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| SMU Mustangs | |
|---|---|
 | |
| University | Southern Methodist University |
| Conference | Atlantic Coast Conference |
| NCAA | Division I (FBS) |
| Athletic director | Damon Evans |
| Location | University Park, Texas |
| Varsity teams | 17 |
| Football stadium | Gerald J. Ford Stadium |
| Basketball arena | Moody Coliseum |
| Soccer stadium | Westcott Field |
| Mascot | Peruna |
| Nickname | Mustangs |
| Fight song | Peruna |
| Colors | Red and blue[1] |
| Website | smumustangs |
 | |
TheSMU Mustangs are theathletic teams that representSouthern Methodist University inUniversity Park, Texas, United States.[a] SMU was founded in 1911 and joined theSouthwest Conference, competing againstBaylor,Rice,Texas,Texas A&M,Arkansas and Oklahoma A&M (which later becameOklahoma State). They have been a member of theAtlantic Coast Conference (ACC) since 2024.
Thefootball team has participated in various bowl games, from theDixie Classic in 1924 to theFenway Bowl in 2023. Football alumni includeHeisman winnerDoak Walker, All-AmericanEric Dickerson, and two-time Super Bowl winnerForrest Gregg.
The Mustangs currently participate in theNCAA Division I (FBS forfootball) as a member of theACC. From 1918 to 1996, the Mustangs were a member of theSouthwest Conference, until it formally disbanded. The Mustangs subsequently joined theWestern Athletic Conference and in 2005, SMU accepted an invitation to the Western Division ofConference USA. They accepted an invitation to join theBig East Conference, whichsplit along football lines in 2013, with SMU and the other FBS schools reorganizing as theAmerican Athletic Conference. SMU was the only private school in the conference when itbegan operation as The American in 2013, but it was joined byTulane andTulsa a year later. The Mustangs left the conference on June 30, 2024 to join theAtlantic Coast Conference.
| Men's sports | Women's sports |
|---|---|
| Basketball | Basketball |
| Football | Cross country |
| Golf | Equestrian |
| Soccer | Golf |
| Swimming & Diving | Rowing |
| Tennis | Soccer |
| Swimming & diving | |
| Tennis | |
| Track and field† | |
| Volleyball | |
| † – includes both indoor and outdoor. | |
In 1935, SMU had a 12–1–0 record, scoring 288 points while giving up 39.[2] The Mustangs shut out eight of their 12 regular season opponents, including conference rivalsTexas,Rice,Baylor, andTexas A&M. The 1935 Mustangs were crowned national champions byFrank Dickinson,[3] one of seven contemporaneous selectors, all math systems, that chose five different national champions that year.[4]: 112–114 Dickinson was an economics professor at theUniversity of Illinois. SMU claims the 1935 national title without qualification, even though they lost the Rose Bowl, as theDickinson System was the first math system that was national in scope to select national champions.[4]
SMU claims three national championships in football, including 1981, when SMU was one of five teams selected as co-champions by theNational Championship Foundation, and 1982, when the team won the Cotton Bowl Classic and was selected as one of two co-champions by Bill Schroeder of theHelms Athletic Foundation as his last ever selection.[5] All told, the Mustangs have played in 21 bowl games, including one appearance in the Rose Bowl, four appearances in the Cotton Bowl Classic, and four straight bowl appearances following the Mustangs' 2009 resurgence in football.
| Season | Bowl Game | Opponent | W/L | PF | PA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1924 | Dixie Classic | West Virginia Wesleyan | L | 7 | 9 |
| 1935 | Rose Bowl | Stanford | L | 0 | 7 |
| 1947 | Cotton Bowl Classic | Penn State | T | 13 | 13 |
| 1948 | Cotton Bowl Classic | Oregon | W | 21 | 13 |
| 1963 | Sun Bowl | Oregon | L | 14 | 21 |
| 1966 | Cotton Bowl Classic | Georgia | L | 9 | 24 |
| 1968 | Bluebonnet Bowl | Oklahoma | W | 28 | 27 |
| 1980 | Holiday Bowl | BYU | L | 45 | 46 |
| 1982 | Cotton Bowl Classic | Pittsburgh | W | 7 | 3 |
| 1983 | Sun Bowl | Alabama | L | 7 | 28 |
| 1984 | Aloha Bowl | Notre Dame | W | 27 | 20 |
| 2009 | Hawaii Bowl | Nevada | W | 45 | 10 |
| 2010 | Armed Forces Bowl | Army | L | 14 | 16 |
| 2011 | BBVA Compass Bowl | Pittsburgh | W | 28 | 6 |
| 2012 | Hawaii Bowl | Fresno State | W | 43 | 10 |
| 2017 | Frisco Bowl | Louisiana Tech | L | 10 | 51 |
| 2019 | Boca Raton Bowl | Florida Atlantic | L | 28 | 52 |
| 2022 | New Mexico Bowl | BYU Cougars | L | 23 | 24 |
| 2023 | Fenway Bowl | Boston College Eagles | L | 14 | 23 |
| 2024 | CFP First Round[b] | Penn State Nittany Lions | L | 10 | 38 |
SMU once competed annually withRice University in football for theBattle for the Mayor's Cup. SMU now competes annually with theUniversity of North Texas although there is no trophy to commemorate the winner.
On February 25, 1987, the Infractions Committee of the NCAA voted unanimously to cancel SMU's entire 1987 football season and all four of SMU's scheduled home games in 1988 in spite of SMU's cooperation and recommended sanctions. On April 11, 1987, SMU formally canceled the 1988 season, in effect, self-imposing a death penalty for a second football season.[6]
The program was terminated for the 1987 season because the university was making approximately $61,000 in booster payments from 1985 to 1986. It later emerged that a "slush fund" had been used to pay players as early as the mid-1970s, and athletic officials had known about it as early as 1981.
SMU was eligible for this penalty because it had already been placed on probation less than five years prior to these violations – specifically, in 1985, for earlier recruiting violations. Since many players were poor, boosters would pay for rent or other bills for the parents of the athletes, and several key boosters and administration officials felt it would be unethical to cut off payments.[citation needed] When the sanctions were handed down, SMU had only three players – all seniors about to graduate – receiving payments.[citation needed]
Not long afterward, SMU announced that its football team would stay shuttered for the 1988 season as well after school officials received indications that they wouldn't have enough experienced players to field a viable team.[7] As it turned out, new coachForrest Gregg was left with an undersized and underweight lineup. It took the Mustang football program almost a decade to recover from the effects of the scandal, the team not returning to a bowl game until 2009 or winning a conference title until 2023. Since returning from the Death Penalty seasons, SMU has had six non-losing seasons, two of them .500 seasons.
In men's basketball, the Mustangs have one Final Four Appearance accompanied by 14 Southwest Conference Championships. In July 2016, SMU hiredTim Jankovich to lead the Mustangs. Tim Jankovich retired in 2022.[8]
The team has advanced to the postseason 12 times since 1993. SMU's women's basketball team hired CoachTravis Mays in 2016. In 2020-2021 the women's basketball team canceled the remainder of the season.[9] After 5 seasons Travis Mays contract was not renewed and his overall record was 53-76.[10]
They have won a total of twenty nine conference championships:
Years initalics both regular season and tournament champion.
The men's soccer team is a consistent national contender,[citation needed] including a recent trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2025, and time spent as one of the nations most consistent teams winning 29 combined conference titles.[11]
The men's golf team won the 1954NCAA Championship. In 2015,Bryson DeChambeau won the NCAA individual championship.
They have won nine conference championships:
In 2006,Golf Digest ranked the SMU men's golf program No. 16 in the nation. On May 1, 2007, SMU seniorColt Knost was named the Conference USA golfer of the year. He earned golfer of the week awards five times during his senior year, and can be recognized for shooting a record setting 64 for an amateur golfer.[citation needed] The 2015 team was given a postseason ban after multiple recruiting violations and unethical conduct under coach Josh Gregory. The decision also meant DeChambeau was unable to defend his title.
SMU's men's golf team was named the number 16 golf team in the nation by Golf Digest in 2006, and produced pro golferColt Knost.
In 1979Kyle O'Brien won theAIAW women's national intercollegiateindividual golf championship.
SMU men's swimming and diving was founded in 1932 in the former Southwest Conference. The men's and women's teams have acquired 57 conference titles combined, and have a total of 91 NCAA National Championship appearances. Six SMU swimmers/divers have been named NCAA swimmer/diver of the year. The Robson & Lindley Aquatic Center, the swimming and diving team's brand new Olympic sized pool, was built in 2017 to continue the legacy of successful swimming and diving at SMU.
After The American dropped men's swimming & diving at the end of the 2022–23 school year, SMU joined theAtlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) for that sport. The Mustangs will spend only the 2023–24 season in the ASUN, since the ACC sponsors swimming & diving for both sexes.
SMU women'srowing achieved a program-best fourth-place finish at the 2018American Athletic Conference championship under first year head coach Kim Cupini. The first varsity four won the program's first gold medal and the first varsity eight won bronze.[12] At the 2019 championship, the first varsity eight won gold, breaking University of Central Florida's long winning streak in the event.[13] At the 2019 American Athletic Conference championship, SMU medaled in every racing category from the V8 to the 3V8. The team finished in second place with 176 points, 4 points fbelow first place.
The Women's Equestrian Team at SMU competed under the United Equestrian Conference (UEC)[14] until 2019 and now compete under Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).[15] The Dallas Equestrian Center (DEC) is the official stables where the team practices and hosts meets.[16] SMU won the 2023 and 2024 NCEA National Championships.[17]
The SMU Spirit Teams are competitive teams consisting of 30 to 40 young men and women.[18] Many of the team's members compete at NCA and NDA College Nationals held in Daytona Beach, Florida, where the squads placed first in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2021 in division 1A. SMU Cheer and Pom Squads cheer at all home football games, bowl games, men's and women's home basketball games, and tournament play. Members of the SMU Cheer and Pom Squads participate in community service events around campus and the Dallas area.[19]
SMU discontinued several sports in 1980; the university's financial position led to budget cuts across the university, and the university's athletic department had become too big to support.[20]
Southern Methodist University fielded a varsity baseball team from 1919 until it wasdiscontinued after the 1980 season for financial reasons.[21][22] The Mustangs won the 1953 SWC baseball title.[23]
The SMU Board of Trustees on Friday approved an athletics committee recommendation to drop the school's successful men's track and field program, a move based on gender equity in 2004.[24]
SMU has competed in track and field since 1918, and has won three national championships. The Mustangs swept the NCAA indoor and outdoor titles in 1983, and won the 1986 outdoor title.
While it's been eight years since a national title, SMU finished in the top six at the NCAA indoor championships four of the past six seasons, and in the top 10 at the outdoor championships five of the past seven years.
The program produced 81 All-Americans and 28 Olympians, including Michael Carter, who won seven NCAA shotput titles before winning a silver medal in the 1984 Olympics.
The team will finish the 2004 season and the school will honor its 12 scholarships.
SMU has won four NCAA team national championships.[25]
SMU won the following national championships that are not bestowed by the NCAA. Football titles were chosen byNCAA-designated "major selectors" listed in its officialFootball Bowl Subdivision Records publication.[26] While equestrian does not have an official NCAA championship, the sport is recognized by the NCAA as part of itsEmerging Sports for Women program.
Peruna is the official mascot and fight song of theSouthern Methodist University (SMU)Mustangs, named afterPeruna, a popularpatent medicine (18 percent alcohol).[28] The name "Peruna" is given to each successive live mascot. The mascot debuted in 1932, and since then a blackShetland pony, Peruna, has been present at every SMU home football game except for one. The mascot team consists of costumed Human Peruna, the live animal Peruna, and Peruna handlers. The team attends all home football games and many community events. The costumed mascot is also referred to as "Peruna." Peruna was selected the #10 Best College Mascot by America's Best and Top Ten in 2009.[29]
The SMU football program has also produced other professional football standouts, such asDon Meredith,Kyle Rote,Jerry Ball,Craig James and more recentlyCole Beasley,Sterling Moore,Chris Banjo,Kenneth Acker andTaylor Thompson. They are considered the best football team back then when they were ranked number 1 in 1982.
In 1948, the Helms Athletic Foundation decided to name a national champion … and name past champions. The director of Helms since its beginning, Bill Schroeder, did the work, and he jokingly heads the committee that selects No. 1 after the bowl games. 'A committee of one – me,' he says.
It was SMU that won the V8, knocking off the Knights for the first time in five years.
And officials pulled the plug on it after the 1980 season, just the same, citing financial concerns.
The SMU Athletic Department told me that the baseball program was shut down for financial reasons.
The criteria for being included in this historical list of poll selectors is that the poll be national in scope, either through distribution in newspaper, television, radio and/or computer online. The list includes both former selectors, who were instrumental in the sport of college football, and selectors who were among the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) selectors.
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