Time to go independent
There is an old adage: You are known by the company you keep.
From an academic standpoint, the WAC’s intellectual prowess is mediocre, excluding Rice. None of these bastions of intellectual horsepower has a school ranked nationally by major accrediting and/or the popular presses, including Business Week and USNews & World Report.
To be associated with such schools as Boise State, UTEP, and Louisiana Tech is inconsistent with the academic mission and vision of SMU.
The strength of our academic community depends upon its ability to attract and hold high caliber students, staff and faculty. None of the WAC schools (but Rice) have the same standards of academic excellence we demand of our students, staff or faculty. These schools are not our academic peers.
In the latest USNews & World Report on America’s Best College 2003, only Rice is ranked as a first tier university. SMU and Tulsa are ranked as second tier universities, Hawaii and UN-Reno are ranked as third tier, and Louisiana Tech and UTEP are fourth tier. Other WAC schools are not ranked among the nation’s top 200 universities.
To argue that WAC schools are SMU’s academic peers obfuscates reality.
On Oct. 17, The Daily Campus rated SMU sports in mid-season. Without debating the validity of such ratings, even a casual sports fan knows that immediate changes are needed, especially in football.
The state of the SMU football program is dismal. Season after season, losses mount with sparse attendance and fan apathy. SMU’s homecoming drew a crowd of less than 15,000. Even with a premier playing facility and an optimistic (hopeful) new coach, the reality is that SMU’s football program must change direction and quickly.
The financial abyss of the football program impacts the entire university. As two senior faculty members, we believe that drastic action must be taken now. The status quo “waiting for things to turn around” belies academic and financial reality.
There are two options. First SMU can simply drop Division 1-A football or terminate the sport. At this time, neither of these alternatives is feasible. A first-rate football complex, key alumni and administrative support, and the signing of a new coach to a lucrative long-term contract signal that SMU is not prepared to take either of these steps.
The alternative is obvious: SMU must leave the WAC and go independent.
Unfortunately, key stakeholders ignore this possibility. In football, the WAC is a pathetic conference. Students, faculty and alumni have no interest to see SMU play the likes of Boise State, UTEP, San Jose State, Louisiana Tech, Nevada-Reno and Tulsa on the gridiron. To make the financial exigencies of remaining in the WAC even more dire, television revenues are terrible and are likely to remain so.
We believe that unless SMU becomes and independent, our football situation will continue to worsen. Anyone who believes differently is distanced from reality.
Going independent will enable SMU to play major tier one or tier two universities with elite athletic programs. This will enhance needed revenues and recruitment. If Rice plays at the “big house” – Michigan – so can SMU. If Troy State can schedule Nebraska, so can we. Moreover, going independent allows us to schedule regional schools, such as TCU, Baylor, Houston, Vanderbilt, Texas Tech and Tulane, where alumni from those schools will attend SMU home games.
Such a schedule would drastically cut our financial expenses, the time our student/athletes spend away from their academic home and generate considerably more fan interest.
We must act now. As senior faculty members witnessing the continued demise of SMU’s football program and its adverse impact on the entire University, immediate action must be taken.
Time to go independent
