September 2, 2009

In 1985, when SMU was placed on probation by the NCAA for recruiting violations that involved an assistant coach and friends of the program (boosters), it marked the fifth time SMU was placed on probation in eleven years.

Then, in 1986, when a Dallas television station got a hold of a story about a former player at SMU who had received a signing bonus and received pay while he was at SMU, it set the stage for further investigation of the corruption inside the SMU program. News then came out that, despite the current NCAA sanctions, SMU continued the under-the-table payments to players. At that time the NCAA had adopted policies stating that a school that was found guilty of two major rules violations twice in a five year period could potentially be forbidden from playing in that sport for two years.

It was in early 1987 when Governor Bill Clements, who had just been elected (Clements prior to his election was Chairman of the Board of Trustees at SMU), revealed that, despite the prior troubles at SMU, the slush fund had continued because “their was a payroll to meet”.

The NCAA came down hard on SMU, stating that it would impose the death penalty in order, to "eliminate a program that was built on a legacy of wrongdoing, deceit and rules violations”. Though the death penalty was to be in effect for the 1987 season, SMU officials decided that, because of all the penalties placed on the school by the NCAA, it would be virtually impossible to compete in 1988 as well. Thus, the death penalty to SMU resulted in not only the loss of the 1987 college football season, but in the loss of the 1988 season.

Practically speaking, SMU has really never recovered from the corruption of the 1980’s. When the Big Eight conference brought Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, and Texas Tech on board some years later, SMU joined the less prestigious Western Athletic Conference and then hooked up with Conference USA. For further reading and a much greater explanation of all that went on at SMU, the book to read is: A Payroll to Meet:  A Story of Greed, Corruption and Football at SMU by David Whitford.  Published by Macmillan Publishing Company (September 1989).