SMU Mustangs
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 since 2024.
The football team has participated in various bowl games, from the Dixie Classic in 1924 to the Fenway Bowl in 2023. Football alumni include Heisman winner Doak Walker, All-American Eric Dickerson, and two-time Super Bowl winner Forrest Gregg.
Conference affiliations
Timeline history
The Mustangs currently participate in the NCAA Division I as a member of the ACC. From 1918 to 1996, the Mustangs were a member of the Southwest Conference, until it formally disbanded. The Mustangs subsequently joined the Western Athletic Conference and in 2005, SMU accepted an invitation to the Western Division of Conference USA. They accepted an invitation to join the Big East Conference, which split along football lines in 2013, with SMU and the other FBS schools reorganizing as the American Athletic Conference. SMU was the only private school in the conference when it began operation as the American in 2013, but it was joined by Tulane and Tulsa a year later. The Mustangs left the conference on June 30, 2024 to join the Atlantic Coast Conference.NCAA timeline
- Southwest Conference
- Western Athletic Conference
- Conference USA
- American Athletic Conference
- Atlantic Coast Conference
Varsity sports
Football
National titles
In 1935, SMU had a 12–1–0 record, scoring 288 points while giving up 39. The Mustangs shut out eight of their 12 regular season opponents, including conference rivals Texas, Rice, Baylor, and Texas A&M. The 1935 Mustangs were crowned national champions by Frank Dickinson, one of seven contemporaneous selectors, all math systems, that chose five different national champions that year. Dickinson was an economics professor at the University of Illinois. SMU claims the 1935 national title without qualification, even though they lost the Rose Bowl, as the Dickinson System was the first math system that was national in scope to select national champions.SMU claims three national championships in football, including 1981, when SMU was one of five teams selected as co-champions by the National 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 the Helms Athletic Foundation as his last ever selection. 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.
Southwest Conference Championships
- 1923
- 1926
- 1931
- 1935
- 1947
- 1948
- 1966
- 1981
- 1982
- 1984
American Athletic Conference Championships
- 2023
Bowl appearances and results
| 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 | Penn State Nittany Lions | L | 10 | 38 |
- SMU's closest rival in athletics is Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. In football, SMU and TCU compete annually for the Iron Skillet. In 2005, an unranked SMU beat then 24th ranked TCU for SMU's first win against a ranked team in 19 years. TCU had won the previous seven football games played against SMU.
- SMU competes with the United States Naval Academy for the Gansz Trophy. The Gansz Trophy is awarded to the winner of the United States Naval Academy and Southern Methodist University football game. It was created in 2009 through a collaboration between the two athletic departments. The trophy is named for Frank Gansz, who played linebacker at Navy from 1957 through 1959. Gansz later served as the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs and on the coaching staffs at Navy and SMU.
- The Doak Walker Award, an annual collegiate award given to the "most outstanding college running back", is named after SMU Heisman Trophy Winner Doak Walker.
- On November 11, 2006, redshirt freshman quarterback Justin Willis broke the single season touchdown pass record held by Chuck Hixson. Willis threw for three touchdowns in a 37–27 loss to Houston, setting the new single season record at 23. At the end of the season, Willis set the new record at 26. He also broke the SMU single season touchdown record accounting for 29 touchdowns. He was named to the Freshman All-American team at quarterback.
- SMU's current head coach is Rhett Lashlee, who was hired after the 2022 season after having been offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Miami. He had previously served as an assistant at several college programs, including a two-season stint as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at SMU from 2018–2019.
The "death penalty"
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. When the sanctions were handed down, SMU had only three players – all seniors about to graduate – receiving payments.
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. As it turned out, new coach Forrest 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.
Basketball
In men's basketball, the Mustangs have one Final Four Appearance accompanied by 14 Southwest Conference Championships. In July 2016, SMU hired Tim Jankovich to lead the Mustangs. Tim Jankovich retired in 2022.The team has advanced to the postseason 12 times since 1993. SMU's women's basketball team hired Coach Travis Mays in 2016. In 2020-2021 the women's basketball team canceled the remainder of the season. After 5 seasons Travis Mays contract was not renewed and his overall record was 53-76.
Soccer
They have won a total of twenty nine conference championships:- Southwest Conference : 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982
- Western Athletic Conference : 1997, 1998, 1999
- Missouri Valley Conference : 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
- Conference USA : 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012
- American Athletic Conference : 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023
- Atlantic Coast Conference : 2025
The men's soccer team is a consistent national contender, 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.
- During the 2006 season, the SMU men's soccer program was ranked No. 1 in the nation for four consecutive weeks. The team sat atop the four national polls with a record of 13–0–2 in the Adidas/NSCA poll, SoccerTimes.com poll, Soccer America Magazine poll, and the CollegeSoccerNews.com poll. Concurrently, the SMU women's soccer program cracked the top 25, at No. 22 in the Adidas/NSCA poll and No. 19 in the SoccerTimes.com poll.
- The SMU men's soccer team finished the 2006 regular season ranked No. 2 in the nation. Additionally, SMU won the CUSA title game, beating Kentucky 2–0 in Tulsa. This CUSA championship win is the sixth conference title for SMU since 1997.
- The SMU men's soccer team finished the 2010 season with an overall record of 16–2–2. The Mustangs finished the season with a trip to the quarterfinals where they lost to North Carolina in a penalty kick shootout.
- From 2013 to 2024, SMU won a total of 8 conference titles as a member of the American Athletic Conference.
- In 2025, SMU secured their first Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title defeating Virginia 1-0.