1998 SMU Mustangs football team

1998 SMU Mustangs football
Conference Western Athletic Conference Mountain Division
1998 record 1–1[1], 4 wins vacated (0–1[1] WAC, 4 wins vacated)
Head coach Mike Cavan (2nd year)
Offensive coordinator Greg Briner (1st year)
Defensive coordinator Eric Schumann (2nd year)
Home stadium Cotton Bowl (c. 68,252)
1998 WAC football standings
Conf     Overall
Team   W   L         W   L  
Mountain Division
#13 Air Force x$   7 – 1         12 – 1  
Wyoming   6 – 2         8 – 3  
Colorado State   5 – 3         8 – 4  
Rice   5 – 3         5 – 6  
TCU   4 – 4         7 – 5  
Tulsa   2 – 6         4 – 7  
SMU   1 – 1         0 – 1  
UNLV   0 – 8         0 – 11  
Pacific Division
BYU xy   7 – 1         9 – 5  
San Diego State x   7 – 1         7 – 5  
Utah   5 – 3         7 – 4  
Fresno State   5 – 3         5 – 6  
San Jose State   3 – 5         4 – 8  
UTEP   3 – 5         3 – 8  
New Mexico   1 – 7         3 – 9  
Hawaii   0 – 8         0 – 12  
Championship: Air Force 20, BYU 13
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
  • y – Championship game participant
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1998 SMU Mustangs football team represented Southern Methodist University in the 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season as members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in the Mountain Division. They played their home games at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. Head coach Mike Cavan returned for his second season leading SMU, following a 6–5 season in 1997, SMU's first winning season since the NCAA's "death penalty" that shut down SMU football for two years starting in 1987. SMU finished the season 5–7 (4–4 WAC), but SMU vacated 10 games after a player was found to have been ineligible due to academic fraud.

Personnel

Name Position Seasons at
SMU		 Alma Mater
Mike Cavan Head coach 2 Georgia (1972)
Warren Belin Linebackers, assistant recruiting coordinator 2 Wake Forest (1990)
Greg Briner Offensive coordinator, quarterbacks 1 USC (1972)
Derek Dooley Wide receivers, assistant recruiting coordinator 2 Virginia (1991)
Troy Douglas Defensive backs 2 Appalachian State (1988)
Paul EtheridgeTight ends, offensive tackles2Georgia (1993)
Steve Malin Defensive line 5 East Texas State (1993)
David McKnight Running backs 2 Georgia (1969)
Eric Schumann Assistant head coach, defensive coordinator, secondary 2 Alabama (1977)
Randy Williams Centers, guards, recruiting coordinator 2 Valdosta State (1991)
Source:[2]

Schedule

Date Time Opponent Site TV Result Attendance
September 5 7:00 p.m. at Rice Rice Stadium • Houston, TX (Rivalry) L 17–23 (vacated)   42,674
September 12 7:00 p.m. Tulane* Cotton Bowl • Dallas, TX L 21–31 (vacated)   12,316
September 19 6:00 p.m. at Arkansas* Razorback Stadium • Fayetteville, AR L 17–44 (vacated)   55,544
September 26 2:00 p.m. Ole Miss* Cotton Bowl • Dallas, TX L 41–48 (vacated)   22,281
October 3 11:00 p.m. at Hawaii Aloha Stadium • Honolulu, HI W 28–0  (vacated) 25,912
October 10 2:00 p.m. at Wyoming War Memorial Stadium • Laramie, WY L 7–12 (vacated)   15,504
October 17 2:00 p.m. TCU Cotton Bowl • Dallas, TX (Rivalry) W 10–6  (vacated) 26,360
October 24 2:00 p.m. UNLV Cotton Bowl • Dallas, TX W 10–7  (vacated) 16,073
October 31 1:00 p.m. at Air Force Falcon Stadium • Air Force Academy, CO L 7–31 (vacated)   30,053
November 7 2:00 p.m. Tulsa Cotton Bowl • Dallas, TX W 33–3  (vacated) 11,143
November 14 2:00 p.m. Colorado Statedagger Cotton Bowl • Dallas, TX L 10–32   21,133
November 21 11:00 a.m. at Navy* Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium • Annapolis, MD KLDT W 24–11   27,487
*Non-conference game. daggerHomecoming.

After the season

NFL Draft

See also: 1999 NFL Draft

Two members of the 1998 SMU squad were selected in the 1999 NFL Draft. Defensive back Donald Mitchell was selected in the fourth round and 117th overall by the Tennessee Titans. Defensive back Coby Rhinehart was selected in the sixth round and 190th overall by the Arizona Cardinals.[3]

Steve Malin controversy

Twelve years after the NCAA "death penalty" that caused the SMU football program to shut down for two years, SMU encountered another scandal. SMU notified the NCAA of possible recruiting violations in early August 1999 and subsequently suspended defensive line coach Steve Malin.[4] On November 7, 1999, The Dallas Morning News reported that former SMU football player Corlin Donaldson alleged that Malin paid another person $100 to take Donaldson's ACT exam in 1998 so that Donaldson would be eligible to attend SMU. Although Donaldson described this account to NCAA investigators, Donaldson recanted this story under pressure from Malin to save Malin's job.[5] Following an internal investigation, SMU fired Malin on December 8, 1999; Malin had been suspended that year since August 3 without a replacement at his position. Additionally, SMU removed one assistant coach from recruiting roles for the 2000 season, reduced a total of 8 scholarships for the 2000 and 2001 seasons, and reduced a total of 16 official campus visits for high school recruits for those seasons as well. SMU also submitted a report to the NCAA.[6]

On December 13, 2000, the NCAA placed SMU on two years' probation and vacated ten games from SMU's 1998 season in which Donaldson played, which reduced SMU's record to 1-1 for 1998.[7][8] SMU's 2005 media guide indicates that the NCAA vacated the first ten games of the 1998 season.[9] The NCAA reported that its infractions committee "concluded that the assistant football coach [Malin] initially suggested that the prospective student-athlete [Donaldson] should participate in academic fraud, actively assisted in the initial fraudulent ACT, had actual knowledge of the fraud in the second ACT and finally, had reason to know that the prospect, after enrolling at the university and becoming a student-athlete, was ineligible to compete by reason of the academic fraud."[8] Additionally, the NCAA also discovered rules violations regarding recruiting and tryouts dating back to 1995.[8] The NCAA also extended SMU's self-imposed restrictions on coaches' off-campus recruiting to the 2001 season and limited official visits for high school recruits to 38 for the 2001–02 school year.[8][10] Malin also was assessed a seven-year show-cause penalty.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 Due to NCAA sanctions, SMU had 4 regular season wins and 6 regular season losses vacated for the 1998 season. SMU's pre-sanctions record was 5–7 (4–4 WAC). The "official" record now is 1–1.
  2. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/19990218110149/http://www.smumustangs.com/football/assistants.asp
  3. ↑ http://www.pro-football-reference.com/schools/smu/drafted.htm
  4. ↑ Whitmire, Keith (August 7, 1999). "SMU suspends assistant". Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on November 19, 2001. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  5. ↑ Valadie, Josie. "Ex-SMU player says coach urged him to cheat on test". Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on January 6, 2002. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  6. ↑ "SMU dismisses coach, imposes sanctions after independent investigation of rules violations". Southern Methodist University. December 8, 1999. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  7. ↑ http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/southern-methodist/1998.html
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Southern Methodist University Public Infractions Report". NCAA. December 13, 2000. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Records and Results" (PDF). SMU Football 2005 Media Guide. p. 147. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  10. ↑ Cash, Rana (December 14, 2000). "NCAA slaps SMU with additional sanctions". Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on January 24, 2001. Retrieved May 30, 2014.

External links

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