The SMU Mustangs are an intercollegiate football team representing Southern Methodist University (SMU) in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since the 2013 college football season, the Mustangs compete in the American Athletic Conference but starting in 2024 now compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference. SMU began playing football in 1915 and has played their home games since 1999 at Gerald J. Ford Stadium on the SMU campus in University Park, Texas, an enclave of Dallas. [1]
Year | Coach | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ray Morrison (Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association)(1915–1916) | |||||||||
1915 | SMU | 2–5 | |||||||
1916 | SMU | 0–8–2 | |||||||
J. Burton Rix (Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association)(1917) | |||||||||
1917 | SMU | 3–2–3 | |||||||
J. Burton Rix(Southwest Conference)(1918–1921) | |||||||||
1918 | SMU | 4–2 | 1–2 | 5th | |||||
1919 | SMU | 5–4–1 | 0–2–1 | 6th | |||||
1920 | SMU | 3–5–2 | 0–4–1 | 6th | |||||
1921 | SMU [n 1] | 1–6–1 [n 1] | 0–4 [n 1] | 7th | |||||
Ray Morrison & Ewing Y. Freeland (Southwest Conference)(1922–1923) | |||||||||
1922 | SMU | 6–3–1 | 2–2 | T–3rd | |||||
1923 | SMU | 9–0 | 5–0 | 1st | |||||
Ray Morrison(Southwest Conference)(1924–1934) | |||||||||
1924 | SMU | 5–1–4 | 2–0–4 | 2nd | L Dixie Classic | ||||
1925 | SMU | 5–2–2 | 1–1–2 | 4th | |||||
1926 | SMU | 8–0–1 | 5–0 | 1st | |||||
1927 | SMU | 7–2 | 4–1 | 2nd | |||||
1928 | SMU | 6–3–1 | 2–2–1 | 5th | |||||
1929 | SMU | 6–0–4 | 3–0–2 | 2nd | |||||
1930 | SMU | 6–3–1 | 2–2–1 | T–4th | |||||
1931 | SMU | 9–1–1 | 5–0–1 | 1st | |||||
1932 | SMU | 3–7–2 | 1–4–1 | T–5th | |||||
1933 | SMU | 4–7–1 | 2–4 | 6th | |||||
1934 | SMU | 8–2–2 | 3–2–1 | 3rd | |||||
Matty Bell (Southwest Conference)(1935–1941) | |||||||||
1935 | SMU | 12–1 | 6–0 | 1st | L Rose | ||||
1936 | SMU | 5–4–1 | 2–3–1 | 5th | |||||
1937 | SMU | 5–6 | 2–4 | 6th | |||||
1938 | SMU | 6–4 | 4–2 | 2nd | |||||
1939 | SMU | 6–3–1 | 4–2 | T–2nd | |||||
1940 | SMU | 8–1–1 | 5–1 | T–1st | 16 | ||||
1941 | SMU | 5–5 | 2–4 | 5th | |||||
Jimmy Stewart (Southwest Conference)(1942–1944) | |||||||||
1942 | SMU | 3–6–2 | 1–4–1 | 6th | |||||
1943 | SMU | 2–7 | 2–3 | T–3rd | |||||
1944 | SMU | 5–5 | 2–3 | T–4th | |||||
Matty Bell(Southwest Conference)(1945–1949) | |||||||||
1945 | SMU | 5–6 | 4–2 | 2nd | |||||
1946 | SMU | 4–5–1 | 2–4 | T–5th | |||||
1947 | SMU | 9–0–2 | 5–0–1 | 1st | T Cotton | 3 | |||
1948 | SMU | 9–1–1 | 5–0–1 | 1st | W Cotton | 10 | |||
1949 | SMU | 5–4–1 | 2–3–1 | 5th | |||||
Rusty Russell (Southwest Conference)(1950–1952) | |||||||||
1950 | SMU | 6–4 | 2–4 | T–5th | |||||
1951 | SMU | 3–6–1 | 1–4–1 | 7th | |||||
1952 | SMU | 4–5–1 | 3–2–1 | 3rd | |||||
Woody Woodard (Southwest Conference)(1953–1956) | |||||||||
1953 | SMU | 5–5 | 3–3 | 4th | |||||
1954 | SMU | 6–3–1 | 4–1–1 | 2nd | 17 | ||||
1955 | SMU | 4–6 | 2–4 | T–5th | |||||
1956 | SMU | 4–6 | 2–4 | 5th | |||||
Bill Meek (Southwest Conference)(1957–1961) | |||||||||
1957 | SMU | 4–5–1 | 3–3 | 4th | |||||
1958 | SMU | 6–4 | 4–2 | T–2nd | |||||
1959 | SMU | 5–4–1 | 2–3–1 | 4th | |||||
1960 | SMU | 0–9–1 | 0–6–1 | 8th | |||||
1961 | SMU | 2–7–1 | 1–5–1 | 8th | |||||
Hayden Fry (Southwest Conference)(1962–1972) | |||||||||
1962 | SMU | 2–8 | 2–5 | 7th | |||||
1963 | SMU | 4–7 | 2–5 | T–6th | L Sun | ||||
1964 | SMU | 1–9 | 0–7 | 8th | |||||
1965 | SMU | 4–5–1 | 3–4 | T–4th | |||||
1966 | SMU | 8–3 | 6–1 | 1st | L Cotton | 9 | 10 | ||
1967 | SMU | 3–7 | 3–4 | 6th | |||||
1968 | SMU | 8–3 | 5–2 | 3rd | W Astro-Bluebonnet | 16 | 14 | ||
1969 | SMU | 3–7 | 3–4 | 5th | |||||
1970 | SMU | 5–6 | 3–4 | T–4th | |||||
1971 | SMU | 4–7 | 3–4 | 5th | |||||
1972 | SMU | 7–4 | 4–3 | T–2nd | |||||
Dave Smith (Southwest Conference)(1973–1975) | |||||||||
1973 | SMU | 6–4–1 | 3–3–1 | T–4th | |||||
1974 | SMU | 6–4–1 | 3–3–1 | T–4th | |||||
1975 | SMU | 4–7 | 2–5 | T–5th | |||||
Ron Meyer (Southwest Conference)(1976–1981) | |||||||||
1976 | SMU | 3–8 | 2–6 | T–7th | |||||
1977 | SMU | 4–7 | 3–5 | T–6th | |||||
1978 | SMU | 4–6–1 | 3–5 | T–6th | |||||
1979 | SMU | 5–6 | 3–5 | 6th | |||||
1980 | SMU | 8–4 | 5–3 | T–2nd | L Holiday | 20 | 20 | ||
1981 | SMU | 10–1 | 7–1 | 1st | Ineligible [n 2] | [n 2] | 5 | ||
Bobby Collins (Southwest Conference)(1982–1986) | |||||||||
1982 | SMU | 11–0–1 | 7–0–1 | 1st | W Cotton | 2 | 2 | ||
1983 | SMU | 10–2 | 7–1 | 2nd | L Sun | 11 | 12 | ||
1984 | SMU | 10–2 | 6–2 | T–1st | W Aloha | 8 | 8 | ||
1985 | SMU | 6–5 | 5–3 | 5th | |||||
1986 | SMU | 6–5 | 5–3 | T–4th | |||||
1987 | [n 3] | [n 3] | [n 3] | [n 3] | [n 3] | [n 3] | [n 3] | ||
1988 | [n 3] | [n 3] | [n 3] | [n 3] | [n 3] | [n 3] | [n 3] | ||
Forrest Gregg (Southwest Conference)(1989–1990) | |||||||||
1989 | SMU | 2–9 | 0–8 | 9th | |||||
1990 | SMU | 1–10 | 0–8 | 9th | |||||
Tom Rossley (Southwest Conference)(1991–1995) | |||||||||
1991 | SMU | 1–10 | 0–8 | 9th | |||||
1992 | SMU | 5–6 | 2–5 | T–6th | |||||
1993 | SMU | 2–7–2 | 1–5–1 | T–7th | |||||
1994 | SMU | 1–9–1 | 0–6–1 | 8th | |||||
1995 | SMU | 1–10 | 0–7 | 8th | |||||
Tom Rossley(Western Athletic Conference)(1996) | |||||||||
1996 | SMU | 5–6 | 4–4 | 4th (Mountain) | |||||
Mike Cavan (Western Athletic Conference)(1997–2001) | |||||||||
1997 | SMU | 6–5 | 5–3 | T–2nd (Mountain) | |||||
1998 | SMU | 5–7 [n 4] | 4–4 [n 4] | T–5th (Mountain) | |||||
1999 | SMU | 4–6 | 3–3 | 5th | |||||
2000 | SMU | 3–9 | 2–6 | T–6th | |||||
2001 | SMU | 4–7 | 4–3 | 5th | |||||
Phil Bennett (Western Athletic Conference)(2002–2004) | |||||||||
2002 | SMU | 3–9 | 3–5 | T–6th | |||||
2003 | SMU | 0–12 | 0–8 | 10th | |||||
2004 | SMU | 3–8 | 3–5 | T–6th | |||||
Phil Bennett(Conference USA)(2005–2007) | |||||||||
2005 | SMU | 5–6 | 4–4 | T–3rd (West) | |||||
2006 | SMU | 6–6 | 4–4 | 4th (West) | |||||
2007 | SMU | 1–11 | 0–8 | 6th (West) | |||||
June Jones (Conference USA)(2008–2012) | |||||||||
2008 | SMU | 1–11 | 0–8 | 6th (West) | |||||
2009 | SMU | 8–5 | 6–2 | T–1st (West) | W Hawaii | ||||
2010 | SMU | 7–7 | 6–2 | T–1st (West) | L Armed Forces | ||||
2011 | SMU | 8–5 | 5–3 | 3rd (West) | W BBVA Compass | ||||
2012 | SMU | 7–6 | 5–3 | 2nd (West) | W Hawaii | ||||
June Jones(American Athletic Conference)(2013–2014) | |||||||||
2013 | SMU | 5–7 | 4–4 | 5th | |||||
2014 | SMU [n 5] | 1–11 | 1–7 | 11th | |||||
Chad Morris (American Athletic Conference)(2015–2017) | |||||||||
2015 | SMU | 2–10 | 1–7 | T–5th (West) | |||||
2016 | SMU | 5–7 | 3–5 | 5th (West) | |||||
2017 | SMU [n 6] | 7–6 [n 6] | 4–4 | T–3rd (West) | L Frisco | ||||
Sonny Dykes (American Athletic Conference)(2017–2021) | |||||||||
2018 | SMU | 5–7 | 4–4 | 4th (West) | |||||
2019 | SMU | 10–3 | 6–2 | 3rd (West) | L Boca Raton | ||||
2020 | SMU | 7–3 | 4–3 | 5th | CX Frisco [n 7] | ||||
2021 | SMU | 8–4 | 4–4 | 6th | CX Fenway [n 8] | ||||
Rhett Lashlee (American Athletic Conference)(2022–2024) | |||||||||
2022 | SMU | 7–6 | 5–3 | T–4th | L New Mexico | ||||
2023 | SMU | 11–3 | 8–0 | 1st | L Fenway | 24 | 22 | ||
Rhett Lashlee (Atlantic Coast Conference)(2024–present) | |||||||||
2024 | SMU | 8-1 | 5-0 | T–1st | 15 | 13 | |||
Total: | 545–567–54 | ||||||||
National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
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June Sheldon Jones III is an American football coach and former player who was most recently the offensive coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons. Jones was the head football coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 1999 to 2007, and was the head football coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 2008 until he resigned on September 8, 2014. He coached in the National Football League (NFL) for three years as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons from 1994 to 1996, plus a ten-game stint as interim head coach of the San Diego Chargers in 1998; he also spent 1+1⁄2 seasons as head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Jones was the general manager and head coach of the Houston Roughnecks.
The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma and Arkansas.
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The SMU Mustangs are the athletic teams that represent Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas, United States. SMU was founded in 1911 and joined the Southwest Conference, competing against Baylor, Rice, Texas, Texas A&M, Arkansas and Oklahoma A&M. They have been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) since 2024.
The SMU Mustangs football team is a college football team representing Southern Methodist University (SMU) in University Park in Dallas County, Texas. The Mustangs compete in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). SMU joined the ACC in July 2024 after eleven years as a member of the American Athletic Conference (AAC).
The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team represents Louisiana Tech University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. After 12 seasons in the Western Athletic Conference, Louisiana Tech began competing as a member of Conference USA in 2013.
The Southern Methodist University football scandal occurred in 1987 when the SMU Mustangs football program was investigated and penalized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Southern Methodist University (SMU), located in suburban Dallas, Texas, was the second-smallest school in the Southwest Conference (SWC) and one of the smallest in Division I-A, with a total enrollment of just over 9,000 students in 1986. From the 1950s onward, the team had found it difficult to compete against SWC schools that were double its size or more. As the 1980 season began, SMU had had twenty-one losing seasons in the previous thirty, including the last five in a row. As they increased their efforts to keep up with the bigger schools, SMU's coaches and athletic staff began using unethical methods of recruiting and retaining players. Schools in the NCAA were prohibited from paying a player to join or play for their team, and all players were required to remain bona fide students of the school they played for. According to ESPN's 2010 documentary film Pony Excess, much of the cheating took place with the full knowledge of school administrators.
Daniel "Sonny" Dykes is an American football coach, and a former college baseball player. He is currently the head football coach at Texas Christian University (TCU), and previously served in the same role at Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 2018 to 2021, the University of California, Berkeley from 2013 to 2016, and Louisiana Tech University from 2010 to 2012. In his first season at TCU, he led the Horned Frogs to a win in the semifinal and an appearance in the National Championship game.
The 1989 SMU Mustangs football team represented Southern Methodist University (SMU) as a member of the Southwest Conference (SWC) during the 1989 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by first-year head coach Forrest Gregg, the Mustangs were returning to competition for the first time since 1986. An NCAA investigation into continued misconduct in the football program had resulted in the Mustangs receiving the "death penalty", which resulted in the 1987 season being cancelled and indirectly resulted in the team not having enough players to field a team in 1988. After playing most of the past several seasons at Texas Stadium, the Mustangs moved back to their old home of Ownby Stadium on campus, where they had not played since 1948.
The 1981 SMU Mustangs football team represented Southern Methodist University (SMU) as a member of the Southwest Conference (SWC) during the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by Ron Meyer in his sixth and final season as head coach, the Mustangs compiled an overall record 10–1 with a mark of 7–1 in conference play, winning the SWC title.
The 1997 Western Athletic Conference Mustangs football team represented Southern Methodist University (SMU) as a member of the Mountain Division of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) during 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by first-year head coach Mike Cavan, the Mustangs compiled an overall record of 6–5 with a mark of 5–3 in conference play, tying for second place in the WAC's Mountain Division. Ten years after the NCAA's 1987 "death penalty" on SMU football, SMU's 1997 campaign was the program's first winning season since the football program resumed operations in 1989. The Mustangs played their home games at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
The 1998 Western Athletic Conference Mustangs football team represented Southern Methodist University (SMU) as a member of the Mountain Division of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) during the 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by second-year head coach Mike Cavan, the Mustangs finished the season with an overall record of 5–7 and a mark of 4–4 in conference play, tying for fifth place in the WAC's Mountain Division. However, SMU vacated 10 games after Steve Malin was found to have been ineligible due to academic fraud. The Mustangs played their home games at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
Chad Allen Morris is an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 2015 to 2017 and the University of Arkansas from 2018 to 2019.
The 2014 SMU Mustangs football team represented Southern Methodist University in the 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by seventh-year head coach June Jones for two games and interim head coach Tom Mason for the remainder of the season. They played their home games at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in University Park, Texas, an enclave of Dallas and were members of the American Athletic Conference. They finished the season 1–11, 1–7 in AAC play to finish in last place.
The SMU Mustangs women's soccer program represents Southern Methodist University in National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division I. The Mustangs compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and play their home games on SMU's campus in Dallas, Texas at Westcott Field.
The 2017 SMU Mustangs football team represented Southern Methodist University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Mustangs played their home games at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas, Texas, and competed in the West Division of the American Athletic Conference. They were led by third-year coach Chad Morris during the entire regular season until December 6, when he resigned to become the head coach at Arkansas. On December 11, SMU hired Sonny Dykes as head coach, and he led them in their bowl game. They finished the season 7–6, 4–4 in AAC play to finish in a tie for third place in the West Division. They were invited to the Frisco Bowl where they lost to Louisiana Tech.
The Frisco Bowl is an annual National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sanctioned post-season Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football bowl game played in Frisco, Texas, since December 2017. The bowl has a tie-in with the American Athletic Conference, and chooses another team at-large.
The 2020 SMU Mustangs football team represented Southern Methodist University during the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Mustangs were led by third-year coach Sonny Dykes and played their home games at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in University Park, Texas, a separate city within the city limits of Dallas, competed as members of the American Athletic Conference.
The 2021 SMU Mustangs football team represented Southern Methodist University during the 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Mustangs played their home games at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in University Park, Texas, a separate city within the city limits of Dallas, competed as members of the American Athletic Conference (AAC). The Mustangs were led by fourth-year coach Sonny Dykes—on November 29, it was announced that Dykes would leave the program to become the head coach at TCU. He finished at SMU with an overall record of 30–18.