xxxxNateDaGreat

August 20th, 2013 at 6:12 PM ^

Okay, you are probably right. So where is the hard evidence? Where is the indisputable proof? We have one, maybe two pictures of kids holding lots of money that came from... who? Saban? Saban's assistant coach? Steve from Accounting? A close family member? A deceased relative? A rich sibling? You show me the hard evidence where the money is coming from and how we can tie it to Alabama or Nick Saban and then we can write a tell all article and sell it to Yahoo! Sports.

Joined: 11/28/2011

MGoPoints: 2312

Seth

August 20th, 2013 at 10:21 PM ^

It is hard to get hard evidence. From the players' perspective, the fact that the NCAA and its member institutions and conferences and TV partners make millions off of them while they can lose playing time for free cream cheese, well, they all know it's bullshit. Most don't take big extras but know someone who has. What they won't do is rat out each other. There is a lot of dirt spread around so that nobody wins by exposing this or that guy, and the NCAA is completely feckless. So don't expect hard evidence. Nobody goes on the record unless they have to or they're so scummy they'll do anything to save themselves. But if you get them drunk they all have the same stories and they come from the same sources. Proof? No. But let me assure you it's true enough in practice that the joke--even if this kid never asked for or received anything--that the joke is appropriate.

Joined: 10/14/2008

MGoPoints: 149109

ILMichFan70

August 20th, 2013 at 2:46 PM ^

I had thought UNC was quite high on his list as well as close. It will be interesting to see where he ends up now. I remember he originally was talking about trying to stay relatively close to home.

Joined: 06/09/2011

MGoPoints: 1184

Wolverine 73

August 20th, 2013 at 3:02 PM ^

Do they pressure kids too much to commit, even when they are not sure?  Do other coaches undermine the commitments in some way?  Are parents pushing the kids to commit to ND early?  Some decommits are to be expected, but yeah, as you say, ND sure seems to get a ton of them--and they tend to be pretty high profile guys, too.

Joined: 08/03/2009

MGoPoints: 27148

His Dudeness

August 20th, 2013 at 3:35 PM ^

I was there for a wedding and it was even on the same night as the HoF inductee ceremony (I guess it's a big deal) and it was still so boring I could puke. I can't imagine living there.

The campus is actually very nice though, but outside of that South Bend is a boring goblin-hole. Just an awful town.

Joined: 11/24/2008

MGoPoints: -973290

hart20

August 20th, 2013 at 5:39 PM ^

But the "suburbs" have really been improving in the past 4 years. Granger has seen a lot of development and is actually pretty nice now. If you're young, you're not going to like it but as I'm getting older, I'm realizing that there are worse places than Granger to settle down. However, as a college student, I'd much rather be elsewhere than in Granger/South Bend.

Joined: 05/25/2011

MGoPoints: 5692

saveferris

August 20th, 2013 at 4:15 PM ^

I remember my first trip to South Bend for the 1994 game.  Remy Hamilton saw to it that the ride home was pretty pleasant, but I remember pre-game; wandering around, looking for a place to grab a bite to eat or grab a beer only to find nothing.  After a couple of hours of aimless wandering, my comrades and I came to the collective observation of, "why would ANYBODY want to go to school here?"

Joined: 07/02/2009

MGoPoints: 24841

Leaders And Best

August 20th, 2013 at 3:59 PM ^

1. ND has no recruiting homebase, and the expansion of the Big Ten has squeezed them out of the Midwest. I think this is one area where their national schedule hurts them. Prospects from your home territory are much more likely to stick to their commitments, and it is now much harder for ND to pull recruits from Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania because they are not in the Big Ten and get less exposure in the Midwest (especially now with cable and the BTN). After Penn State joined the Big Ten, PA recruiting became much more friendly to the Big Ten and further isolated ND.  Even in Chicago, most top recruits do not lean ND anymore as it has become more a Big Ten city than an ND city. With the addition of Rutgers and Maryland, this could cause even more harm to ND as Big Ten powers will get more exposure in those areas. You can already see it with the way Michigan and Ohio State are recruiting New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. Without a homebase, recruiting is difficult.

2. It has become harder and harder to pull recruits from California, Florida, and Texas especially to a place like South Bend, IN that is a 2 hour drive from a major airport. The rise of the SEC and the renaissance of USC and Texas/Texas A&M in the last 10 years has also made it hard as well.

If ND is not a superpower on the field, they will be forced to adapt the way Nebraska is having to after leaving the Big 12. Nebraska can no longer recruit Texas and Oklahoma as effectively because they don't have the same exposure there anymore.

Joined: 09/09/2009

MGoPoints: 22312

EGD

August 20th, 2013 at 7:32 PM ^

ND's "home base" is the Catholic school pipeline, which reliably produces ample top-notch talent year-in and year-out.  On top of that, ND is a national brand and has enjoyed recent success.  I don't see any reason to believe they won't continue to recruit at a very high level--even if South Bend is a dump.

Joined: 09/16/2009

MGoPoints: 35199

Decatur Jack

August 21st, 2013 at 3:15 AM ^

Maybe it has something to do with the way Kelly runs his program?

The fact that ND built a statue of Kelly and wrote "2013 BCS National Champions" on it and planned to unveil it on Jan. 7?

The fact that ND sold copies of the 2012 season on DVD and also sold reserved copies of the BCS national championship to be sent out immediately following ND's victory?

The question is why, indeed.

Joined: 09/20/2011

MGoPoints: 9483