The SMU athletic department has raised $50 million from elite megadonors. University President Jay Hartzell says SMU will "accelerate our momentum".
SMU made a landmark fundraising announcement this week, saying the university has raised $50 million for its athletic department.
Eight megadonors have committed to loading up the Mustangs with as many resources as necessary in this new name, image and likeness (NIL) and revenue-sharing space within college athletics.
According to the Dallas Morning News, SMU has launched a collective called the Boulevard Society, where campus leaders expect another $50 million of funds could be raised by the end of the year.
The projection seems reasonable considering the "financial muscle" of SMU's alumni base, who believe the Mustangs can be equipped to succeed in the "professionalized" environment college athletics is evolving into.
University president Jay Hartzell, who previously served as president at the University of Texas during its initial boom in NIL, said he and the school are grateful for the opportunities these resources provide.
"SMU is rising, and this investment accelerates our ascent as an elite athletics program and will help propel our University," Hartzell said on X, formally Twitter.
"This $50M commitment accelerates our momentum. Grateful to Liz & Bill Armstrong, Carolyn & David Miller, Katy & Kyle Miller, and Mary & Rich Templeton for their support of our student-athletes. A powerful vote of confidence in SMU’s momentum!"
SMU athletic director, Damon Evans, said the donation was "transformative" and that it will "resonate around the country and send the message that we’re here to stay."
The Mustangs are in their second academic year in the ACC and despite finding success immediately in football, Evans acknowledged how the best-of-the-best programs end up needing to pay players more than the $20.5 million allotted for football in the modern revenue sharing model.
“We are going to do what is necessary within the rules to compete with anybody. We are not backing down," Evans said to Eric Prisbell and The News.
Just has he had at Texas, Hartzell maintains a strong emphasis on athletic and academic progress at SMU, and many campus leaders on The Hilltop look at Mustangs sports as a "chief marketing wing" of the university as a whole.
"We just can’t get to where we want to get to academically without a successful athletic program," Hartzell said.
"This gift, by propelling the athletic department and student-athletes forward,” he added, “is also going to do great things for the academic side of the house and the entire university."
This progress can be resembled in a similar turnaround across the state, where Texas Tech University in Lubbock saw rapid donations after a collective of billionaire donors banded together to make a push on the ground level of revenue sharing. It's guided the Red Raiders from being a middle-of-the-pack Big 12 team to conference champions in a little over two years.
SMU brass has a similar vision, and the donors' aggression underscores the Society's commitment to a future of contending.
"We’re going to play this game hard," said oil billionaire and chairman of the school's Board of Trustees, David Miller. "Whatever it takes, we’re going to play this game hard. ... We don’t talk about donor fatigue around here."
Evans added: "We’ve got our foot on the gas, but the pedal isn’t all the way down. Before it’s all said and done, that pedal is going to be full go, brother. We’ve got to go out and get dollars. And we’re going to do everything that we can to compete at the highest level."