SMU joins the ACC: How the Mustangs rose from the dying penalty and the way they’ve ready for a step up

Fast turnarounds are a part of the job as a school soccer coach, however within the mad-dash period of convention realignment, latest historical past reveals {that a} hurried transition does not often result in speedy success.

That is significantly true for the soccer applications making the bounce from the mid-majors to energy conferences. With just one yr to arrange for the bounce from the AAC to the Huge 12, 4 new groups completed with dropping data in 2023 (18-31 mixed). 

SMU, because of its deep pockets and politicking, will make an analogous transfer this fall when it jumps into the ACC — as of July 1, the Mustangs are official members of the Atlantic Coast Convention. From the NCAA’s dying penalty in 1987 to a number of resurrection makes an attempt, the Mustangs appear to have lastly discovered their footing because of the assistance of huge boosters, large spending ($400 million invested in athletics since 2013) and a reinvigorated deal with soccer. One query is whether or not SMU can keep away from repeating the latest debuts of different mid-major applications that jumped to the massive time with little time to strengthen their rosters by way of the switch portal and highschool recruiting.

It has been simply 10 months since SMU and the ACC went public with their marriage. The expedited timeline definitely makes it harder to construct a power-conference roster in a single day. As SMU’s coaches have been busy getting ready for his or her remaining season within the AAC, in addition they needed to shift recruiting into overdrive.

“We have performed, from January till now, every part we might probably do as a workers to attempt to construct as a lot depth as we are able to,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee advised CBS Sports activities. “We have not been naive to the place we’re going.”

The Mustangs definitely appear extra ready on paper than their former AAC counterparts. SMU gained 11 video games for the primary time in 41 years, gained the AAC title and pushed Oklahoma to the brink in a highway loss final season. The Mustangs return a locker room filled with starters, together with quarterback Preston Stone and the staff’s prime seven receivers from a top-10 offense. On protection, 10 of the highest 11 tackles return and the pass-rush led by Elijah Roberts (10 sacks) final season was underrated.

Extra importantly, SMU hit the portal to construct depth alongside the offensive and defensive strains to cope with the weekly wear-and-tear of the ACC. 13 of the Mustangs’ 19 new transfers are linemen, and 12 of them performed for energy convention groups final season. SMU’s switch class ranks thirty first nationally and seventh within the 17-team ACC. 

“We’re actually going up a stage for an absence of a greater analogy, so we now have to lift the extent of expectations of ourselves,” Lashlee stated. “That is primarily since you simply cannot have an off week and anticipate to win like possibly we might have final yr, however you even have to grasp the depth in recruiting, the depth of the expectations of your opponents.”

SMU nonetheless has time to arrange because of scheduling, with a four-week buffer earlier than leaping into the ACC on Sept. 28. That is when reigning ACC champion Florida State involves Dallas for the Mustangs’ convention debut.

For greater than three a long time, SMU has sought a return to prominence after it was rocked by the NCAA “dying penalty” stemming from repeated NCAA violations, most notably under-the-table funds to gamers. The Mustangs have spent loads of time wandering within the desert since, however a program that has flashed lately is now set to take a milestone step in becoming a member of the ACC this fall — even with out receiving any convention income for 9 years. 

Under is a have a look at SMU’s trek again to having a seat on the desk within the energy convention panorama. 

1987-88: SMU soccer goes darkish after NCAA dying penalty

SMU’s on-field momentum from the early Nineteen Eighties was already waning after posting back-to-back 6-5 finishes from 1985-86, however then got here the crushing blow in February 1987, when the NCAA slammed SMU with a “Dying Penalty” punishment for widespread recruiting violations, shutting the Mustangs’ soccer program for 2 seasons. Scholarships have been stripped away en masse, and SMU didn’t take the sector once more till 1989 — the NCAA canceled the Mustangs’ 1987 marketing campaign earlier than the college itself elected to not play in 1988 — because it confronted NCAA sanctions which were seen since by way of severity. All of it made for an abrupt halt for a program that flourished within the early Nineteen Eighties amid emergence of the “Pony Specific” working again duo of Craig James and Eric Dickerson.

1989-95: Mustangs a non-factor as Southwest Convention fizzles

SMU returned to the sector in 1989, however as a result of results of the extreme sanctions, the Mustangs solely gained two video games that season. It marked the beginning of a seven-year stretch during which the Mustangs solely gained 13 video games, not profitable a convention recreation once more till 1992. Issues on the Hilltop solely compounded when the Southwest Convention, which SMU had been a part of since 1918, started to fracture, beginning with Arkansas‘ determination in 1991 to exit for the SEC. The league ultimately dissolved after the 1995 season, and the Mustangs weren’t included when Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor and Texas Tech joined forces with the Huge Eight colleges to type the Huge 12. Rice, Houston and longtime rival TCU have been additionally left behind throughout that cut up. 

1996-2012: The wilderness of the WAC, Convention USA

With the Southwest Convention no extra, SMU discovered a house within the WAC in 1996, the place it remained by way of 2004. The 1997 marketing campaign — this system’s fist underneath coach Mike Cavan — introduced the Mustangs their first profitable season (6-5) post-death penalty, however they would not end above. 500 once more whereas within the WAC. Lows from that keep included a winless season in 2003. 

SMU discovered a brand new dwelling when it joined Convention USA in 2005. The Mustangs endured consecutive 1-11 finishes from 2007-08, however a training transition from Phil Bennet to June Jones between these seasons in the end ushered in some hope for SMU. Jones guided the Mustangs to eight wins and a bowl recreation in 2009, feats that SMU had not achieved since a 10-2 end in 1984. That kicked off a stretch during which the Mustangs reached a bowl recreation in 4 straight years underneath Jones earlier than SMU once more discovered itself on the transfer.

2013-23: Twists and turns within the AAC 

SMU’s admittance into the American Athletic Convention a decade in the past was a step ahead for the Mustangs by way of convention power, however the early returns weren’t promising. SMU’s AAC debut in 2013 noticed this system end under .500 (5-7) earlier than the underside gave out in 2014. Jones resigned two video games into the season as SMU plummeted to a 1-11 document. Jones’ eventual alternative, Chad Morris, bought the Mustangs again to a bowl recreation by 2017, solely to depart the Hilltop for an ill-fated tenure at Arkansas.

Morris’ departure, nonetheless, gave technique to SMU quickly placing collectively its greatest three-year stretch of soccer in a long time when the Mustangs went throughout the Dallas-Fort Price Metroplex to rent Sonny Dykes — then an analyst at TCU — as coach. SMU confirmed rising pains throughout a 5-7 end in Dykes’ 2018 debut, however an elevated emphasis on NCAA switch portal — particularly energy convention gamers with Dallas-area roots — gave technique to SMU flipping the script underneath Dykes in 2019. The Mustangs rode a 8-0 begin to their first 10-win season since 1984, and in addition frolicked within the AP Prime 25 rankings for the primary time since 1986.

SMU continued its profitable methods underneath Dykes for the following two years, going 25-7 in a three-year stretch from 2019-21 earlier than he was ultimately poached by TCU to interchange longtime Horned Frogs coach Gary Patterson. The Mustangs subsequently turned to Lashlee — Dykes’ offensive coordinator at SMU from 2018-19 — to fill the void. Lashlee guided SMU to a 7-6 end in his 2022 debut however noticed a breakthrough in 2023, ending 11-3 and beating Tulane for the college’s first convention championship since 1984. 

2024: SMU’s new seat on the Energy 4 desk

July 1 marks the end result of a robust push by SMU to hitch an influence convention amid a stretch during which school athletics has been dominated by convention realignment and NIL. The Mustangs have been seen for the higher a part of the final yr as robust candidates to hitch the Pac-12 if it sought to backfill the lack of USC and UCLA to the Huge Ten. After all, the Pac-12 is now extinct. 

The rich booster base at SMU’s disposal isn’t any secret — it is a large motive why SMU is keen to forgo ACC income funds for almost a decade — and the Mustangs have not been afraid to flex that. Throughout the previous yr, SMU broke floor on a new $100 million finish zone advanced at Gerald J. Ford Stadium, bolstered by a document $50 million reward to its athletic division from the Garry Weber Basis. The college is not anticipating donor help to decelerate both.

“I anticipate that the people who’ve gotten us thus far will proceed to take a position, as a result of that’s who they’re and what they do,” SMU athletic director Rick Hart stated in 2023. “That is actually a possibility. We have to broaden that help base, and we’d like others who’ve been on the sidelines or have been hesitant, no matter it’s to step ahead. And I do not suppose there may be another second the place you could possibly replicate the chance we now have.” 

Unsurprisingly, SMU has additionally been a serious participant within the NIL panorama because the NCAA permitted gamers to be compensated for his or her likeness two years in the past. In August 2022, it was revealed that SMU soccer and basketball gamers might earn $36,000 yearly in NIL compensation by way of the Boulevard Collective, spearheaded by a bunch of SMU alumni and donors. The varsity additionally hasn’t been afraid to embrace its infamous previous that led to the NCAA sanctions now that student-athletes can revenue freely.