Slow Day: You are Delaney, what do you do?

Submitted by 1464 on

Slow day on the boards.  I've been staring at the UMHoops thread all day, so I figured I'd give everyone else something quasi-relevant to stare at.  I've done too much actual work today.

On your way home from work / school / interviewing a Chinese sex worker, you are hit by a bus carrying the Dhali Lama, the Pope, Joel Osteen, and an atheist.  The atheist laughs, and the other three say a prayer for you.  Through some unholy union of the three prayers, you wake up and stare apprehensively at your weathered old man hands.  Congratulations, your disembodied soul has transplanted itself into Jim Delany, like a boring version of Patrick Swayze in Ghost.  You're stuck in a meeting with the AD's and coaches from the B1G football teams.  The discussion is how to attract recruits to some school, ANY school, not named Michigan or Ohio State.  What is your advice?  It could be an overall approach to the conference.  It could be pointed at a specific school.

Stay within the confines of what could likely happen.  Don't cheat, this isn't the SEC.  I'd like to hear how you, new Mr. Delaney, would actually do if given the power to persuade and oversee.  After you kick Mark Dantonio in the balls, of course.

maizenbluenation

June 5th, 2013 at 4:30 PM ^

millions of dollars they make off of the BTN to upgrade stadiums, locker rooms, practice facilities, etc.... Oh, and not let them hire nobodies. Pony up and pay for good Head Coaches and Assistants.

Perkis-Size Me

June 5th, 2013 at 4:35 PM ^

I don't know if there's really a whole lot you can do at this point other than hope your coaches start winning, especially on the big stage in bowl games. You can't expect Jerry Kill or Darell Hazell to all of a sudden start reeling in top classes. I'm sure they're both good coaches, but a top recruit should have no reason to want to go to either school right now. Why go to a meh Big Ten program when he can go to a top-flight one in UM or OSU, or the SEC?



Top recruits want to play for top coaches at top schools that have shots at winning national championships. Arguably, only 3-4 schools in the Big Ten have the overall support and resources to do that on a year in, year out basis. Another aspect is the tradition. It may not be everything to a recruit, but a lot of kids want to play for a proud, longstanding traditional program. Again, only 3-4 Big Ten schools really provide that kind of tradition.



I guess you can label me as a cynic or a pessimist, but if schools not named Ohio State and Michigan want to start recruiting and signing top-flight guys, they need to start winning as soon as possible. They need to build some buzz around their program. At least middle tier SEC schools can tell kids that they'll be playing against the best competition every week, and every school in the SEC minus Kentucky and Vanderbilt has rabid fans who will show up every Saturday. The Big Ten has maybe 5-6 programs that fit that bill. Who wants to show up in their home stadium and play in front of 25,000 indifferent fans who will probably leave before the 4th quarter?



I'd say at this point, with schools like Minnesota and Purdue, all you can really hope for right now is getting the right guys who fit your system, not focus so much on recruit rankings, and develop the hell out of them. If that pans out over the course of a few years, and if you start winning and sending kids to the NFL, top recruits should at least give you a second look.

M-Dog

June 5th, 2013 at 4:36 PM ^

Global Warming and a tsunami that brings the ocean up to the southern border of the entire B1G footprint.  Then clone Kate Upton and have all the clones run arouund on the new beach in bikinis.

And uniformz.

Toasted Yosties

June 5th, 2013 at 4:38 PM ^

Can Delany secretly encourage coaches to talk a little more freely about their disdain for their rivals?  I don't like what Tim Beckman did when he scheduled one of Illinois' functions in Evanston, but it made their rivalry with Northwestern more interesting to me.  Coach Dantonio's comments over the years have made me despise the Spartans when the rivalry was dormant in the years before.  I would love to see Kirk Ferentz take a pot shot at Bo Pelini or at the Nebraska program to give a pulse to the Heroes Game.  I'm not asking Delany to become Vince McMahon, but more subjective view points from coaches could spice things up and make playing in the B1G more interesting to recruits.

BeileinBuddy

June 5th, 2013 at 4:40 PM ^

Upgrade BTN's production values and hire away some college analysts so BTN becomes a legitimate channel for coaches to sell to their targets that they'll play in high profile games in primetime.



And impose a unwritten salary floor for head and assistant coaches so schools get some good staffs.

mGrowOld

June 5th, 2013 at 4:41 PM ^

You know i've been THINKING THE EXACT SAME THING recently and by recently I mean the nano-seconds after I read what you wrote.  So maybe you wrote it first and maybe I thought it first and then you stole my thought and then wrote it to take credit for my thoughts.  

Mmmmmhmmmm.  Exactly.

And don't think I havent told just about everybody i know about your thought stealing to put them on notice to keep you from raiding their brain too.

BlueByTheAlamo

June 5th, 2013 at 4:56 PM ^

There are a couple schools that can put forth a recruiting pitch to attract recruits, but for the Minnesotas and Indianas of the B1G, I don't think there's any sort of solution.

Penn State is always going to be Penn State, at least for this generation. Scandal aside, the memories of that football program are ingrained in PA and the region. Plus, O'Brien is doing a darn good job even with the sanctions, so when those go away I would expect a resurgence. Let Bill keep doing what he's doing, and the recruits will come.

Northwestern can always push academics and, so long as Pat Fitzgerald is coaching there, a system that will guarantee a competitive chance while receiving a great education. One or two big games a year, and always good to have the chance to be talked about on ESPN as the team that "surprisingly" knocked the great and mighty Ohio out of the National Championship hunt. They'll get very high character, hard-working kids, and I wouldn't be extremely surprised if in the next few years a 5-star eventually signed on. (Still a little surprised, but not highly so). If that builds, and the momentum continues to add up, Northwestern may get to a Stanford-light level.

Nebraska can sell the myth of the Blackshirts to a defensive recruit and maybe land a few kids (especially being able to point to Suh still), but the three yards and a cloud of dust history may make it a little more difficult to attract modern offensive recruits. Nothing in recent years has changed that perception, because while Taylor Martinez may be a electrifying a couple times a season, there isn't the ability to flash brilliance on a Denard level and the system doesn't seem to be working out there. Returning to the Nebraska roots may get some kids, but with fewer and fewer high school programs playing trenchwarfare, and Alabama dominating the landing of the top tier of recruits (not to mention Michigan's recent return to loading up), it appears few 5/high 4-star kids will be Huskers in such a system. There is a decent amount of big corn-fed talent in the region, however, so keep Texas and Oklahoma from picking off the best (should go down the more removed Nebraska is from the Big-12), and there's a shot at a decent return eventually.

Wisonsin has the recent string of success to hang onto, but with Bielma leaving they may be winding down. Still a good school, with a tradition of big bodied linemen and great backs, so you pitch that to the kids. Come here, compete, build up, and we'll try to send you to the league. Outside of those groups, well, Russell Wilson gives some credibility to the offensive side of late, so the better he does in the NFL the better for the Badgers recruiters, but I doubt any top-tier QB will ever seriously consider Wisconsin as a first choice. Same for receivers. Sell the school, the atmosphere, Jump Around, and just try to convince some non-national targets that they're the right fit.

MSU...well, tell them to stop focusing intergalactically and keep it close to home. Michigan can't take everyone from the state, Ohio can't fit all the ones that don't choose / aren't offered by UM, so lock down the rest of the home talent. Branch out into Ohio, PA, IL, etc. for some battles against the Illini, Pitt, and other smaller schools and lock up some key players. Mostly, learn how to coach guys up, and focus on the hard-workers with something to prove because the Wolverines and Ohio passed them over. Fits the State mentality for their team, and the chips on their shoulders may lead to some good football.

Purdue, Illinois, Rutgers, Maryland, and Iowa...I'm tired of typing and would actually have to think on these. There are flashes of greatness to pitch to recruits, and some good things about each school, but nothing that screams COME HERE to a recruit of which I am aware.

Indiana and Minnesota, good luck.

UMgradMSUdad

June 5th, 2013 at 5:34 PM ^

If I were Delaney, I'd realize it wasn't my job to advise schools on how to recruit.  I'd be plotting which conference to invade next and which school to flip to the B1G.

WolverineMac

June 5th, 2013 at 5:40 PM ^

1) Rutgers cant join the BIG.

2) eliminate the B1G championship game so that we don't eliminate two teams from joining in the four.

3) More night games

4) other good ideas that will come to me as I start drinking.

inthebluelot

June 5th, 2013 at 6:32 PM ^

but luckily the brain dead media and much of the general public have forgotten that this word is offensive because they are too worried about "No Homo" to care or even remember that they were "offended" by it in
the first place. FUNNY video though.

bluebyyou

June 5th, 2013 at 6:41 PM ^

Revenue sharing continues, at least in part, but with large bonuses paid to schools with certain in-conference records, BCS games, NC, etc.

Maybe I am crazy, but why is it OK for schools like Michigan and Ohio to spend what we spend on facilities' upgrades, coaches, etc. and still get the same disbribution of revenue? I know, it helps with academic admissions, but from what I can tell, that isn't exactly a problem.  

 

burtcomma

June 5th, 2013 at 6:37 PM ^

It is all about getting the right coaches and the right resources and finding what you got to sell to move it on up. See recent history of NW, Kansas State, Boise State, and recent recruiting success of some of the lesser SEC teams. Ability to identify and coach up players to get you started as was done by coaches above. Every year we see lots of players drafted into NFL from no name schools. Talent is there, you just got to be able to know it when you see it....

Fields

June 5th, 2013 at 10:12 PM ^

Changing recruits' perceptions of the entire conference would require some sort of drastic differentiation from other conferences.  Off the top of my head, the best thing the BIG has going for it (generally) vs SEC, Big 12, etc. is academics.  

If every athletic department bought into this vision of investing full-heartedly into the academic lives of its athletes, we could fashion the perception of playing for the BIG school as a prestigious football opportunity.  In the same way that academically-geared recruits narrow their lists to Notre Dame, Vandy, Stanford, and Michigan now, we could create a culture which steers top recruits to automatically think, "the Big Ten is where I want to create my future and play top-notch football football."

If there are enough recruits out there who'd be drawn to this type of differentation, I know not.  Hell, it's basically the Ivy League.  I dunno.

XM - Mt 1822

June 5th, 2013 at 10:43 PM ^

that new IU helmet somebody posted earlier this week.  no more turd uniforms for any of the teams.  work on integrity in coaching and academics for the other schools so they can actually offer these kids an education combined with realistic expectations of what their playing days might look like.

jdon

June 6th, 2013 at 9:28 AM ^

I don't know what you said, but if I was 'Drugs' Delaney I would do what he does right now: Whatever the fuck I want.

 

love,

jdon