As a Southern Methodist University alumna, it’s always a bitter pill to swallow when Texas Christian University wins the Battle of the Iron Skillet, the two schools’ longtime rivalry football game. Every now and then the Mustangs “fry the Frogs,” if for no other reason than to bump them down in the rankings.
This year, the deans of SMU’s Cox School of Business and TCU’s Neeley School of Business decided to turn up the volume on the annual tradition. The two entered into a wager. The terms? The dean whose school loses would have to don spirit items from the winning school. The items would be boxed up and sent by the winning dean himself.
Both deans prepared boxes, but of course just one of them prevailed. And the outcome didn’t come as a big shock to Cox School Dean Matthew Myers, who lost the wager Saturday when TCU defeated SMU 56-36. The Big 12’s TCU, after all, had entered the game ranked No. 20 nationally.
Regardless, the new Cox School dean, who’s just a month and a half into his job, backed the ponies wholeheartedly—and unfortunately, that also meant paying the price wholeheartedly.
“For better or for worse … congratulations to our Horned Frog friends at the Neeley School,” Myers wrote in a statement sent to D CEO, following up with a custom hashtag: “#waittillnextyearGoPonies!”
So today, for one day only, Myers is donning some TCU purple—though his pony pride isn’t the least bit bruised. SMU says the tentative date for next year’s Iron Skillet game is Sept. 8.
