With the news of Stanford, California and SMU joining the ACC, it’s time to learn about the new members.
We’ll start with SMU, which wanted to be in the ACC so badly, it gave a discounted rate to join the league. The urgency is due to knowing what life was like having a seat at the table, and then not having one.
SMU was in the Southwest Conference from 1918-1995, but weren’t invited to the Big 12 with Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor.
Arkansas had gone to the SEC in 1991, and Texas A&M eventually left for the SEC in 1996. Then Texas is in the process of joining the SEC.
That left SMU, Rice, Texas Christian and Houston in the college sports wilderness. TCU climbed its way to the Big 12 and Houston has just joined the league.
SMU joined the WAC from 1996-04 and Conference USA from 2005-12, before joining the AAC. The Mustangs also play at Gerald J. Ford Stadium, which holds 32,000.
Between the conference instability and the infamous death penalty suffered in 1987-88, it has defined SMU. The reason why the Mustangs were eligible for the death penalty, they had also been placed on probation in 1985, and it later came out that a slush fund had been created in the 1970s.
As a result, the history of SMU sports is divided between pre-death penalty and being in the SWC, and then life after that.
As far as past history, the two most famous coaches were Hayden Fry and Ron Meyer. Fry, who later went on to be a great coach at Iowa, is the Godfather of a terrific “coaching tree,” which NC State coach Dave Doeren is a member. SMU went 49-66-1 overall and 34-43 under Fry from 1962-1972, with three trips to bowl games including the Cotton Bowl in 1966 after winning the SWC.
Meyer, who later became an NFL coach for the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts, coached at SMU from 1976-81. The Mustangs went 34-31-1 and 23-25 during that stretch, including 10-1 in his last year in 1981. He left for the Patriots the next year.
Mixed in with Fry and Meyer, coach Bobby Collins was the coach during the death penalty time period. He went 43-14-1 overall and 30-9-1 in the SWC, with three years or winning at least 10 games from 1982-86.
The two coaches who achieved success in the post-death penalty era include June Jones from 2009-12 and Sonny Dykes 2017-21. Jones went 1-11 his first year in 2008 and then the guru of the run-and-shoot won seven or eight games the next four years. It fell off at the end, but his run ended with four trips to bowl games and going 36-43 overall and 26-22 in league play.
Dykes arrived after a difficult stint at California, and he took the Mustangs to three bowls in four years, including a 10-3 record in 2019. The master of the Air Raid offense went 30-18 overall and 18-13 in the AAC from 2017-21. He left to go across town to Texas Christian and helped the Horned Frogs reach the college football playoffs last year.
Much like the coaching the star players are also divided between pre/post 1986. Doak Walker won the Heisman Trophy in 1948 and now has the top running back award named after him. The other two superstars SMU is known for are running backs Eric Dickerson and Craig James, the Pony Express, and former safety Wes Hopkins had a terrific NFL career. Add in Reggie Dupard and Jeff Atkins and the Mustangs were loaded at running back in the early 1980s.
Three coaches and seven players are in the College Football Hall of Fame, but none have been associated with SMU since 1972.
Quarterback Don Meredith, offensive lineman Forrest Gregg and wide receiver Raymond Berry are other former SMU stars, along with former Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt. Hunt, Berry, Gregg, Walker and Dickerson are in the NFL Hall of Fame.
The quarterbacks under Jones and Dykes have been standouts with some making the NFL. Former Texas transfers Shane Buechele and Garrett Gilbert both put up big passing numbers and made the NFL. Last year’s quarterback Tanner Mordecai will try to light it up as a quarterback at Wisconsin this season.
With SMU airing it out, receivers Emmanuel Sanders, Courtland Sutton, Aldrich Robinson, Trey Quinn, Danny Gray, Rashee Rice were all drafted by the NFL, and Cole Beasley has had a long NFL career as an undrafted free agent.
The all-time leading receiver is James Proche, who has 301 catches for 3,949 yards and 39 touchdowns from 2015-19, who made the Baltimore Ravens for three years.
Twenty-five players have been drafted by the NFL from SMU since 1993. The last first-round picks were defensive back Rod Jones and Dupard in 1986.
SMU basketball
SMU hoops didn’t have a death penalty to deal with, but the league changes did dampen the Mustangs path.
SMU have reached the Sweet 16 six times, went to the Elite Eight in 1967 and the Final Four in 1956. In the modern era since leaving the SWC in 1996, SMU has reached the NCAA Tournament in just 2015 and 2017.
SMU has had some well known and infamous coaches over the years. The most successful coach was Doc Hayes, who won 298 games from 1948-67.
Second on the list is Dave Bliss, yes, that Dave Bliss. He won 142 games and he had a terrific team with 7-footer Jon Koncak, which was upset by Loyola Chicago in 1985. Bliss also went 28-7 in his last year in 1988. Koncak was part of the 1984 USA Olympic squad, a first-round pick and was a second-team All-American in 1984-85.
Two coaches with ties to North Carolina also coached at SMU with mixed results. Matt Doherty went 80-109 from 2007-12, but Larry Brown did have success in his own scandal-plagued way, going 85-39 from 2013-16.
Current coach Rob Lanier went 10-22 in his first year last year, after replacing Tim Jankovich, who had a magical 30-5 season in 2016-17. That squad had future NBA players Semi Ojeleye (Duke transfer), Sterling Brown, Shake Milton and Ben Moore.
SMU has had 24 players get drafted by the NBA, with Koncak, Jim Krebs (in 1957) and Jeryl Sasser (in 2001) as first-round selections. Quinton Ross also played in the NBA as an undrafted free agent from 2004-11.
Notable SMU alums
Bryson DeChambeau, golfer
Payne Stewart, golfer
Nastia Liukin, gymnastics
Jim Irsay, Indianapolis Colts owner
Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder and CEO of Bumble, co-founder of Tinder
Kathy Bates, actress
Brian Baumgartner, actor
Kourtney Kardashian, reality TV star, business owner
Jayne Mansfield, actress
Patricia Richardson, actress
Jim Duggan, WWE wrestler
Laura Bush, First Lady of the U.S.
Aaron Spelling, TV and film producer
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