The Laboratory of the Study of Intercollegiate Athletics recently released their latest research from the 2008-2009 school year, ranking SMU as the 10th most economically efficient athletic department in the nation.

“As a businessman, I see this as a very high return on investment: one of which our faculty, staff, students, and donors can be proud,” wrote Steve Orsini, SMU Director of Athletics, in an email.

The purpose of this research was to answer the question: is all the money spent in college athletics leading to championships?

The school with the most money-efficient athletic department is Utah State from the Western Athletic Conference.

SMU was not the only school from C-USA in the research’s top 10 schools. Tulsa was ranked ahead of SMU in the eighth spot while Rice and Tulane were 11th and 12th, respectively.

Every single school in the top 10 was either from the WAC, MAC, Mountain West, or C-USA.

Despite its struggles in recent years in football and men’s basketball, SMU stills boasts an impressive number of championship caliber teams. In 2009, SMU claimed five Conference USA championships.

“I commend our staff and coaches for being so economically efficient,” wrote Orsini. “And I applaud our student-athletes for their outstanding efforts in competition.”

The women’s basketball team started off slowly last season after losing several talented players in Janielle Dodds and Sharee Shepherd, the former an All-American mention and the latter the Defensive Player of the Year in the 2007-2008 season. The Mustangs started off 2-5 but managed to get rolling, winning six out of their first seven C-USA games and five out of their last six to stand atop Conference USA.

The SMU women’s tennis team received a huge boost from newcomer Marta Lesniak, who arrived halfway through the season in a dramatic fashion by defeating the former nationally ranked No.2 Aurelija Miseviciute of Arkansas. Head coach Lauren Longbotham-Meisner was named Conference USA Coach of the Year for leading the Mustangs to its best record in program history and the C-USA championship, which was its first postseason tournament win.

The cross country team won the Conference USA championships in November thanks to an all-around excellent effort from the entire team and a superior performance by Silje Fjortoft, who won the individual title from defending champion Alex Becker of Rice. It was the first C-USA championship for the SMU cross country team and it also snapped a two-year run by Rice. The last time the team won a championship was in 2004, back when SMU still played in the WAC. Earlier in the year, the Mustangs were ranked as high as 19th in the nation and finished at 20th in the NCAA championships.

The SMU’s men and women’s swimming and diving team have long since dominated Conference USA and last year was no different for either team. The men’s team smashed five meet records in the final day of the C-USA tournament and easily won their fourth straight championship and 13th overall. At the NCAA tournament, the team finished within the top 25, placing at 24th in the nation.

The success of the men’s team is only rivaled by that of the women’s swimming and diving team, who also won their fourth straight C-USA championship and 13th overall. The team barely broke a sweat, beating second place University of Houston by more then 200 points. Rice came in third, just 20 points behind Houston. In the NCAA tournament, the women’s team placed even higher than the men’s team, finishing at 19th in the nation.

“As a department, we always to focus on being good stewards of our resources,” wrote Orsini, “and to receive national recognition for doing so is a true honor.”