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SMU announced Monday it has hired veteran Bob Palcic as offensive line coach.

Palcic, who broke into coaching in the 1970s, spent the previous four seasons as UCLA's associate head coach for offense and offensive line coach.

Palcic has held multiple college and NFL coaching positions. Three players won the Outland Trophy while being coached by Palcic: Wisconsin's Joe Thomas and Gabe Carimi and UCLA's Jonathan Ogden.

SMU coach June Jones and Palcic have worked together before. Palcic was offensive line coach under Jones for the Atlanta Falcons in 1994-96.

DALLAS – In front of alumni, students, faculty and coaches at the Hughes-Trigg Student Center on Thursday, school president R. Gerald Turner announced that SMU has officially reached a level of national prominence that the university hasn’t seen since the days of the Southwest Conference.

At the celebration event for alumni and students, Turner announced that SMU will officially become a member of the Big East conference in all sports on July 1, 2013.

In attendance at the event, alongside Turner, was Big East commissioner John Marinatto, who personally accepted SMU into the Big East fold. Marinatto was greeted with an SMU football helmet, presented by the student body president.

The prize of this Mustangs victory, on the surface, is the chance to sit at the big boys' table in football with a BCS automatic qualifying bid opportunity through a Big East championship.

However, the treasure in SMU’s big move east is the financial gains the university will see in conference TV revenues and bowl payouts. That money will help resurrect aspects of the Mustangs' athletic department that had been downsized or eliminated due to budget cuts and financial problems faced as a mid-major school in Conference USA.

With a fatter pocketbook, SMU will make it a top priority to reestablish a marketing department within athletics to hopefully raise attendance at home events, athletic director Steve Orsini said.

Since the days of the football team's death penalty, SMU has managed to get by with little or no marketing effort that was specific to athletics. The Big East transition will not only allow SMU to make a national presence in college athletics, it will allow the school to be much more visible in its hometown.

Orsini said SMU is already beginning the planning phases of establishing a marketing department so it will be fully functional by July 2013, when the school will begin receiving its raised allowance.

“Even though it’s about 18 months until our first official day in the Big East, now is the time to start planning it because it will take a redesign, so to speak, a reallocation of our resources, plus just allocation of extra resources that we never had before," Orsini said. "Surely marketing, to meet our number one objective, which is increasing the attendance of every athletic event we have.”

SMU hopes the marketing push will add to the football attendance rise that has occurred with June Jones at the helm.

SMU averaged 23,515 at 2010 home football games, 2,167 more than the previous year. That increase was 30^th in the nation, according to the NCAA. That still doesn’t explain a half-empty stadium for most contests at Ford Stadium.

“We haven’t really sat down, but right now in the priority of things, but marketing, increasing attendance - that would be priority one,” Orsini said. “I think by marketing ourselves more, by having more success, we’ll generate even more resources, more sponsorship sales, more fundraising, more ticket sales, etc.”

Once SMU can scratch off the top item on its to-do list, it then has several options for which it can use the remainder of its Big East payout, if the school decides to put the money back into athletics.

One possibility that Orsini mentioned is the creation of new sports programs. He said baseball, softball, lacrosse and men’s track could be in the debate.

SMU’s tradition in baseball spans back to the second year of the university in 1916. SMU fans could watch Dallas’ boys of summer at Reverchon Park, a few miles away from campus, headed by several big names, including Dallas coaching legend Steve Adair. The team was disbanded in 1980 for financial reasons.

SMU never had a lacrosse program, but it might be a good fit now.

“Lacrosse, as you know, is growing here, and the Big East represents the footprint of the best lacrosse in America,” Orsini said. “Those are all things we’ll discuss and see at the presidential level here.”

Lacrosse is big on the East Coast but in its infancy in Texas. It's not recognized as a varsity sport by the UIL, but high schools have formed club teams that compete throughout the state. Squads from Coppell and Dallas St. Mark's, schools just miles from SMU’s campus, have been nationally ranked.

Looking at the big picture, SMU’s move to the Big East represents movement toward a point where the school shares equal emphasis and success in both academics and athletics, Orsini said.

“I think we’re getting close to that balance now,” Orsini said. “We want both. We want excellence in academics and athletics. We’re here now, but we aren’t winning. Now we want to win. This is an example of winning because now we’re at the highest level, the field of competition for me as an administrator is level again.”

Jason Phillips, who had been Houston's offensive coordinator, is joining SMU's coaching staff.

"His receivers and the offenses that he has been a part of in his coaching career have been some of the best in the country and I'm excited to have him join our staff," SMU coach June Jones said in a release. "He knows our offense from having played in it and I look forward to his input into what we do, along with what he brings to us from the offenses that he has been associated with in his coaching career. He has recruited Texas for close to 10 years, so he will have an impact there as well."

Phillips, who also served as Houston's wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator, was drafted by the Detroit Lions in 1989 when Jones was an assistant coach. Phillips played six NFL seasons, including another stint under Jones when he was offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons.

With Phillips calling plays, Houston's prolific offense led the nation last year with 599 yards per game, the second highest average in Division I FBS history.

In the last four seasons under Phillips, Houston receivers posted individual 1,000 seasons seven times. Phillips' guidance helped quarterback Case Keenum become the NCAA career leader in passing yards, touchdowns and completions.

Pitt (6-6) and SMU (7-5) will play for the first time in 29 years when they meet in the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham, Ala, on Saturday. The Panthers and Mustangs last met on Jan. 1, 1983 in the Cotton Bowl. The SMU "Pony Express" backfield of Eric Dickerson and Craig James beat the Dan Marino-led Panthers 7-3.

The Panthers will try to give the Big East a 4-1 bowl record for the season.

WHO TO WATCH: Pitt quarterback Tino Sunseri. It is hard to imagine any quarterback in the country taking as much criticism, and as many shots as he has this season. He was sacked more than 50 times, and former coach Todd Graham essentially blamed him for not making his "high-octane" offense work. Through it all, Sunseri took the high road, kept his head up and kept playing. Say what you will about his football season -- he deserves credit for taking the hits while trying to remain a leader for this football team. Interim coach Keith Patterson said this week tha the offense would slow down a bit to emphasize what Sunseri does best. That would be running the football. Zach Brown (bruised sternum) is most likely out, so the load will fall once again to freshman Isaac Bennett.

WHAT TO WATCH: Pittsburgh defense against SMU offense. The Mustangs have the potential to put up points in a hurry, but the key is being able to limit the pass game. More emphasis will be placed on that with leading rusher Zach Line out for this game. This is really all you need to know about how SMU does when it scores: The Mustangs are 7-0 this season when scoring first and 7-0 when scoring 21-plus points. Slowing down receiver Darius Johnson will be the biggest key. Johnson has five 100-yard games this season, and three games with 10 or more catches.

WHY TO WATCH: This could have been a future Big East game, but alas, Pitt is headed to the ACC when SMU joins up with the Big East. Either way, June Jones has done a remarkable job in turning around the Mustangs, though they probably fell a little short of expectations this season. SMU is playing in its third straight bowl game -- tying a school record. When his offenses are on, they are fun to watch.

PREDICTION: Pitt 28, SMU 17. From my predictions post a few weeks ago: Pitt has to do what has worked best this season -- establish the run and let Sunseri manage the game. The defense has been much improved in the second half of the season, and SMU has struggled to put up points of late. The Mustangs also will be without leading rusher Line, who played a big role in the offense. If the Panthers can continue to get after the quarterback and play well in the secondary, they should be able to win this game.

The College Football Live crew discusses how June Jones can sell SMU recruits and fans that he is committed to staying with the Mustangs after he nearly took the job at Arizona State.

If June Jones is heading to Arizona State, as sources have said, there's something inherently wrong about the SMU coach abandoning his players and the school on the day the Mustangs are supposed to announce they'll be joining the Big East at 4 p.m.

(Eds note: As of 3:30 p.m. CT, the June Jones-to-Arizona State negotiations have hit a contractual snag and are not complete, a source close to the negotiations told ESPN.com's Joe Schad.)

This is supposed to be a great day for SMU with its return to a big-time football conference -- at least it hopes so -- and some degree of national relevance.

Instead, Jones' decision to leave for Arizona State makes SMU a laughingstock.

Again.

But for every SMU fan and alum who's salty at Jones for leaving, they should at least thank him for resurrecting the program. Jones is 23-28 in four seasons at SMU while leading the Mustangs to three consecutive bowl games.

Remember, this program was in disarray when he arrived.

But he couldn't get it over the hump, and it became clear that Jones became disenchanted with the fan support. Only about 14,000 showed for the Mustangs' final home game against Rice.

SMU, though, missed a chance to capitalize on its momentum from upsetting TCU, when it was blown out by Southern Mississippi (27-3) and Tulsa (38-7) on consecutive weeks. SMU lost four of five after beating TCU, the signature win Jones had been searching for.

It's rarely tidy when a coach leaves.

They either lie. Or go underground, so they don’t have to lie.

A couple of days ago, Jones reportedly told his staff that he was happy at SMU and wasn't leaving. Apparently, something changed.

That won't make transfer quarterback Garrett Gilbert feel any better. He transferred from Texas after getting benched because he wanted to play in prolific passing offense that would help prepare him for the NFL.

Now he has no idea what offense the next coach will run.

SMU MUSTANGS

Record: 7-5, 5-3 C-USA

The season appeared as if it would be an improvement over 2010, when the Mustangs won the West Division and played in the Conference USA championship game. They got off to a 5-1 start, including a huge 40-33 overtime win over cross-town rival TCU, their first win over a ranked team since the 1980s. SMU also avenged a loss to UCF -- which beat the Mustangs in the C-USA title game a year ago.

But then things began to fall apart for an offense that is known for its high scoring. J.J. McDermott, who replaced Kyle Padron in the season opener, started to struggle and the Mustangs ended up losing four of their final six games. In three of those losses, SMU scored a touchdown or less, unheard of for a June Jones run 'n' shoot offense. SMU squeaked out a 27-24 win over Rice to get to seven wins in the regular season for the second straight year. But SMU was unable to beat Tulsa and Houston this year, its top competition in the West.

Still, getting to a third straight bowl game tied the school record for consecutive bowl appearances. For a program ravaged by the death penalty, that is a huge measure of how far this program has come.

Offensive MVP: Zach Line, RB. Line led Conference USA in rushing for the second straight season with 1,224 yards and scored a league-best 17 touchdowns in just 10 games before suffering a season-ending foot injury. Still, he made the C-USA first team and was dependable all season long for an offense that struggled at times.

Defensive MVP: Taylor Thompson, DE. The Mustangs got a lot of clutch performances on defense, but Thompson was a C-USA first-team selection after leading the team with seven sacks and six forced fumbles -- that tied him for No. 3 in the nation.

Turning point: A 27-3 loss to Southern Miss. SMU only had 330 yards and 14 first downs in the loss, which started the slide at the end of the season. The Mustangs had opportunities in the second half, driving into Southern Miss territory twice, but they came away with no points. They also had nine penalties and were 4-of-13 on third downs.

What’s next: SMU plays Pitt in the BBVA Compass Bowl, and then it is off to prepare for a new conference home, as the Mustangs are reportedly set to join the Big East for 2013. Coach June Jones has been mentioned as a candidate at several openings, but has reportedly assured his staff he is staying. For how long is always a question that has surrounded him everywhere he has gone.

Former Texas quarterback Garrett Gilbert has told officials at SMU that he intends to enroll there, a source told ESPN's Joe Schad on Tuesday.

Gilbert visited campus earlier this season, and the Dallas university is about three hours north of Gilbert's hometown of Austin.

Gilbert lost his starting job after two games with Texas this season and then had season-ending shoulder surgery.

Gilbert was given an unconditional release from his scholarship to find another school.

His struggles last year were pretty public, but SMU seems like a nice place to start over. It just never worked out at Texas for Gilbert.

It's hard not to feel bad for the guy who left the field to boos for the last time he played at Texas against BYU, but look for him to make the most of any new opportunities.

He's a smart guy with a lot of physical ability. He just has to find a way to turn it into on-field production.

SMU coach June Jones would be near the top of the list of guys who could bring it out.

DALLAS -- SMU is one victory shy of being bowl eligible. With six games remaining in the season, the Mustangs are in good shape.

Coach June Jones sees a team coming together, with the latest evidence being Saturday's 38-17 victory over Central Florida. The Mustangs are 5-1 overall and lead the Conference USA West Division at 3-0.

"I'm really pleased with the chemistry of this team," Jones said. "The guys made a commitment at the start of the season … to honor something higher than anything else, and the chemistry is working. We've had some really neat things happen to this team internally that excite me as a team, and the guys are really coming together and bonding. And that's what you've got to do.

"We've got a tough road, even though we're 5-1. It just gets harder from here. The chemistry is the reason we'll still hang together and have a chance to go to a bowl."

SMU's five-game winning streak is the team's longest since 1997. The Mustangs are 12-3 in their last 15 home games.

Jones didn't even let the attendance, or lack of, bring him down. A crowd of 22,932 was announced, but 32,000-seat Ford Stadium appeared to be less than half full on a pleasant afternoon.

"The crowd that was there seemed like they were really loud and into the game," Jones said. "We have had a situation because of where we've been for 25 years where we're still going to take time to build that back. It's a unique place and a great situation, and the potential is all ahead."

DALLAS -- June Jones welcomed a new member to his coaching staff Saturday afternoon. Luckily, it wasn't a school night.

Kelan Lawson, an 11-year-old student at Curtsinger Elementary in Frisco, joined SMU's staff for the Mustangs' 38-17 win over Central Florida at Ford Stadium.

Lawson loves football and his dream is to one day step into Jones' shoes as head coach of the Mustangs. Lawson has cerebral palsy.

Jones was introduced to Lawson through a report on WFAA, which asked the SMU coach if the youngster could join him on the sidelines for a game. Jones immediately agreed.

Jones felt a bond to Lawson that went back to his time coaching at Hawaii. One of Jones' graduate assistants then was Brian Kajiyama, who also has cerebral palsy.

Lawson saw an ESPN profile on Kajiyama and would go on to befriend him. Lawson spoke to the Mustangs on Thursday, which is when Jones learned that the preteen assistant also knew Kajiyama.

"We go out there and play the game, but it's really about those types of things," Jones said. "I don't even remember the [start of the game], but I'm not going to forget that little kid."

If there were doubts about the direction of the SMU offense prior to Saturday's showdown with TCU, senior quarterback J.J. McDermott and co., might have eased any concerns.

The Mustangs seem to be finding their stride and although McDermott has critics as not being the most accurate of passers, he now ranks 16th in the nation in passing yards a game at 296.4. He has completed 109 of 189 attempts for 1,482 yards, eighth-most in the nation. Coach June Jones would like to see his 57.7-percent completion rate rise, but remember McDermott was the backup starting the season.

In the 40-33 overtime win at TCU, McDermott was 23-of-45 for 349 yards. Many of his incompletions came on multiple attempts to beat TCU on deep routes. He had one interception, a poorly thrown ball, but he hit for four touchdowns, including a strike for the game-winner in overtime.

"If you ever want to be a great team," Jones said, "you’d better be able to execute, throw the ball deep and make plays in these kinds of games."

It was the third consecutive game the Ponies scored at least 40 points. The first two against Northwestern State and Memphis could be looked at with some measure of wait-and-see, but to do it against TCU, even with its struggling defense, lends a different level of credibility.

McDermott certainly seems capable of improving his throwing percentage as he gets to know a talented corps of receivers better. Even missing top target Cole Beasley Saturday, the Ponies had three receivers with 69 yards or more, led by exciting junior Darius Johnson, who put up his third consecutive 100-yard game with 12 catches for 152 yards and two touchdowns. On Monday, he was named the Conference USA Player of the Week.

Sophomore Jeremy Johnson, playing in place of Beasley, had six receptions for 69 yards and the touchdown grab in overtime. Terrance Wilkerson had three catches for 97 yards and a TD, showing his speed on a deep route for a 71-yard touchdown in the first quarter.

Darius Johnson is tied for 18th nationally in receiving yards per game at 110.0. He's 13th in receptions with 39 for 550 yards, and Beasley, in just four games, is 14th with 31 catches for 376 yards.

The SMU offense, which was being overshadowed by the an improving defense, ranks 29th in total offense (449.4 yards a game) and 15th in passing offense (326.8). Jones' run-and-shoot offense gets exactly what it needs on the ground from tough tailback Zach Line, who rushed for 120 yards against TCU and is averaging 116.6 yards a game with 11 touchdowns in five games.

If there is one area of the TCU defense that has struggled more than the rest, it has been against the pass.

There were glaring problems in the season opener against Baylor, in which the Bears had five touchdown passes of 25 yards or more. A lot of those came against one-on-one coverage, as the Horned Frogs seemed helpless to stop balls that were simply being thrown over their heads.

PODCAST
SMU head coach June Jones talks about the upcoming game against TCU, conference realignment, and much more with Ian Fitzsimmons. Listen

Since then, TCU has not faced as big a test through the air. But that changes Saturday against SMU in the Battle for the Iron Skillet. The Mustangs are No. 15 in the nation in passing under June Jones, the run 'n' shoot master.

They have not really lost a beat with J.J. McDermott at quarterback, either. McDermott relieved an ineffective Kyle Padron in the season opener against Texas A&M and has thrown for 1,133 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions.

Coach Gary Patterson knows what to expect out of this offense. So does his defense. He says his players are doing better against the pass.

"We gave up one long pass against Monroe; last week didn't give one up," he said. "We just have to keep getting better."

Indeed, of the nine passing touchdowns TCU has given up this season, eight have been of 20-plus yards. Consider TCU allowed just five passing touchdowns of 20-plus yards in all of 2011. There are new faces starting in the secondary, so they have needed time to get adjusted.

Also, Patterson said last week veteran cornerback Greg McCoy was not playing to the level he played at in the Rose Bowl, having given up three touchdown passes already this season. He wanted his team to get into sync, and play with confidence.

How does does a win over FCS Portland State do that? That remains to be seen. SMU gave TCU a challenge in the first half last season, taking a 14-10 lead into halftime. Zach Line had a monster game with 139 yards and one touchdown and an average of 8.2 yards a run.

Line is back, and already has 11 touchdown runs this season -- second in the nation behind Bernard Pierce of Temple. Though the Mustangs love to throw, Line has been a huge presence in the run game the last two seasons. He ranks No. 14 in the nation in rushing.

But what could hurt SMU is the potential loss of top receiver Cole Beasley, who has an injured right knee. Jones hasn't said whether Beasley will play. If he can't go, that would be a big blow for an SMU offense that is doing a better job of getting big plays in the pass game.

Beasley leads the team with 31 receptions for 376 yards. He and Darius Johnson have been the top two targets, combining for 58 of the team's 95 receptions.

On throwing the ball deep, Jones said, "I think we’re better than we were last year at this point. We’re making more throws up top and down the field. We still missed a few in the first three games, but last week we made a couple good throws so we’ll just hope that we keep getting better each week."

Given what Baylor did to TCU, you can bet SMU will try to follow the same game plan.

During the first half of last week's SMU blowout of Memphis, Mustangs wide receiver Cole Beasley was all over the field, catching and running and slipping by defenders as SMU jumped out to a quick start.

After three catches for 50 yards, the speedy and dependable Beasley went down in the second quarter with a knee injury. He hasn't practiced this week and on Tuesday he was dragging around a right leg encased in a big blue brace. Coach June Jones was waiting on MRI results and didn't pronounce the team's leading receiver (31 catches, 376 yards) out for Saturday's Battle of the Iron Skillet at No. 20 TCU, but it certainly doesn't look good.

An SMU team that is monitoring several injuries and with quarterback J.J. McDermott's leading target on the sideline does not bode well against a Horned Frogs defense that has been dinged some, especially in the secondary, but has shown improvement since the 50-48 loss at Baylor in the season-opener.

How will the Mustangs cope?

"Next pony up," running back Zach Line said.

That's the hope. Darius Johnson is the second-leading receiver with 27 catches for a team-high 398 yards. He has half of SMU's four receiving touchdowns on the season, a low total for a Jones-coached offense. Terrance Wilkerson is next and he is the only other receiver with double-digit receptions. He has 13 catches for 183 yards. Sophomore Jeremy Johnson (four catches, 33 yards) and Bradley Haynes (one catch, 2 yards), would be next ponies up, so to speak.

It could mean more reliance on Line, the punishing, 230-pound junior tailback that is averaging 115.8 yards a game and went for 139 on 8.2 yards a carry a year ago against the Frogs.

"We better player our best game this week. This is the best defense that we'll play this season," Jones said. "Baylor made a lot of plays, a lot of one-on-one just big play. We're going to have to make our plays when we can and just be efficient offensively because they do a great job on defense."

SMU coach June Jones said Tuesday that senior J.J. McDermott will start at quarterback against UTEP on Saturday.

Jones said junior Kyle Padron will play in the game but that McDermott, a transfer from New Mexico State, will get the start after evaulating both quarterbacks during the Texas A&M loss Sunday.

Padron started the game by throwing two interceptions in his first four passes as SMU fell behind early. McDermott came in for the third series and played the rest of the game. He threw a 27-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter as the Mustangs got as close as 20-14 before A&M went on to a 46-14 win.

Jones never did re-insert Padron in the game.

"He was playing pretty well," Jones said of McDermott. "I thought I was going to put Kyle [Padron] back in the game, but I wanted him to gather himself, and it looked like it was the right decision."

Padron had 3,828 yards and 31 touchdowns in setting an SMU record in 2010. But he also had some key turnovers late in the season. Jones said he told Padron he just has to play his way out of his struggles and he said that Padron has handled the change well this week.

"Every quarterback goes through that," Jones told the media on Tuesday. "You just have to have no conscience. Jim Kelly threw five picks in the first half and then three five touchdowns in the second half. That’s just what you have to do. If you’re going to play that position, then you have to deal with it."

Saturday's game with UTEP starts at 6 p.m. at Ford Stadium.