John Shumate, a Notre Dame assistant whose...

John Shumate, a Notre Dame assistant whose only head coaching experience was at Grand Canyon College in Arizona, accepted the basketball coaching job at Southern Methodist University.

“There is no question that SMU is on the right track,” said Shumate, who graduated from Notre Dame in 1974 and was the fourth player taken in that year’s National Basketball Assn. draft, by the Phoenix Suns. “. . .I think all the negatives are behind us.”