OT - The Rise of TCU's Recruiting
I cannot participate in the live blog thanks to work network restrictions but I found this pretty good article on TCU and Gary Patterson's rise in recruiting. While its not revolutionary that Wins = Better recruiting. I thought it was an interesting article on how far they've come in just a shortly decade.
link: http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/ncf/columns/story?columnist=durrett_richard&id=6077876
February 2nd, 2011 at 8:13 AM ^
TCU located in a football hotbed of talent (Texas), has a coach that has been there for a long time and has basically given every indication he is going to stay forever, and it is a program whose on field success and record is definitely on the upswing moving from a non-BCS to a BCS conference properly surrounded by optimism.
Those are all ingredients for a big rise. Question for us, here at Michigan, is how many of those do we have and what else can we bring to the table that they can't?
February 2nd, 2011 at 8:46 AM ^
A little lower as far being in the middle of a hot bed for talent, but not much. I'd say that given time there is no reason we can't be at that level too. "This is Michigan for God's sakes!"
February 2nd, 2011 at 9:30 AM ^
A *little* lower as far as being around a bunch of talent? Are you serious?
Do me a favor, please, and go look at the Rivals Top <whatever> for Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana (for starters). Tell me how many players you see there compared to the Upper Midwest. Maybe also read the next article on the number of Division 1 QBs that are from Texas.
February 2nd, 2011 at 9:54 AM ^
I feel like I'm picking on you lately, and I apologize for that. You seem like a nice guy and your avatar is scrumtrilescent.
But when you say "a little lower as far being in the middle of a hot bed for talent, but not much," if you are comparing Michigan to Texas, then I think you have truly gone around the bend. The comparison is just not a comparison.
As for "This is Michigan for God's Sakes," that was a nice moment for Hoke, but if you really think that the vast majority of kids in the states where there is the most talent give a rat's ass about Michigan's storied history, then you also have gone around the bend.
The elite teams in the country, in the imagination of 10-17 year-olds, are SEC teams, USC, Texas, and (gulp) Ohio State. I'm not saying Hoke or someone else can't get us back there, but to believe that we can pull 5* recruits and 10-12 wins just because "this is Michigan" is unbelievably myopic.
February 2nd, 2011 at 12:29 PM ^
100% agree. I've got a good friend who attended grad school in the early '90s at Alabama. He's a big college football fan, so he paid attention to attitudes down in Tuscaloosa regarding football programs elsewhere. He said that virtually everyone he encountered, both in Tuscaloosa and elsewhere in the deep south, was only superficially familiar with UM football, and they laughed at the notion that UM's football legacy was remotely the equal of Alabama's.
Too many UM fans up here labor under the delusion that 18-yr old recruits living outside of Michigan have posters of Charles Woodson and the 1997 team up on their bedroom walls, when the reality is that those kids were only four years old then. They're far more influenced by what's happened the last few years. The last few years have not been good ones for UM football, especially when you compare it to the programs that are at or near the top now, such as Oregon or Alabama or Auburn or (choke) OSU.
February 2nd, 2011 at 9:12 AM ^
They have a great baseball staff and they certainly have their pick now. One thing Coach Schlossnagle says to baseball recruits is this: "If I have to coach your attitude and effort, you won't be here long"
Good post