SMU finally buries the painful consequences of the “death penalty” as its ACC debut approaches

DALLAS (AP) — SMU athletic director Rick Hart gets goosebumps pretty easily these days.

Whether it is the reflection on the almost year-long celebration of Participation in the Atlantic Coast Conference or what will happen on the football field he overlooks from his office, Hart's emotions flow freely.

Still, Hart says he can’t really empathize with the donors who have waited nearly four decades for the Mustangs Regain relevance after the devastating effects of the NCAA's only so-called death penalty. He was gone in 1987 and for the next 25 years.

Hart knew nothing of the alumni who shunned the program out of shame after the recruiting violations, nor of the reaction nearly a decade later when SMU was not invited to the Big 12 party that led to the dissolution of the Southwest Conference.

When the Mustangs open the season at Nevada on Saturday — and when they play their first ACC game at home against No. 10 Florida State on Sept. 28 — there will be plenty of people wondering if such days would ever come.

While they're not necessarily expecting a return to the Pony Express days with running backs Eric Dickerson and Craig James and quarterback Lance Mcllhenney, a seat at the big table is certainly nice.

“I can't even predict what that's going to look or feel like,” Hart said. “Only for the people who have the point of view and the perspective.”

David Miller, chairman of the school's board of trustees, is one of them. Although the former SMU basketball player was living in Denver when his alma mater's 1987-88 football season was canceled, Miller was never that far away.

Now he is at the top of the list of those responsible for SMU's return to conference power – if not at the top.

“This is a transformational opportunity for SMU,” Miller said. “It's not just an opportunity to enhance our athletic programs. It's also, I believe, an opportunity to reposition the university's brand overall.”

The NCAA blow

The death penalty did serious damage to that brand. The pay-for-play scandal reached all the way to the office of the late Texas Governor Bill Clements, an SMU graduate who headed the trustees at the time the NCAA labeled the Mustangs repeat offenders. The 1987 season was over, and the school canceled the following season due to the sanctions.

Miller was angry at his alma mater at the time, a sentiment that softened when he accepted the widespread belief that many schools in the old SWC were using many of the same tricks. Nearly the entire board of directors resigned and the university president was fired. Enrollment numbers suffered, as did morale.

“There is no doubt that after the abolition of the death penalty, restoring the academic integrity of the university had to be a priority,” Miller said. “And sports took a back seat. We're talking about three decades.”

Three largely brutal decades for the football program. The Mustangs won a total of 13 games in their seven remaining SWC seasons. In their first year back, they lost 95-21 in Houston. They didn't have another winning season until 1997.

The decline of the predominantly Texas-based league led to nine seasons in the Western Athletic Conference and eight in Conference USA before a relative resurgence in the American Athletic, where SMU spent eleven seasons.

Even against weaker competition, SMU won just once in its first 20 post-death seasons. June Jones changed that, leading the Mustangs to four consecutive bowl games before the program lost its momentum.

Hart arrived midway through Jones' six-plus seasons, and although Jones, one of the pioneers of pass-happy college offenses, left in 2014 two games into a 1-11 season, Jones deserves a lot of credit from Dickerson and others for turning things around on the long road back.

Slow revival

Dickerson, a Pro Football Hall of Fame running back who finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting when Georgia's Herschel Walker won it in 1982, was essentially estranged from his alma mater after the death penalty.

The five-time NFL All-Pro questioned his school's commitment to football and did not shield university president R. Gerald Turner from criticism. Turner – who took over in 1995, just as the SWC was disbanding – was another key figure in the talks that led to an invitation from the ACC.

Dickerson said he and his friends saw a commitment to the buildings on campus – he pointed to the George W. Bush presidential library on the Dallas campus – but a neglect of the athletic department.

“I think Dr. Turner now sees that his legacy of the university being a top university, with its buildings and all that stuff, is a great legacy,” Dickerson said. “You want to have the whole spectrum, especially if you have the money for it.”

Ah, the money.

Financial resources never seemed to be an issue at this small private college known for producing influential business brokers. Miller, 73, is the perfect example.

He is the billionaire founder of EnCap Investments, an oil and gas private equity firm. Miller's name is on the basketball court at Moody Coliseum, where he played from 1968 to 1972 after choosing SMU's scholarship because he hoped it would provide a better education.

While fundraising was a problem in the years following the death penalty's implementation, time must heal the wounds. In the week following the ACC's announcement on September 1 last year, SMU raised $100 million to fund the transition.

Miller said most of those commitments were already in place when the school was close to receiving the ACC's official invitation, and he's confident the money will keep flowing even as SMU essentially gives up media rights in its new league for the next decade.

Of the $270 million the athletic department needs during this period, nearly half is available. A year ago, the school said it had a $2 billion endowment and about 12,000 students.

“We don't just want to be competitive,” Miller said. “We want to be successful and compete for championships. And that's going to require continued investment. In four or five years, it's a given that we'll have another significant campaign to support our competitiveness in the ACC. And who knows what the landscape looks like in four or five years.”

Changes in university sports

The framework conditions have already changed dramatically compared to the 1980s. For example, athletes are now allowed to accept money for advertising contracts and the use of their name, image or likeness.

SMU is relying on its collective, dubbed “The Boulevard” in reference to the tailgating scene near Ford Stadium, and officials hope that fans will now have more reasons to make the walk rather than letting the pregame festivities continue after kickoff.

The Mustangs are also confident in their ability to recruit players, even though Texas and Oklahoma joined the Southeastern Conference this year, opening even more doors for the football powers into recruit-rich Texas.

Add to that the momentum of SMU's first conference title since 1984 in what was SMU's final American Athletic season, despite the obvious move up a tier with ACC competition.

“We're happy with where we are,” Hart said. “We've already shown that we shouldn't pick and choose where we're based. We can assume we can recruit as well as anyone in Texas.”

SMU has been criticized for giving up these media rights. Hart and Miller counter the argument that the school essentially bought its way into the ACC, arguing that this was money the school would never have seen in American Athletics.

The specter of further instability — Clemson and Florida State are in legal dispute with the ACC due to financial concerns – Hart is not worried.

“Maybe it's stupid, but I'd like to think it's because we've fought our way back from the death knell,” Hart said. “We're going to seize this moment. And I'm fully convinced and confident that we're going to position ourselves to compete at the highest level of sport.”

The Mustangs will waste no time testing themselves. When the Seminoles come to visit, it's possible, maybe even likely, that Florida State will have won 21 straight games in the regular season.

“I keep telling my friends, 'Can you believe it? Florida State has to come to Dallas,'” said SMU safety Isaiah Nwokobia, who grew up in the city. “It's pretty cool. It makes you excited.”

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