From: tannerg@carson.u.washington.edu (Glenn Tanner)
Subject: The Best News of the Day
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 16:51:57 GMT


	A task force that spent four months listening to the
pros and cons of retaining major college athletics at Southern Methodist
University recommended Wednesday that the school remain in the Southwest
Conference.
	``We looked at every option from discontinuing sports entirely to
remaining where we were,'' said the task force chairman, Dr. Leighton
Farrell. ``The only thing that made sense to any of us was to remain
where we are.''
	SMU suffered a two-year suspension of its football program by the
NCAA because of repeated recruiting violations, an incident that caused
the school's entire governing structure to be changed.
	On Saturday, the school's football team will complete its fourth
post-suspension season and will take a 4-6 record into a meeting with
Arkansas. As this season has progressed, however, the players have
feared they were taking part in the final year of big-time football for
SMU.
	The task force was created in July and there had been widespread
speculation it would at least recommend SMU drop out of Division I-A and
move to Division III.
	But the committee eventually encouraged SMU to stay in major college
athletics because of the fear of lost revenue and because the school's
booster group vowed to increase the flow of money into the athletic
department.
	``I think the key to the decision was the commitment by the Mustang
Club to cover any deficit that the athletic program has in excess of the
value of the athletic grants in aid,'' said school president Dr. A.
Kenneth Pye.
	``What that means is the university will not have to spend $1.6
million a year on athletics that would otherwise be available for
student financial aid, faculty and staff salaries, the libraries,
computer resources and all the other things that need money on this
campus.''
	The school will continue to provide money for scholarships, which Pye
said, ``is no small amount.''
	``We spent about 3 percent of our income on scholarships,'' Pye said.
	The SMU athletic program lost $4.9 million last year and Pye has said
in the past a loss of between $1 and 2 million a year is acceptable
because of what he feels to be important byproducts of college sports.
Pye came to SMU after the recruiting scandal, having taught at Duke and
also having been that school's faculty representative to the athletic
department.
	Pye said the future for SMU's athletic program was dependent on
several things including the continued stability of the Southwest
Conference and decisions by the federal government concerning the
funding of women's athletics.
	But he said the basic philosophical decision as to whether the school
should participate in major college athletics as long as the money is
there had been laid to rest.
	``We are still going to have to have a lot of cooperation,'' Farrell
said. ``We are going to have to have the cooperation of students. There
is a great disparity between the student polls that show they want us to
stay in Division 1-A and their actual attendance at the sports.
	``We noticed a great disparity among our alumni who were encouraging
and imporing us to keep Division 1-A football who had not supported us
with a single dime of their money.''


Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.college