The only SMU quarterback to lead teams to consecutive top-five finishes, the guy who went 34-5-1 in his four seasons during the early ‘80s, has finished his...
“It’s a moving target. It’s crazy, I can’t see how it will be good,” Lance McIlhenny said, the words tumbling out as fast as the cole slaw is going in. “I don’t know enough. Boulevard Collective, I get it. But does everyone get paid? Walk-ons too? Are they one-year contracts, do players get paid if they go into the transfer portal?
The trouble, of course, is that SMU “played in that game” long before it was permissible. Before diving into Rangers and Cowboys and Stars games, the last college beat I covered was SMU in 1983. McIlhenny was a senior. The Pony Express of Eric Dickerson and Craig James had moved on the year before. But after finishing second and fifth in the final polls, the ‘83 Mustangs still managed a No. 12 final ranking as McIlhenny handed off and threw to freshmen and underclassmen.
“The next day — and only the next day — there were seven 100-dollar bills in my locker. I guess it was hush money,” McIlhenny said. “The only other thing that happened, I was betting on some pro football with a bookie, and I got upside down. I had a $1,200 problem. I talked to [the offensive coach], and a booster paid my debt. As soon as I graduated, I sent the booster a check for $1,200 but he mailed it back to me torn into pieces saying my debt was already paid.
My question is now that schools are essentially bragging about how much money they pay their players , should we view those Mustang Mania teams with a less-jaundiced eye? Sure, they were cheating and it went all the way to the Governor’s office as we know. But with the money that college athletics generates today, the prevailing attitude is to pay the players whatever they want. In 1982, Jackie Sherrill made history by going to Texas A&M for a shocking $280,000 per year package.
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