakness on their team. Don't talk about any team on their schedule that might pose a threat. And if you lose by 1 point, 3 points, and take them to OT -- don't tell them good game, they kicked your @$$ - no ifs, ands, or buts.

I was stoked, but for obviously biased reasons. I know the Eli love fest might be overboard, but it was great to see a Rebel do that on such a large scale. And he played fantastic down the stretch. Flashy? No, but steady and consistent. I'd say he's finally learned to play within himself and manage the game. Great job, and Hotty Toddy! If there is any justification for the love-fest that will take place, it's to make up for the fact he took more harsh criticism and bashing than any other QB in the NFL. And great to see him still calmly handle himself and just give credit to his team. Great job Eli, and great win for the Giants!

There was another candidate I think we could've tied up much more quickly and neatly -- but at this point, I think someone like Jones is needed to try and salvage the recruiting season. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully this is a legit article and its all over now.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/...5907241368.html Jones takes coaching job at SMU Advertiser Staff June Jones, University of Hawaii's winningest football coach, has reportedly accepted a position to be the next head coach at Southern Methodist University today. Last night, signs pointed to momentum changing in UH's favor as the school made an all-out effort to keep Jones, whose contract expires June 30. Steinberg said Jones arrived in Dallas yesterday morning with the intent of becoming SMU's next head football coach. But Steinberg said Jones began to have second thoughts after receiving an outpouring of e-mails and cell-phone calls from Warrior supporters. However, this morning sources said Jones accepted the job to become SMU's coach, replacing Phil Bennett, who was fired Oct. 28.

This is SMU; they will lose out. Am I mentally retarded for asking for them to at least contact Mike Shula instead of going after Fran or Coker?? I mean, I just don't see that as comparable between those 3. Shula was given a raw job in a really bad situation. He held a steady ship and did no worse than Sabans done. Fran and Coker took jobs that were established and teams that were enjoying some success (and A&M recruited just fine under Slocum) and disapointed at places where they had great resources..

Orsini said that 20 boosters agreed to plege $100k/year for 5 years to fund the coaching hire. If this falls through, and Mike Shula is not immediately contacted, that might be the final nail in the coffin of me and SMU football. Fran or Coker are terrible hires and could've been made since Dec and saved the recruiting season.

I don't understand how SMU, TCU, or UNT being good and having good coaches affects the other schools' ability to be successful. We're all in different conferences. You can lose to the cross-town school and still manage to run through your conference. It was like when Florida State, Miami, and UF were in different conferences. Even if one of them knocked each other off (before realignment) you could still win your conference and have a good season. And I think they were competing for much more highly touted recruits than TCU SMU or UNT would be and they were still all dominant in their respective conferences.

From what I read, it seemed that Jones wouldn't agree to come to SMU until they ironed out the admissions restrictions. I think it's a bit much $ to pay Jones, but I think with the lack of support the school has shown -- that kind of $ needed to be spent to show that there is going to be support in the future. The $ is coming from 20 boosters, so the school's not letting other departments get funding cuts just so we can hire him. I still would've rather had Shula but this is certainly still a good hire. I have ?'s on how he's going to work out, but SMU certainly could have done much worse. And I like this hire much much more than Francione or Coker. Didn't Fran come in and take a 1-10 TCU team to a bowl the next year? I think with some decent coaching, SMU has a roster that can get to 6-7 wins in CUSA. Justin Willis just became a much better QB.