SMU AD Rick Hart cites 'persistence' to get back to 'highest level of college athletics'

SMU made history this week when the school officially joined the ACC, getting into Power Four football and athletics beginning with the 2024-25 season.

You have to go back almost four decades when SMU was given the death penalty for the football program. Since then, it’s been a long journey according to athletic director Rick Hart.

But SMU joining the ACC was a day of celebration for what could be a prosperous future.

“You know, it’s hard to articulate because it’s one thing to kind of get called up, if you will, as we have with the ACC,” Hart said on Sirius XM’s College Sports Radio. “But to have been on this journey, and I haven’t been here the whole time, 37 years, you know, to be the only school ever, only program ever to get the death penalty. 

“And then to have to come back from that. It just shows the persistence, the perseverance, the investments to believe that, you know, the Mustang nation, the leadership, the alumni, the donors have had to get us to this point and put us in a position where we can now say, we’re back at the highest level of college athletics. We’re a member of what I think is the best conference in the country, the ACC.”

SMU back near top of college athletics

At the forefront is the football team, led by head coach Rhett Lashlee. He led SMU for two years in the American Athletic Conference, going 18-9 in two seasons.

Heck, SMU won the conference in its final year before the ACC, going 11-3. Safe to say, with ACC money, facilities and expectations, the Mustang football program has a better chance to return to prominence.

“I’ve been in this league before,” Lashlee said on ACC PM on ACCN. “We knew what to expect and started preparing for that.

“This is special when you think of our fan base and what they went through for 29 years. SMU was in a top conference. The SWC is as good as any conference in the country. They were at the top then.”

SMU’s basketball program underwent some change with new head coach Andy Enfield, who comes over from USC. While USC went to the Big Ten, SMU will be ingrained in ACC basketball with the likes of Duke, North Carolina, Syracuse and more.

A new era of Mustang athletics is upon us in what should make for entertaining matchups featuring SMU in the ACC.