SMU2006

Enrollment size is irrelevant in realignment. The primary objective for conferences is providing compelling, entertaining content that appeals to the widest possible audience. If you have 50,000 students and go 4-8 that's not gonna cut it. I will concede that "markets" were a major piece of the puzzle in previous realignments, but there is one metric and one metric only that matters. Winning and winning big in football. SMU, while being a program on the rise, hasn't accomplished anything close to what the "promoted" AAC schools have done. A few weeks in the Top 25? Great. Several other G5 programs have done that in recent memory. We still haven't finished better than 3rd in the AAC-West. That's not enough to leapfrog the other schools despite a Top 60 USNWR ranking, $2.2 billion endowment, Dallas market, billionaire alums, etc. Sonny and his staff have this thing headed in the right direction, however. NIL, transfer portal, and vastly improved high school recruiting have allowed SMU to build a roster laden with P5 talent across the board. You have to hope that the talent and a veteran coaching staff will translate into getting over the "pretty good" hump and into the conversation of being the best G5 program in the country. He's gotten guys like Clark Hunt and David Miller to pour millions into facilities and staff salaries. As a private institution SMU doesn't have to disclose these figures but Sonny is north of $3m and Samples turned down OU and Texas for jobs last year with a promotion and raise to make him one of the highest paid Asst. Head Coaches/Recruiting Coordinators in the country. Programs that have moved up to the P5 table (Rutgers excluded) all won multiple conference champions, NY6 bowl games, and spent the lion's share of the multiple seasons ranked in the Top 25. No one cares that TCU has 9,000 undergrads. People cared that they were being talked about nationally and winning big games. Same goes for Cincy, UH, and UCF.

I'm not selling SMU's cause in any way. I am simply pointing out that leaving the AAC for the MWC given the economic realities of exit fees, travel costs, horrible start times, etc. makes it astronomically dumb for SMU. Maybe those same dynamics don't apply to UNT. I genuinely don't know. I will say citing enrollment figures of 50,000 doesn't really move the needle a single bit in conference realignment. TCU got into the Big 12 with an undergrad enrollment of about 9,000. UCF, Houston, and Cincinnati didn't get invited to the Big 12 b/c of their enrollment numbers. They got in b/c each have played in a NY6 bowl and have won something significant on the national stage in recent years and have athletic budgets at the very top end of the G5 (including SMU). I just don't understand attendance smack directed towards SMU when we've got about 6,500 undergrads and roughly 50,000 living alumni in DFW. The fact that we had 23,500 for Abilene Christian and 29,200 for UNT is admirable IMO.

The AAC would have to completely and utterly collapse for SMU to entertain going to the MWC. Exit fees are $10m and 27 months notice. Why would you do that and leave a conference that is about to reap north of $9m per school in exit fees and a better TV deal to play in a geographically isolated MWC that has a terrible TV deal where Boise rules the roost? No way no how. The MWC is a logistics and travel nightmare. Also, being the lone Texas school in that conference would be beneficial to recruiting how? The average kid choosing between schools in the AAC and MWC isn't going to care about playing games in Fresno, CA or Laramie, WY.

Again, UCONN paid $17m so the bar has already been set by a dead weight program. Why would the AAC be willing to accept anything less?

Looks to me like the UNT home attendance when SMU comes to Denton is better than just about anyone you've played since the stadium opened. Why would you ever want to do away with that?

The SMU-UNT game should go on as long as possible. Zero travel costs and a nice money maker at the gate for both schools. Why in the world would UNT want out of the series?

One of the major factors to consider here is the negotiated buyout of Cincinnati, UH, and UCF. AAC bylaws say 27 months and $10M per school. As of now the three departing institutions want to be playing Big 12 football in 2023 at the latest. From the sources on the 247 SMU site the exit fees will likely be somewhere in the range of 25-30M per school. As a point of reference UCONN paid $17m to leave early and they are nowhere near the caliber of asset that UC, UH, and UCF are to the continued viability of the AAC. If the AAC existing schools can net that kind of return in exit fees it may help to incentivize the MWC schools to leave where the exit fees are substantially lower.

Article states that sources at both Colorado State and Air Force have indicated they are willing to make a move to the AAC citing the existing TV deal and a desire to play more games in CST/EST. Further, that talks are ongoing with SDSU who has already expressed a willingness to leave the MWC. Backup options are UNLV, Fresno State, and UAB at the moment.

I think a lot of Ford's design flaws simply stem from it being a 20 plus year old facility. Improvements and renovations have been sparse in the subsequent years. The concourse area and concessions issues have been a pain for years so getting this resolved will help a ton. Also the additional indoor/outdoor suites on the east side of the stadium should be a really cool addition as well as the state of the art football ops building. Ford has good bones and fits in great with the SMU campus. Just needs a bit of modernization.

These guys are just three yokels who know next to nothing. Southern Miss is not even a remote possibility for the AAC let alone the Big 12.

https://theathletic.com/2844281/2021/09/23/conference-realignment-the-american-could-add-new-schools-soon-and-the-mountain-west-is-a-target/ Just sayin'.

https://www.smu.edu/ignited This was the fundraising initiative that I was referencing earlier in this thread on the Ford Stadium renovation project. $1.5 billion for the entire initiative (largest ever by a Texas private institution) with roughly $670M already raised in the quiet phase. I've been told they've earmarked somewhere between $200-250M for Ford Stadium renovations as well as a football operations building that will take the place of the existing grass area behind the south end zone. Suites will also extend to the east side of Ford to complete the horseshoe and widening of the concourse areas which IMO is the biggest issue right now.

I'm certainly no insider but there is quite a bit of growing optimism that SDSU, Colorado State, and AFA will be joining the AAC with UAB. The attraction for the western schools is the terrible TV deal they agreed to with Boise that essentially created a mini-Longhorn Network where BSU gets a significantly greater chunk of the revenue than the other members. AAC is pitching them on creating a western division of SDSU/CSU/AFA/SMU/Tulsa/Memphis while the East would consist of Tulane/UAB/USF/Navy/Temple/ECU. Not great but Aresco feels that the conference would net somewhere around $5m per school in a renegotiated TV deal with ESPN. You'd have coast to coast content while still maintaining relatively regional matchups to mitigate travel costs. ESPN really wants the conference to get to 12 or 14 before the next inevitable shift occurs. SDSU and CSU are ready to bolt. If Boise were left in a gutted MWC they would really have no choice but to join the AAC which would then be at 13 schools. Options for the 14th team are said to be Marshall, FAU, and Army to balance out things in the east with FAU being the most highly coveted. So, in summary: AAC West - SDSU, Boise State, CSU, AFA, SMU, Tulsa, Memphis AAC East - Tulane, UAB, FAU, USF, ECU, Navy, Temple

He does yes with the COVID year but I don't know what his plans are on that front. I think the concern with Stone is that he was making the transition from TAPS to D1A and that it would be in his best interests to redshirt. From what I saw in practices Mordecai clearly has the better arm but Stone is the better athlete. Hopefully SMU is able to get Stone some meaningful PT this year.

I certainly hope so. Sonny and the staff were very up front with him that he wasn't going to be given the job. Mordecai is a junior so theoretically if Stone redshirts he can still be a multi-year starter at SMU. I think Stone was maybe a series or two away from playing against UNT. First possession of the second half was a 3 and out and Mordecai made some really bad decisions that resulted in turnovers. Stone will play in four games this year and retain his redshirt. Likely play a more significant role in 22 and then be the guy in 23 if he does stay.

I think it really depends on the prospect. Obviously the elite 4/5 star guys are almost exclusively going Power 5 so if you think about resource allocation and being realistic then a lot of G5's are just wasting their time going after these kids. There are anomalies like Ed Oliver at UH or Preston Stone at SMU but they are the exception to the rule. For instance with Stone he's been going to SMU football games since he could walk. His dad is an SMU alum and his older brother is on the roster. Without those unique circumstances he'd have gone to one of the 40 plus other P5's that offered him. No quesiton.

Yeesh. That's really too bad. Also this was not what I would categorize as a young guy. Probably around my age (mid to late 30's). In other words, old enough to know better.

Eh it happens. Nowhere near the worst experience I've had at a college football game. I think the others at his tent were doing their best to calm him down but he was pretty riled up. I tend to give everyone under the age of 30 a pass (to a certain extent) and certainly to college students. When you're young you do a lot of regrettable stuff. As long as its not violent and/or obscene I can pretty much laugh it off. Its amazing how sometimes a little humor and levity can defuse an otherwise volatile situation.

Trust me I know. Its been a problem for years. SMU did start doing mobile ordering where you can have whatever you want delivered directly to your seat. I haven't seen many people using it for these first two games. That said, the stadium was designed in the late 90's (opened in 2000) and hasn't really seen any significant upgrades in the subsequent 20 years. Ford is a beautiful place to watch college football with the aesthetic blending in with the surrounding SMU campus. It just needs to be pushed into the 2020's with some creature comforts and design improvements 🙂 If we can improve the bathroom/concession situation and make Ford similar to the $75m Moody renovation then it should be good to go.

Haven't posted here in years but am disappointed to hear some folks had a negative experience at Ford on Saturday. I will say most of the UNT folks we interacted with were very friendly and courteous. However, the UNT tailgate tent near ours had a drunk moron screaming "F&CK SMU LETS F&CKING GO!!!" every five minutes directed at our tent puffing his chest out. When I pointed to my two year old (and the half a dozen other elementary school kids) he just laughed and kept doing shots. Point being, as others have stated, bad apples exist in every fan base. Too much binge drinking before games leads to terrible behavior IMO. As to the quote here the poster is 100% correct. Ford has started to look a bit dated for years now. Concourse is a nightmare as well as the bathroom/concessions situation. For this reason and a myriad of others, SMU has committed $150-200m for a major facelift to Ford as well as a Football Operations building that will take the place of the existing "grassy knoll" in the south end zone. Some of the key features will be a total gut on the existing concourse for widened walkways, improved concessions, as well as an extension of the existing suites to go completely around to the east side of the stadium. Suites will be indoor/outdoor style (not the enclosed stadium club behind the west side stands). https://247sports.com/college/smu/Article/Ford-Stadium-football-operations-building-set-to-be-main-focus-of-SMU-next-projects-168387414/ The plan is for shovels in the dirt by summer 2022. Roughly 50% of the funds have already been accounted for, however SMU does not begin any construction projects until it reaches 80% of the anticipated costs so we've got a bit of a ways to go. Hopefully when we see you in a couple of years the situation will be better. Best of luck the reason of the year.

Laughably absurd to think his time at SMU was less important to the Arkansas hire than what he did at Clemson. SMU was dead last in scoring offense when Morris took over. This past year SMU was 9th in total offense. Say what you want but taking SMU from 1-11 in 2014 to 7-5 in the AAC in three years is impressive. That 2014 SMU team was the worst one I've seen and I've seen some TERRIBLE teams. The roster now is stock full of P5 recruited talent. Played undefeated UCF to within one touchdown and had the ball in our hands at the end with a chance to tie. We're just not there yet but Morris has the arrow pointed straight up. It is a tremendous situation to walk into for a head coach with 17 returning starters.

Short distance to go for a face to face with the SMU brass. These things come together quickly but he's definitely in the mix and expressed interest. Traylor is definitely the front runner. SMU feels that keeping the continuity of the Morris regime offensively is vital. Traylor would be getting around 1.5M as HC with an additional 2M war chest on top of what was previously being spent on assistants to assemble a veteran coaching staff to offset his relative lack of experience. Anderson is kind of the wild card b/c apparently he has a pretty sizable buyout at Ark State and I'm not sure SMU has a lot of interest in that.

Dickey wouldn't want 2M a year to coach in the premiere conference platform for elevation to a P5 job? Strange. That said it ain't happening nor was it ever on SMU's radar.

There is absolutely no truth to this. He's not on SMU's radar at all.

A little inside info from a friend of mine that works in the athletic department. -Four candidates that are on the board as of now are Jeff Traylor (interim HC), Seth Littrell, Blake Anderson, and Sonny Dykes. All have expressed interest in the position and have/will be interviewed. A decision is expected Monday at the latest. - Kevin Sumlin was in Dallas yesterday and met with SMU but has decided he's going to take a year off and see where the landscape is next offseason. SMU was willing to increase the HC salary to 2.75M for Sumlin and increase the assistant pool by 1M across the board but Sumlin feels he can easily land a P5 job next year and will be in prime position to take over once the carousel begins again. - SMU had a phone interview with Texas DC Todd Orlando but apparently Rick Hart the AD felt he did not have a strong recruiting pedigree. Also SMU felt it was a leverage play by Orlando to get more cash out of Texas. Orlando even advocated for keeping Traylor as his OC but he's since been ruled out. - Jeff Traylor has the full support of the players on the team which isn't lost on Hart or the SMU inner circle of boosters. He's a Texas high school coaching legend (like Chad Morris) and was a big time recruiter for Charlie Strong at Texas. He's made it clear he wants the job and would take less money to assemble a veteran coaching staff. Traylor would likely be in the 1.3 to 1.5M range with estimated assistant increases of nearly 2M. If I had to handicap it right now he's probably the leader in the clubhouse. - Seth Littrell has expressed interest in the job and would bring Harrell with him. He's doing a great job at UNT and has a similar background to Morris. The negative I've been told from SMU's perspective is that he and his staff have not recruited well even by CUSA standards. Under Morris, SMU signed classes in which nearly every recruit had at least one P5 offer and landed former 4 star guys like Trey Quinn who led the nation in receptions this past year. Formal interview likely tomorrow. - Blake Anderson has the endorsement of Chad Morris. Morris was very transparent through the whole Arkansas process and when Hart asked about a recommendation Morris apparently "without hesitation" went with Blake Anderson. He's been a pretty consistent winner and has former P5 experience. He runs a similar offensive system to the Power Spread that Morris implemented and would be what I was told is a "safe" pick. Again, issue is recruiting and ability to go head to head in the AAC against much better competition than what he's used to in the Sun Belt. - Sonny Dykes had a phone interview earlier today and from I was told it was actually quite impressive. He's won at a place with far less financial support (La Tech) but had a really tumultuous tenure at Cal. He's got a weird role this year at TCU that is essentially just a quality control/offensive analyst so he's certainly ready to roll if he got the nod, but I'm told that is highly unlikely. That CAL program was completely wheels off in his last year. I'm told he is a "distant fourth" and more of a backup candidate at this point. -IPF breaks ground in February on the site of the Barr Pool (if you've been on campus its the swimming pool on the north side of Ford Stadium behind the dorms. Projects at SMU do not break ground until they are 80% funded thus the delay which infuriated Morris. He wanted to break ground in August of 2016 but SMU had just recently completed a 35M tennis facility and was in the process of raising an additional 25M for the new swimming facility across Central Expressway which opened this year. Morris and SMU President R. Gerald Turner have butted heads a lot over this and it certainly led to some testy moments last year when Morris had a flirtation with Baylor. The IPF is estimated to be in the 40-45M range with lead donor secured and shovels ready and will be the traditional red Georgian brick exterior to match the SMU campus aesthetic. Morris had initially wanted a "bubble" facility similar to what the University of Texas has but Turner and the SMU BoT wouldn't go for it. A lot of stuff there but figured the folks here would want to know. If I had to make a guess I'd say: Traylor - 50% Littrell - 35% Anderson - 10% Dykes - 5% Best of luck in your bowl game and see you next year in Denton!