New SMU AD Damon Evans will try to build on momentum program hasn’t seen in decades

DALLAS — New SMU athletic director Damon Evans is taking over a department enjoying momentum it hasn’t seen in decades after the Mustangs exceeded expectations in their first year in the Atlantic Coast Conference. “And what I mean by that, they had, some might say, the audacity to go out and say, ‘We need to find a power conference, and do everything we can to be in that conference.’ And I saw that.” The Mustangs spent almost 30 years in conference purgatory when the Southwest Conference disbanded in 1996 after four Texas schools were part of the formation of the Big 12. Men’s basketball coach Andy Enfield said SMU’s entry into the ACC was one of the biggest reasons he chose to leave Southern California to join the Mustangs. “When I saw the news that he was coming to SMU, I said, ‘Wow they’re really going after someone special,’” Evans said, addressing Hartzell directly.