the Quest to Bring SMU Football Back From the Dead

[Harry]

On February 25, 1987, Chad Morris was an 18-year-old senior at a high school in Edgewood, Texas, a small town 60 miles east of Dallas. That may seem like an arbitrary slice of minutiae with which to begin a story, but this happens to be a story about the football program at Southern Methodist University, and it is pretty much impossible to talk about SMU without referencing February 25, 1987, the day an NCAA enforcement official got so stressed out while announcing that the Mustangs would receive the proverbial death penalty that he literally fainted on the spot.

Three decades later, February 25, 1987, remains the defining day in SMU football history. Unless and until Morris rebuilds the Mustangs into a statewide and national power (and since we’re talking about Texas, the two are generally synonymous), it will continue to be so. And so this is one of the first things I ask the first-year head coach, who’s coming off four seasons as the offensive coordinator at Clemson, about when I speak to him on the phone. He tells me that he doesn’t remember where he was on that particular day, though he does remember the emotional weight of that period. He tells me that he grew up taking a bus to SMU games, and that he has distinct memories of those Pony Express glory days, and that he’s spoken to several of the players who were at SMU back then (including Eric Dickerson, who has criticized the school for its feckless approach to rebuilding and supporting the football program in recent years). He says that he is not ignorant of the past but that, in terms of a deeper historical analysis of the SMU program, he “can’t really go any further back than the era I just replaced.” And this is a perfectly understandable hedge from a coach who is seeking to move ahead rather than continually analyze the repercussions of a decision made when he was an adolescent preparing to attend Texas A&M.

read more:  http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015-college-football-preview-chad-morris-smu-mustangs-rebuild/

 

[Ben Gooding]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwnnnn

[GreenTexan13]

I can see why some of the SMoo fans are saying UNT fans are obsessed with them, Haha

[UNT90]

Because some UNT fans are...

<looks Emmitt dead in the eye>

 

I can see why some of the SMoo fans are saying UNT fans are obsessed with them, Haha

[untjim1995]

Did y'all know that Harvard, Yale, and Army used to be the Bees Knees of College Football, too? Because this article reminds us that is where SMUs glory will remain--in the days of Doak Walker and Don Meredith, as well as their cheating ways of the late 70s and early 80s. At least the other three never cheated and sold out their university's soul like SMU did and, apparently, Baylor is doing just to win at football.

[greenit]

tl;dr

 

 

[UNTexas]

I can't wait until our guys stomp this team and we are talking about Rice at home in 187° temperatures.

[emmitt01]

Because some UNT fans are...

<looks Emmitt dead in the eye>

 

Speaking of obesession, got any opinions on:

RV's scheduling prowess?

UTSA and their paying their dues?

UTSA and their stadium situation?

Raising the student athletics fee?

 

[trud1966]

Dr Frankenstein armed a defibrillator connected to Nuclear Power Plant couldn't bring that program from the dead.  

[UNT90]

Speaking of obesession, got any opinions on:

RV's scheduling prowess?

UTSA and their paying their dues?

UTSA and their stadium situation?

Raising the student athletics fee?

 

against first 3, for the 4th

[North Texas Shep]

SMU has always been crap to me. My father wanted me to go to grad school there. I could not even make myself fill out an application for that shit hole (Same goes for A&M). Glad I went to TCU,and I am glad I am back at UNT getting a second masters. UNT is so welcoming. The ruling bodies are not what is welcoming. It is the people and the community. SMU is full of mostly horrible people and no community to speak of (Unless you are one to buy friendship). I wish thier football team to be good enough to not get shut down. Then I wish, every time we walk on to the field with them, we destroy them (Same goes for UTSA. The hated yard birds). We do not have it perfect at UNT (ex: Benford, RV, parking, recognition, no Kharma coffee, no Tomato, more cops on Fry St., fracking, competent accounting, more alumni that give a hoot, cheaper burger days at Cool Beans and Rips, seat backs for the bleachers, BTG funding, Bowl game last season, and more) but no matter what, we will never be the crap that is SMU. Down with the punies and Go Mean Green!

[Rudy]

$mut is buried under Harry Hines Blvd.

[Green Mean]

They were bad...really really bad but I'd say June Jones probably had more of the bringing them out of the dead job task than Chad Morris is going to have to go through.