SMU needs horse power

[Dooby]

SMU needs horse power
Retooled teams offer lessons for Bennett's beat-up Mustangs


09:40 PM CST on Wednesday, November 12, 2003

By CALVIN WATKINS / The Dallas Morning News

UNIVERSITY PARK – Deep in the football offices of SMU sits a huge conference room. It's like the Batcave.

It's dimly lit and hard to get into. The only way in, with permission, is through coach Phil Bennett's office.Inside are two huge boards. One has a depth chart of the current Mustangs. The other has the key to SMU's rebuilding plans: prospective recruits who could help bring a measure of respect back to an SMU team sitting at 0-10 as Rice comes to town Saturday.

The school plans to use recruiting, support from the administration and new facilities as its formula for the future.

It's a concoction borrowed from other once-moribund programs – Kansas State, Hawaii, Northern Illinois and North Texas, to name a few. But as SMU and Bennett have learned, those schools' lessons don't always apply to SMU.

Bennett has chosen recruiting as his mantra. "Recruiting," he said, "is like shaving. You do it every day or you look bad."

Rivals100.com, a Web site devoted to recruiting, ranked his most recent class the best in the Western Athletic Conference and the top among non-Bowl Championship Series schools. Eleven of the freshmen signed in February have been thrown to the wolves this season.

"I'm not saying you're going to beat Miami, but they have a solid class," recruiting expert Bobby Burton said.

It's a tough sell, to be sure. Rigid academic standards and just one winning season since the NCAA-imposed "death penalty" in 1987 hamper SMU's recruiting. The Mustangs are one of two winless teams in Division I-A this season. SMU has never finished a season without at least a tie.

But the Mustangs have been down tough roads before.

Fry's formula


Hayden Fry is a Hall of Fame coach who has rebuilt three programs: SMU, Iowa and North Texas State. Before Fry arrived at SMU, the Mustangs were 12-25-3 under coach Bill Meek and suffered an 0-9-1 season in 1960.
The key, Fry says, is to tear programs down to "ground zero."

"Once you do that," Fry said. "You change the attitude of the entire program, from the fans, news media, administration and everybody possible."

First, he said, you establish confidence, which is easier said than done on a winless squad. But Fry said confidence is born out of consistency – the same routine every day. Bennett has already bought into that tactic. He learned that approach as an assistant at Kansas State under Bill Snyder. It's no small coincidence that Snyder served under Fry at Iowa from 1979 to 1988.

Fry also said you need to pick what he calls bell cow players – leaders in each unit on the field. When all that doesn't work, change everything. At different career stops, he altered uniform colors, logos, even the opponents' locker room.

Fry, who coached at SMU from 1962 to 1972, said SMU has to play mind games with opponents. Before an Iowa game against Michigan, he even painted the Wolverines' locker room pink and left it that way. Iowa had nine straight losing seasons before Fry arrived. Three years later, the Hawkeyes made the first of eight straight bowl appearances.

"You have to establish something new," Fry said. "It's no real secret; you just have to find different ways to make it happen. Messing with your opponent can't hurt, either."

Cosmetics can't do it alone.

Hawaii, in the WAC with SMU, went 0-12 in 1998 but has notched winning seasons in four of the last five years.

"When I got here, we were not just bad but terrible," Hawaii coach June Jones said. "The main thing I did was recruit locally. I told the kids not to leave the island, to stay here and play. I also changed my offense. I made sure we were a pass-first option."

Northern Illinois had lost 23 consecutive games over three seasons before turning the program around in 1999. Northern Illinois has now posted four winning seasons in the last five.

Coach Joe Novak said recruiting within greater Chicago and in Wisconsin was the key for the DeKalb school. When Novak arrived in 1997, the program was in trouble. He kicked six players off the team over attitude problems, and 20 others quit. One day, Novak said he looked at his depth chart and saw he had one defensive tackle. The next day, the player quit.

"We had to tear it down," Novak said. "We could have patched it together, but I knew, and the administration knew, that wouldn't work. There were going to be difficult times, but I didn't want junior college kids here for the quick fix. I wanted players who were going to stay three or four years to build a foundation."

In need of support


That foundation has to have support.
In coach Darrell Dickey's first three seasons, North Texas went 8-25. It's no secret that many more losses wouldn't have been tolerated.

"He got the support of the administration," former North Texas coach Matt Simon said. "You need that when you go through lean years, and you will go through some of that."

In year fours, Dickey saw his team improve to 5-7 and qualify for its first bowl appearance. Last season, North Texas finished 8-5, its first winning season since 1994, when Simon was coach. Dickey said going local with UNT's recruits was the key.

This season, North Texas is 7-3 overall and 5-0 in the Sun Belt Conference.

The rebuilding job at UNT pales, however, with the one at Kansas State.

To say Kansas State was bad is like saying it rains in Seattle.

The Wildcats were one of the worst teams in the nation. In 1987 and '88, the last two seasons under coach Stan Parrish, the Wildcats went 0-26-1. When Snyder took over as coach in 1989, he said the athletic department was in debt and there were threats of moving the program to I-AA.

Under Snyder, Kansas State has posted 12 winning seasons.

Snyder did it by signing junior college players and second-tier high school recruits and by regularly scheduling patsies such as Indiana State, Idaho State and Temple.

"We were geared toward improving our kids and not worrying about the scoreboard," Snyder said. "It was trying to find things we did in practice and games that were improving. We taught the fundamentals and technique. If the kids realized they were doing those two things, the players themselves could see improvement."

Applying the lessons


So how does SMU try to mirror those programs?
It's not that easy. Not all those philosophies apply to SMU.

Like Fry, Bennett believes in tearing programs down to start over. But in SMU's case, he feels a sense of loyalty to the players who were there when he was hired. He seems to have gradually shifted his focus to the future as the season has progressed. Senior middle linebacker D.D. Lee, who at the time was the team's leading tackler, was benched for redshirt freshman Reggie Carrington. Freshman Chris Phillips will get his fourth start quarterback Saturday against Rice.

As for the mind games Fry and mentor Snyder play, Bennett also buys into such things. He will pull an occasional gimmick to help his team. The last three Thursdays, the last hour of every practice has ended with an hour of hip-hop or rock music – anything to keep the players loose.

Does that tactic help?

"I'll let you know at 5:30," Bennett said, referring to the time Saturday's game against Rice should end.

Like Northern Illinois' Novak and Hawaii's Jones, Bennett buys into going regional with recruiting – working a 300-mile radius around Dallas.

Like Snyder, he would prefer to add some junior college players. Signing them is difficult for SMU because its academic standards are higher than the NCAA requirements. It's tough for any player to gain admission to the Hilltop.

The NCAA requires that prospective student-athletes score a minimum of 820 on the SAT or 18 on the ACT and have a grade-point average of at least 2.56. The lower the GPA, the higher the SAT-ACT score must be.

SMU won't reveal its standard, but it is working with recruits who might not have been able to gain admission to SMU just three years ago. If an athlete does not meet SMU's criteria for admission, that recruit can go before an advisory panel.

Basically, there's more give and take, which Bennett says will open the pool of recruits.

Like Kansas State, SMU tries to sell its upgraded facilities.

On-campus Ford Stadium, built at a cost of $56.8 million, is one of the nicest stadiums of its size in the country. A new strength and conditioning center, also built in 2000, and locker room are adjacent to the stadium. That and a statue of former SMU Heisman Trophy winner Doak Walker are some of SMU's biggest sales pitches.

Still, other coaches say Bennett has a tough job in this area.

"I think Phil is on an island sometimes," Jones said. "He's going through some unfair requirements over there. He's not on the same playing field as the rest of us."

As for scheduling soft, Bennett cannot emulate Snyder in this area.

Athletic director Jim Copeland will not schedule I-AA and lower-echelon I-A opponents. SMU, which moves to Conference USA in 2005, has TCU, Baylor, Texas Tech, Wake Forest and Northwestern on future schedules. Those teams are part of a philosophy to sell recruits on a strong schedule, as well as pressure to increase the gate. SMU averages 18,160 fans per game, ninth in the 10-team WAC.

"I want to be playing a lot of the former Southwest Conference schools," Copeland said. "We don't have anything confirmed with Texas and Texas A&M, but I'd like to be playing them now."

Last, there is the matter of support, which Dickey and UNT received in abundance when things weren't looking good in Denton.

SMU president Gerald Turner said Bennett has three full recruiting classes to show progress. Bennett has had one full class. Copeland says he still fully supports Bennett. They talk each day on the practice field. Bennett, in the second year of a five-year deal, said Copeland and Turner agree on most issues. Despite a 3-19 record in two seasons, Bennett believes he has the administration's complete backing.

That continued dose of patience will be the key while Bennett beats the recruiting trail and waits for a more friendly regional alignment with SMU's move to Conference USA in 2005.

"The jury is still out on what I can do," Bennett said. "But in three more years it won't be."

E-mail cwatkins@dallasnews.com


TURNAROUND TIPS


The method for rebuilding varies at every school. Here's a look at how some coaches have done it:

Hayden Fry
Former SMU, UNT and Iowa coach
Change everything – uniforms, locker rooms, program attitudes. When that doesn't work, play mind games with opponents. Use whatever you can, he says. Use smokescreens.

June Jones
Hawaii coach
Recruit locally, and have a good offensive game plan. Offense sells tickets.

Joe Novak
Northern Illinois coach
Fight to keep the local players at home. But don't go for the quick fix. And tear the program down to its base.

Matt Simon
Former North Texas coach
The administration has to have complete faith in the program. Without that support, it will fail.

Bill Snyder
Kansas State coach
Schedule soft. Build confidence as a result while new techniques are taught. Recruit junior college players who can make an immediate impact.


DIFFERENCE MAKERS?


Some freshmen who could help SMU in the future:

Reggie Carrington, LB
Redshirt freshman is a playmaker

Chris Phillips, QB
The current starter

Joe Sturdivant, S
19 tackles in eight games

Blake Warren, WR
Speedy threat on special teams

Rice (2-7, 2-3) at SMU (0-10, 0-7), 3 p.m. Saturday, Ford Stadium (Ch. 52; KTCK-AM 1310, KTBK-AM 1700, KTDK-FM 104.1)

[Murphy3]

I don't know alot about Matt Simon now, but let's just go ahead and say that he was a detestable human being while coaching at UNT.


As for SMU, ..well, they just need a Craig James and an Eric Dickerson to help turn things around..

easy enough, isn't it?

[Dooby]

As for SMU, ..well, they just need a Craig James and an Eric Dickerson to help turn things around..

easy enough, isn't it?

Wait until you see Sophmore Chris Phillips and redshirt freshman Richual Massey next year.

[Murphy3]

Dooby, there's simply too much talent in the metroplex area for SMU to continue to struggle indefinitely. Sooner or later, they'll get a coach in there that can consistantly recruit. Hopefully they've found that man.

[bogey]

Hayden Fry would rock that program, but the problem is he woudl only be there for a couple of years in all likelihood. Still...it could be enough to kick start that program. I hope SMU the best. I really do. I have always enjoyed watching the ponies play.

[jayC]

Sometimes you have to bottom out to get better. The mustangs have a pretty good recruit starting Ricky Joe Meeks, they have some good running backs. Its going to take time I believe they have 60 freshman on the roster including 17 starting.

Remember it was just five years ago that a winless TCU squad beat a 6-5 SMU team. SMU would have gone to the independence bowl. Sound familiar? TCU undefeated against a winless SMU team in two weeks.

[kingrex]

SMU has redefined rock bottom. The only school to get the death penalty will forever be trying to ressurect itself. Unless they start cheating like they did before, it ain't happenin'.

[Dooby]

Originally posted by: kingrex
SMU has redefined rock bottom. The only school to get the death penalty will forever be trying to ressurect itself. Unless they start cheating like they did before, it ain't happenin'.

Bull Shit.

[kingrex]

Originally posted by: Dooby

Bull Shit.

Which part? The fact that they're as low as they can go. Or, the fact that they got the death penalty? Please be specific.

[Dooby]

...forever be trying to ressurect itself. Unless they start cheating like they did before, it ain't happenin'.

I am calling that "Bull Shit."

[kingrex]

That was partly tongue-in-cheek. Of course I don't really advocate cheating, but I said that to accentuate how far they have fallen and far they have to go to get back to prominence. How many seasons do you think it will take them to be in the top 25 again?

[bogey]

I gotta call bullshit too. geeeeeeeeez.......

SMU is in a downfall this year, but they can be great again. The history of that program if marketed correctly could bring back greatness....especially if a coach is given time and the school is willing to commit to him.