Monday, December 17, 2007

Traveling In The New Year… And A Contest?

by Jeff Konya, Associate A.D./Compliance & Student Services

Happy Holidays! This is a busy time for most and, for me personally, 2008 will start off with a bang. I am traveling a lot and will share the details with all of you so you don’t have to track these flights on-line.


First, I am accompanying the men’s basketball team to Colorado in early January. It will be first away trip with the team as their sport supervisor so I am looking forward to spending more time with the coaches, staff, and athletes - and witnessing the road win firsthand.

Second, I am off to the Gaylord property in Nashville, Tenn., for the NCAA Convention, Jan. 9-13. There I will attend an educational symposium on college athletics in general, but will also be on hand to cast SMU’s official vote on two rules being looked at again by the membership (one is the current text message ban in the recruiting process).

Third, I am going on a “family” retreat to Playa del Carmen at the end of the month for a weekend. O.K. - this one was a personal choice, but, who can pass up an all-inclusive?

Now turning to another matter - I am actually flattered that a company wanted to use compliance rules as a basketball “in-game” promotion. Even though some of my job responsibilities are in this fantastic field, I do realize the rules are sometimes stale. I hear you, the message board masses, and your theme to change the trivia game (as I write this, in my head I have the picture of the ‘posse’ in a Verizon TV commercial). Our sponsor of the trivia game has authorized me to change SOME of the questions, so the Ice Cold Compliance Quiz will become the Ice Cold Quiz where some questions will center on the history of SMU athletics and some important compliance themes. Look for the new and improved contest at an upcoming basketball timeout.

Finally, I have just put the finishing touches on the 2007 Annual Compliance Report which I will share with President Turner very soon.

And now the contest - Please guess the number of questions this office received last calendar year that resulted in an “Official Interpretation?” An official interpretation is one that required a written response from the SMU compliance staff and cited an NCAA rule. These were questions asked by administrators, coaches, athletes, university folks, and, yes, Mustang fans everywhere. Email the guesses to jkonya@smu.edu and the winner will receive an “Ice Cold Sports Prize Pack” with some needed gear for the Holidays.

Latest iPod Download- NONE (iPod has water damage)

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Busy Times

By Steve Orsini, Director of Athletics

I apologize for the recent lapse in blogging, but hopefully everyone can understand that the coaching search is my highest priority right now. I did want to offer a few words, though, about the process.

I know some of you may be frustrated with the lack of news and information out there, but a coaching search is unlike anything else we do. It has always been my experience that these searches are best conducted quietly. Again, I know that may frustrate the message boards, bloggers and even the DMN, but right now I can only focus on getting the best available coach to the Hilltop.

Our timeline is influenced by the high quality of candidates we are pursuing, but as I said last time, I entered this process with a plan. I remain pleased with how it’s being executed and its effectiveness. We’re on the right track.

Thanks again to everyone for their interest. We appreciate your support. Know that we will win at SMU. GO MUSTANGS!

Monday, December 03, 2007

Bench Production

by Rhonda Rompola, Head Women's basketball Coach



A huge “THANK YOU” to all our great fans who traveled to Denton for the game against North Texas last Saturday. We had a lot of fans who made a lot of noise and, believe me, it helps! I’m just happy we were able to come through for you. It’s so nice to have a good, HAPPY post game talk. (Some that we’ve had after UNT games should not be repeated…)

This team is learning to finish a game. We’ve still got a ways to go, though. I want us to get a lead and keep building on it instead of making it so exciting at the end. One thing that helped was Brittany Gilliam’s play coming off the bench. Bench production is a key component to our being successful, and BG stepped up and did the job. Hopefully, this will get the entire bench going for the rest of the season. So far, we’ve been progressing and improving with each game.

Now we need you all to come out for the Coppin State game on Thursday night (12/6) and then come back to watch us play UT-Arlington on Saturday. Both games are at 7 p.m. and are the last games before the break for finals. Our next home game is more than a month away - Friday, Jan. 11th, so come get your women’s basketball “fix” before finals and Christmas Break.

One last note of interest - I’m very proud to point out that Delisha Wills was named Conference USA Player of the Week for last week. Dee follows teammate Janielle Dodds, who got the same award the week before. THAT’S TWO IN A ROW – how about that? Just to let you know how unique this is – NO SMU player received this honor all of last year.

See you Thursday!