It's Happening! - California, SMU, And Stanford To Be Added To the ACC

Its official. Starting with the 2024-25 athletic year, SMU, along with California and Stanford will be full members of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The terms include all three taking a reduced amount of TV revenue, in SMUs case they agreed to take none for a period reportedly between 5-9 years - I assume with some caveats. There are other payments that will be distributed to all three, and they will be eligible for the financial incentives, made possible by them taking less, through athletic success. 

Its A Good Day To Be A Mustang!

Let The Weeping And Gnashing Of Teeth Begin

Its a win-win all around. Although the pundits, out in force with the sunrise, would swear this is the most terrible thing in NCAA history. All over social media and the message boards, the malcontents made their case. It started immediately on Twitter (aka X) lead by sports "journalists" - is there anything they don't know?

Nobody Cares More About Student Athletes Than Sports Journalists

Its interesting that athlete travel only becomes an issue for the ACC. At worst, you might add one trip to Dallas every other year, and one trip to CA every year. Dallas is a major airline hub, so easy in and easy out. San Francisco is not that far behind DFW. Its ironic nobody seemed to care when the Big 10 started this, stretching from Nebraska to New Jersey. And now their travel goes all the way to Los Angeles and Oregon! The SEC must travel from Florida to Texas. Big 12 may be the worst, from Arizona to Florida, West Virginia to Iowa. And there are rumblings of them wanting to add more! Where is the concern for student athletes in the Big 12? I assume its because academics don't matter as much in the Big 12. Its all about competition, right?

It Seems They Are Somewhere Between Denial And Anger

North Texas fans are adorable. They are like that little kid brother that tags along. He wants to play with the older kids, but he is simply too small to compete. Yet there they are hanging around, bitter and angry, blaming SMU for everything that happens to their program. Instead of simply saying, "Hey, SMU made it! I bet we could to if we put a plan together." They would much rather wallow in self-pity, lash out on message boards and Twitter. They have everything necessary to be successful, they just have absolutely no leadership.

From An ECU Fan On A Message Board

I wonder, how many SMU fans/students/alums would prefer to see a game against ANY member of the ACC over ECU - a school most had never heard of until our brief time together in CUSA? What about ACC fans in Dallas, or the casual CFB fan in DFW? I suspect SMU will see a solid 20% increase in attendance the first year of play. Depending on results, that may climb significantly. You will see far more interest for ACC opponents among the casual DFW sports fan, and of course students and alums are far more likely to come with an interesting opponent. The Pony Express years in FB, and the Larry Brown days in basketball are a good indication of what we might expect. The key is to be competitive, Which in time, recruiting with Power status and NIL, we should have very few issues.

ECU fans remind me of UNT (North Texas State) fans. They are adorable. But they are crabs in a bucket. They will pull any crab down that tries to escape, just to keep everyone in equal misery. Sort of like socialism, everything is wonderful as long as everyone is equally miserable - unless of course you are in a Power conference.

Why Do So Many G5 Fans Act Like Crabs?

There are some really good schools in the AAC, and some truly obnoxious fanbases. And I will never understand the crab mentality of so many in G5. SMU was in a Power conference for 75 years. It has always been our goal to play at the highest level once again. We have invested $250M in athletic facilities just in the last 10 years, and made many internal improvements, hired coaches and staff, built NIL collectives, and created programs to help athletes transition into careers. We have aggressively reached out to Dallas and grown the fanbase - even during challenging times. This was not "luck" nor did we stumble into the opportunity. We have been open about our desires going back to the Big East debacle. We were once considered for Big 12, then flirted with the PAC 12 for about 6 months, during which time the ACC became a possibility. Our leadership, as well as some very passionate donors, made this day possible. Every school could have done the same, assuming there was mutual interest from the ACC.

Anything Is Possible With The Right Leadership!

Of all our post-SWC destinations, the original AAC was one of the best. Then the Big East split, Rutgers and Louisville left - the former was quite eye opening, as proof that athletics REALLY does not matter that much to realignment. BTW - since their addition to the BIG, Rutgers averages 3.4 wins a year, 15 wins over the last 5 years. TRULY, they earned their spot, and prove they are worthy every day. That expansion and others that followed proved that every P5 move was arbitrary - academics, athletics, facilities, AAU membership, location, attendance, proximity - all have either been used to invite or exclude potential additions. Its a crappy system and I hate it. But you play the game according to the rules.

When TCU left us behind, I was not angry, or tried to hold them back. The opposite in fact. If a small, private school in FW could have success, surely a small, private school in DALLAS could do it even better! Sounds crazy right now, but just watch. They blocked our entry into the Big 12, and pushed us right into the arms of the ACC, introducing another Power conference to Texas recruits. Lizards are funny creatures.

The latest moves - UCF, UC, and Houston. The first two I was quite happy for their advancement. If "earning" status was truly a thing, they were good examples. Houston, basketball is certainly there, but football has never had consistency because of coaching turnover - its plagued SMU as well. But Houston was a market play, establishing the Big 12 in SE Texas since A&M, and now Texas are gone. BYU - I don't understand why anyone would want them in a conference. They were horrible in the WAC16, and I pity the folks that are forced to share a conference with them. It does lock up the state of Utah when you add both Utah and BYU. Oddly, there are twice as many people in DFW than the whole state of Utah - so its a win, I guess.

I am happy. I can go back to focusing on my work, and enjoying college football. Its been a long time since SMU played in a major conference, and I look forward to it. I was there in 1987 and watched hypocrite coaches from every FBS program, many who had offered cash, houses, jobs to recruits, far more than SMU ever contemplated, arrive at our campus like vultures feasting on a dying zebra. They picked the carcass clean, taking just about every player that wore the red and the blue. I was angry at the world.

I sat through the early days when everyone said it would be a decade before SMU would win again. That first year back 1989, we beat North Texas and UCONN, in game forever known as the Miracle on Mockingbird. But those early years were tough. SMU started from scratch, fielding what could politely be called an all Freshman team. As seniors, those same fellows managed a highwater mark of 5-6. Because of the NCAAs Death Penalty, some of the nuttier folks on campus sought to "reign in" (destroy) football on campus. There was never any academic scandal, as SMU graduated the majority of its athletes. But they decided SMU needed new draconian rules that truly did nothing more than punish SMU a second time. Called the Pye Penalty, after the President of SMU at that time, these rules made it impossible to compete for top recruits, setting the standards far above our peers. That was bad enough, but coaches could not invite them to campus or even offer until they were accepted, which seemed to take an eternity to determine. By the time an athlete was accepted, he often selected another school. That meant we were fighting North Texas and FCS schools for talent. It was during this time everyone in the SWC loaded up on wins against SMU. Pretty easy when you are facing what was essentially an FCS school. They fought hard, and did their best, but you could see the physical difference between SMU and other SWC teams. 

If that wasn't bad enough, the SWC split, sending SMU into something called the Western Athletic Conference. Cut off from the cache of playing in one of the best conferences in the country, and associated with universities nobody in Texas knew existed, our recruiting plummeted. After several conference moves, and gradual changes of SMUs draconian recruiting policies, SMU finally started to show life under June Jones, enjoying a few Bowl victories. After a few bad coaching hires, SMU reconnected with Dallas area athletes. And then NIL came along, something SMU understood quite well. After that, the transfer portal allowed players to go back home, often to Dallas and SMU. Between all of this, SMU was able to rebuild the team, and narrow the talent gap between its natural and historical rivals. The final piece of course was landing in a Power conference. That was accomplished today!

For all the whiners, critics, ne'er-do-wells out there, I challenge you to click here. At the top right, enter whatever FBS team you want, and compare their history to SMU. I think you will be amazed at what SMU accomplished IN SPITE of what they endured. Take one of our biggest critics during all of this - fans of Texas Tech. They had 27 years in a Power conference, all that money, the status, and the competition, and yet have NEVER sniffed a FB conference championship. Even lowly Baylor eventually broke through. Tech averages 3.9 conference wins a year! And yet they want to attack SMU? Look at the tape - Conference championships - 11 (SMU 11), National championships 0 (3), Consensus AA 12 (16), Bowls 40 (18), Heisman 0 (1), Weeks in AP 141 (180), AP#1 0 (2), NFL Draft Picks 166 (175), NFL HOF 0 (5). And their wins in the last 5 years 28 (37).

Time to wrap this up. Go Mustangs!

SMU Heisman Winner Doak Walker

Nothing left, but the dancing...