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

Home » Washington, DC Sports » New SMU AD Damon… DALLAS (AP) — 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.The football team didn’t lose an ACC regular-season game and qualified for the first expanded, 12-team playoff. The men’s basketball team flirted with an NCAA Tournament bid before settling for the NIT and reaching the second round.Evans is taking over for Rick Hart, who led SMU’s conference renaissance late in his 13-year tenure as AD. Now it’s Evans’ turn after seven years in the top job at Maryland and a previous stint running Georgia’s athletic department.“The powers that be here went big-game hunting,” Evans said at his introductory news conference Thursday. “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 con...