On Monday, Southern Methodist University’s head coach, June Jones, resigned for personal reasons and defensive coordinator Tom Mason was given the interim position as head coach.
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According to the Dallas Morning News, Mason’s first order of business was to address his team that was outscored 88-6 in losses to Baylor and North Texas the past two weeks.
“I told them we’ve hit the bottom,” Mason told Bill Nichols of the Dallas Morning News. “You can’t get any lower than what happened last Saturday, so we’ve got nowhere to go but up.”
Mason is changing the way the mustangs practice from Jones’ no contact philosophy. Now, SMU players will strap on the pads and be hitting in practice. Mason wants high-energy workouts with quicker drill sets, lots of one-on-one work and more scrimmage-type situations such as the 10-men inside run drill.
With starter Neal Burcham out for the season with an injured right elbow, redshirt freshman Kolney Cassel will probably make his first start in the Sept. 20 home opener against Texas A&M.
Here’s what former SMU legend Ed Dickerson had to say about the team earlier this week:
“I talked to four former players yesterday, and we all said if they don’t want to do anything, just kill the program,” Dickerson told 105.3 KRLD-FM in Dallas. “Just stick to academics and basketball and kill that program.
“It’s so frustrating for us to watch SMU become nothing but a laughingstock or almost nonexistent. It’s almost like it doesn’t exist.”
SMU is thankfully entering a bye week this weekend, but will take on top-10 ranked Texas A&M on Sept. 20.