Reasons why SMU should bring back Baseball

SMU has not had a baseball team since the start of the 80s, and there are reasons why the Mustangs should bring back their baseball program.

The SMU Mustangs students and fans. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

A look at why and how SMU can restart their baseball program.

From 1919 to 1980, SMU had a varsity baseball team. The program lasted more than 60 years and produced eight Major League Baseball players. However, the baseball program shut down after the 1980 season because of Title IX rules/restrictions and a lack of support for financial funds.

SMU joined the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) at the start of the 2024–2025 athletic year, prompting students and alumni to talk more and more about restarting the baseball program. On the other hand, the real reason is a complicated mix of past issues, money issues, and government rules and regulations, such as Title IX.

"How, Why, and Is It Realistic?" That is the question, and we will do our best to give answers to the question of why SMU baseball should be reinstated as a varsity sport.

Most people who follow collegiate athletics may think that the famous "Death Penalty" in football in 1987 had a direct effect on baseball, but that's not true. In fact, SMU got rid of its baseball program in 1980, seven years earlier than that. Several reasons led to the decision to discontinue the baseball program.

The baseball program never received much money or big financial donations from donors and alumni, and it was always at the bottom of the Southwest Conference in the late 1970s. From 1973 to 1980, they had a losing record, and from 1960 to 1980, they only had two winning seasons over a two-decade span of time. The school chose to spend more money on football and basketball than to continue funding the baseball program.

Would enough Mustang fans want to bring back the baseball program, or are the obstacles too great and interest too low for it to happen soon? In the 1970s at SMU, the football program struggled, having five straight losing seasons from '75 to '79, which prompted the athletic department to focus most of its support and financial backing on getting the football program back to a winning culture, as fans wanted and supported, but that meant that other sports like baseball would be eliminated as the money for the baseball program would be redirected to financially support it's football program.

If SMU wished to revive its baseball program, it would face a multitude of challenges. They would also have to follow Title IX rules in order for it to happen, too. This is the key to how the baseball program can restart at SMU. Federal law says that colleges and universities must give men and women the same sports opportunities. If SMU adds about 35 spots to the baseball team for men, they will need to add one or two more sports for women, like gymnastics or softball, to keep the numbers even in terms of scholarships, for example. One way of doing this is to have varsity baseball and softball at SMU to be in compliance with Title IX rules and regulations.

SMU is located in Dallas, Texas, with its 237-acre campus situated just five miles north of downtown. Currently, they don't have a baseball field, and to revamp the baseball program, they would have to either buy/build a new field or use another team's baseball field for home games. This situation could be a big reason why the baseball team doesn't start up again. You could find a long-term partner "off-campus" at a minor league park nearby or at the old Texas Rangers field in Arlington. However, building a new baseball stadium and field would be the best option, but that would cost a considerable amount of money.

The ACC is one of the best baseball leagues in all of college baseball, with three teams currently ranked in the top six and five ranked in the top 25, and SMU is now a member of the ACC, where baseball is prioritized. A comparable situation is why Maryland doesn't have a hockey team, even though they are in the Big Ten. Schools like Georgia Tech, Florida State, and UNC are thriving in baseball, so there is growing pressure to put together a team that can play with those schools in baseball.

3 in the top 6 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/KGK1On5Oq2

— ACC Baseball (@ACCBaseball) April 6, 2026

Is it really something that SMU fans can get excited about? It's more likely now than it was ten years ago, but it's still not likely to happen soon. A "mega-donor" must step up and pay for a baseball and softball complex for it to happen. For a long time, SMU, along with Syracuse, has been one of the only schools in the ACC without a baseball team. If SMU doesn't come up with a plan for a new field and a way to make the Title IX scales fair, having a baseball team is more of a wish than a reality. Currently, the focus is on helping the football and basketball teams secure championships in the ACC.

Only time will reveal whether SMU is genuinely committed to reinstating baseball and establishing a softball program. However, there is growing momentum and reasons why it is a possibility that it may happen.

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