Sports

Eric Dickerson Has Pointed Advice for an SMU Football Turnaround: Right the Ship or Sink It

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The Southern Methodist University (SMU) Mustangs are a football program in need of a turnaround, but Eric Dickerson feels it is just time to pull the plug.

According to ESPN, Dickerson, a Hall of Fame NFL running back and SMU alum, 105.3 KRLD-FM in Dallas his alma mater needs a long-term solution, and fast. While things have not always been as bad as they are for SMU, Dickerson said there is a group of people who are growing more and more infuriated.

"I talked to four former players yesterday, and we all said if they don't want to do anything, just kill the program," he told the radio station Tuesday. "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 0-2 this year and have let their opponents outscore them a combined 88-6 thus far and have a home game looming against Texas A&M on Sept. 20. After coming off a 5-7 season, this one already appears as if it will get worse, and to compound the team's troubles head football coach June Jones abruptly resigned on Monday.

Jones had coached the Mustangs to 36-43 record in seven seasons, but he said his unexpected decision was "very difficult" and cited "personal issues" as his reason for leaving. Dickerson was a two-time All-American at SMU, a 1982 Heisman Trophy finalist, the school's all-time leading rusher and became the second overall pick in the NFL Draft in 1983.

The SMU football program was on probation with the NCAA in 1985 for recruiting violations. After the NCAA determined SMU had been giving its players improper monetary benefits with money from a booster program, the NCAA imposed the "death penalty." SMU's football team was banned from playing at all in 1986, an event Dickerson said he and his former teammates feel they are still being shunned for.

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