ESPN

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.”

DALLAS -- SMU athletic director Steve Orsini put out a plea for Pony backers to support the football program as it heads into a fourth season under coach June Jones and seeks a third consecutive bowl game.

Orsini said Pony fever hasn't exactly caught fire. He described ticket sales for the 2011 season as "flat."

"It's time to rally the community," Orsini said. "The SMU community, the student body and the Dallas community because it is, we're there, we're knocking on the door, something they've wanted for 25 years, since the Death Penalty, so it's time we all rally."

SMU ranked 30th in the NCAA last season in largest average attendance increase, jumping from an average home attendance of 21,348 in 2009 to 23,515 in 2010. By comparison, TCU, which finished last season ranked No. 2 in the nation, was 16th in largest attendance increase, from 38,187 to 42,466. And, SMU was behind seven other Texas schools in the category.

The Mustangs open the season at No. 9 Texas A&M on Sept. 4 and play at No. 15 TCU on Oct. 1, so there a chances for SMU to drum up excitement outside of the more ho-hum Conference USA schedule. SMU opens the home schedule on Sept. 10 against UTEP. The rest of the home slate includes: Northwestern State, Central Florida, Tulane, Navy and Rice.

Orsini knows -- just as has been the case to the west at TCU -- continued success on the field -- translating to national rankings and higher profile bowl games -- is the best way to drive ticket sales.

"It's very important for our community, and all the things that are happening in college athletics today, the timing is just right," Orsini said, referencing renewed speculation of major conference realignment. "It's time for SMU to get back into the national landscape, to be relevant again. I believe we're accomplishing that and yet we still have a long way to go.

SMU coach June Jones is at the forefront of the program's turnaround, but the man who facilitated the hire, SMU all-time rushing leader Eric Dickerson, said athletic director Steve Orsini deserves significant credit for his genuine commitment to improving the football program, a quality that Dickerson said his predeccesors didn't always have.

SMU plays Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl at 7 p.m. today on ESPN. It is SMU's first bowl appearance in 25 years.

Dickerson said Orsini made serious inroads with former players, bringing them back into the program where many had felt ostracized.

Dickerson, a close friend of Jones', worked closely with Orisini to bring the former Hawaii coach to the Hilltop. Dickerson said he was first impressed with Orsini when the AD and basketball coach Matt Doherty called him to talk over a meal when the two were in Southern California, Dickerson's home. Dickerson said he was hesitant at first because he had been through this routine before with past ADs and nothing within the culture of the program ever changed.

"I give Steve a lot of credit. You have to as AD," Dickerson said. "Past ADs didn’t have the commitment. Orsini welcomed back alums. He has really stepped it up and that’s what it needs. It’s like he attended SMU. He loves the program and that's what you need."

Jones said past players have come back to visit throughout the season.

"A lot of people have been back, not only the last bowl team, but a lot of the guys from the late 80s and early 90s that were on the team," Jones said.