We Will Win At SMU
I mean it. We will win at SMU. I never would have come to the Hilltop if I didn’t truly believe that. I know we have all the pieces to put together a top-25 football program.
We are part of a wonderful University. We are in a great location in the heart of Dallas. We have state-of-the-art facilities. We have passionate fans. We have tremendous student-athletes. I am immediately setting out to find the person who can put all those pieces together to make us a winner.
During the search process, I first and foremost want to ask you to continue to support our team and our student-athletes. They work too hard for any of you to turn your back on them. This is your program. Continue to come out and cheer them on to victory, knowing that we remain fully committed to building a winning football program at SMU. We will reach our goals of going to bowls, winning conference championships and returning to the top 25.
There is a commitment to winning on the Hilltop and I truly believe that with the right leader, we are ready to take that next step. Stay tuned for updates and keep on cheering for your Mustangs.
19 Comments:
Call Major Applewhite or Guy Morris. Major is going to be a head coach and the last thing we want is to be playing against him. Guy Morris is getting a bad rap at a program that does not support him the way SMU would. This is the same guy that was turning the UK team around in the SEC before he left.
Call Major Applewhite!
Well, Mr. Orsini, you have a big job ahead of you. I have been a fan of SMU since the early 80's. Part of the love-hate relationship with SMU has to do with the fact that the team of the 80's wasn't legit...players were being paid. The teams of the 90's and 2000's were legit but they have been horrible.
The problem with everything that you say about winning is that it has already been said before. Forrest Gregg, Rossley, Caven, Copeland, Bennett...all these guys said the same thing.
Talking about it does nothing. Its barely November and our team is horrible. We already know that we can't go to a bowl game this year...so again we have to wait 10 months for the season to start again.
I would suggest hiring a high profile coach that builds up momentum for the next 10 months. You are going to need some excitement to get the fans back.
Terry Bowden would bring some excitement to Dallas. Plus he can flat out coach!
I believe that Terry Bowden would be a great choice for head ball coach.
Guy Morris has the ability to do the job at SMU in the same way he did at UK. The situation at Baylor is impossible. Guy has the experience we need and also has the contacts needed to attract the recruits required to make our team successful. Please don't bring in someone without experience at a high level.
John Mackovic would be great coach at SMU. He would bring an exciting west coast offense to SMU. He is a class act with 35 yrs of experience at UT, Illinois, Wake Forest, Arizona, not to mention the Cowboys and K.C. Chiefs. Obviously he has a lot of clout with Texas high school football from his days at UT. Where do you think Major Applewhite learned his offense...from his coach John Mackovic. No doubt Major will be a great coach down the road, but right now SMU needs experience,class and a proven winner with Texas connections. Pony UP!!!
Guy Morris is a joke. Leave the guy alone. Bring somebody with fresh legs like Applewhite, Bowden, Neuheisal, or Davey. Morris has been beaten down at Baylor, why would we bring him in to SMU to fight an uphill battle? When going to war, you need someone who is ready to fight.
Evidenyly there are a lot of Texas A & M fans on other blogs trying to get SMU to take Dennis Franchione off there hands. This would not be good for the SMU football team. They need to deal with there own problems and let us deal with our situation. Bowden or Applewhite woud be ready to go. Bowden has headcoaching experience which is a plus.
Glen Mason is a proven program builder. How about John Tenuta-the DC at Georgia Tech who used to be an assistant at SMU?
Orsini - your talk sounds like it's coming straight from The Secret. That's fine and all, but you need a well-conceived plan. I've been going to games since SMU came back from the death penalty. Matter of fact, I was painting billboards in the old stadium, so I think I've seen enough to offer this one opinion:
The players will come if/when you "Pony Up" for the best flippin' coach in the nation.
Read that over a couple times. A big-name coach brings a lot of extra credibility, he'll get you over the hump on all those things that are so difficult right now.
Case in point, Texas Tech hired Bobby Knight. Before that, TT was a joke at basketball. You bring the big guns, and the players start finding a way to go to your school. That'll give the good coach some talent to work with.
You bring the big coach and pay him $3-4 million if you have to. Bring that coach. He'll bring instant cred to recruiting, instant cred to media rights negotiations, instant cred to the city. This is your chance to do something big. This is your chance to do something strategic.
You fired a lot of good people even before firing that coach, and if you can't get this decision right, you should be next.
SMU should at least interview Turner Gill. Buffalo was not very good when he got there and now he has tunred them into a contender for the conference championship.
how about an update...........
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Please do not hire Dennis Franchione or Houston Nutt. Franchione has secondary NCAA violations about to be handed to him, and neither he or Nutt have a good offensive system.
Please do not hire Houston Nutt. His offensive play calling is not good.
Steve -
In terms of x's and o's there are only 2 statistics that should both drive and narrow the coaching search quickly. We scored an average of approx 28 points per game. So, on average, we scored enough points to win football games. However, we allowed on average almost 40 points per game!
Compared to the years right after the death penalty our players today are bigger, stronger, faster, better equipped, have far superior facilities and I honestly think they are smarter football players. What our defensive players need today is a staff of coaches that will reveal their toughness and expose their sense of urgency.
We got away from sound defensive fundamentals and forgot the intangibles. Tackle, tackle, tackle! Be tenacious! Know your assignments! Play with emotion while keeping a level head! Controlled chaos! Dictate the tempo and tone of the game!
I don't blame our defensive players because I saw first hand how they were coached in practice. In my opinion they were not exposed to pressure filled, intense practices and that translated into their play on Saturdays. These kids weren't exposed during the week to the level of play, pressure and intensity necessary to shut down offenses on Saturdays.
I truly think you have Conference USA championship talent on the Hilltop right now.
Give these kids a smart and very intense defensive staff and don't allow the offense to be "re-designed". Though it seems to many that we are miles away from success, in reality we are very close.
Give these kids somebody who believes in them. They need to believe in themselves right now. Our new coaches need to bring confidence without arrogance, toughness and a sense of urgency. The table is set.
I would suggest that Mr. Orsini inquire about the availability of Larry Kehres, head football coach at Division III POWERHOUSE Mount Union College. His teams have terrorized NCAA Div.III opponents for the 22 years he has been at the helm. He sports a 259-20-3
(.920) at Mount Union. They have utterly destroyed the opposition since 1990 going 216-10-1 (.954) These winning percentages are in the stratosphere! This guy knows nothing but winning football games and punishing the opposition in the process. He's done it for years! He has led his program to 9 National Championships and is embarking on a 10th. Additionally, he is an 8 time Coach of the Year winner.
I am sure he would give strong consideration to the challenge of building SMU's football program to the status desired by all Mustang fans. Moreover, I believe he would demand less than the pay package that Navy's Paul Johnson will require.
If you want to see the resurrection of Mustang Mania ALL Mustang fans should campaign for Steve Orsini to make Larry Kehres the next head football coach at Southern Methodist. Quickly!
You're welcome SMU.
Congrats to the Mustangs for landing one of the best football coaches at any level. June Jones has been wonderful for us in Hawaii and he will take you to a BCS Bowl and on to a BCS conference. It won't take many seasons for you to be in the top 25. Jones offers much more than a great offensive mind, he will touch your kids and community very positively. Aloha.
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