DMN SMU strugling with lack of money, fans and

[OldTimer]

Even with a new stadium.

SMU struggling to deal with lack of money, fans and success

09:11 PM CST on Monday, February 6, 2006

By CALVIN WATKINS / The Dallas Morning News

UNIVERSITY PARK -- The athletic department has a $3.5 million deficit, a declining fan base and slow progress toward major postseason appearances in football and men's basketball.

Whomever replaces retiring SMU athletic director Jim Copeland in the spring will attempt to solve the department's problems.

"We're building the blocks," said major booster Gerald Ford, who is on the search committee for the new athletic director. "It's a challenging time."

Other than approving the hires by Copeland in football and men's basketball, this is school president Gerald Turner's biggest athletic hire during his 11-year tenure.

"There are a broad set of abilities you need to look for," Turner said. "There are three major components of this position. You need a strong leader, a person who has the ability to communicate well externally and promote the university. And you have to have credibility on campus."

The new athletic director has to market SMU to Dallas to increase the fan base.

SMU failed to do that over the years, as evidenced by a decrease in season ticket sales for football and scant attendance in men's and women's basketball.

Even Turner seems to accept that Dallas won't embrace the Mustangs.

"The problem is with every season that we have, there are at least two pro teams playing at the same time," Turner said. "The ability to be the only show in town, like we were in the 1940s and 1950s, doesn't exist."

Lamar Hunt, a prominent SMU supporter, who has served on numerous athletic boards, said the new AD has to become business savvy to promote.

"More and more, the athletic director's jobs are becoming about business moreso than athletics," Hunt said. "A few years ago, you could hire a former athlete such was the case with Jim, to run the athletic department. Now, you need someone who can market. We have a terrific market in Dallas, and we should take advantage of it."

Raising money is another issue for SMU.

The Mustang Club, the fund-raising arm of the athletic department, saw its financial pledges fall between 2003 and 2004 by $200,000.

FILE 2004/Staff photo

SMU president Gerald Turner (left) and AD Jim Copeland (right) were all smiles when hiring men's basketball coach Jimmy Tubbs two years ago, but the program continues to struggle.

In 2005, pledges increased $400,000 to $1.6 million due in part to the success of the football team, which finished 5-6 with three straight wins at the end of the season.

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."

Upgrading the soccer stadium, building a new swimming and tennis center and building locker rooms at the Dallas Athletic Club for the golf teams are some of the department's goals.

"There are a lot of things we have going," Copeland said. "Unless I was going to stay around until the end, it's really best that someone else put their stamp on those things."

What frustrates SMU fans more than anything is the lack of success in the two revenue-generating sports, football and men's basketball.

Football hasn't reached a bowl game since 1984, and the men's basketball team last played in the NCAA Tournament in 1993.

A new athletic director has to determine if Phil Bennett (football) and Jimmy Tubbs (men's basketball) are right for the future.

"It's taken longer than is required," Turner said. "We just have to be persistent in doing it. It always takes longer to turn something around than what you think it does."

E-mail cwatkins@dallasnews.com