Recent Comments
Won't happen, Bama is hosting an on campus camp at Bama this weekend.
Except as soon as he got that offer he committed on the spot. He clearly wanted that offer to commit to that offer.
I'm hoping for an Anchorman-style brawl between the coaching staffs.
Note that he said he wanted an Ole Miss offer, not necessarily to play for them. You don't have to be an Ole Miss fan to want all the "perks" that come with a scholarship offer.
When we have both home & away Thursday games, they are almost always on back-to-back weeks. That ensures the 2nd game is played on a full week's rest. Typically we also have a bye week before the first Thursday game, although that's not the case this year. At least by doing them back-to-back we only have one short week rather than potentially two.
Just curious how successful you think Klinsmann has made us. And what the tangible successes are.
As head of the USMNT Bob Bradley had a winning percentage of 53.75%. Klinsmann's is 56.79%. Arena's was 54.62%. Not much difference in there...and we STILL won't be playing in the Olympics this year, nor did we qualify for the 2012 Olympics. That's part of the "youth" program.
Not hating, just saying that we aren't anywhere near the level we should be, or could be given the amount of interest and youths now playing bigger level soccer than a decade ago. Things need to progress a lot more than being ranked 31 in the world.
...you mean this isn't the right thing?
My son is finishing up his Freshman year in HS and wrapping up the U15 travel season. Soccer is the only sport he plays, and his younger brother only plays middle school soccer...so we travel quite a bit. Being on the eastern shore of Maryland, we have to cross the bridge for 99.9% of competitive games, outside of the northern DE teams that are still nearly 2 hours away.
ODP has turned into a cash-grab. There is very little development in that system, and it basically is a travel around look-at-me thing currently. Yeah, there are some good players in each state, but not everyone on the ODP teams are D-1 talent. That's a shame.
The Philadelphia Union do a tremendous job with youth soccer and their system. Prob top 3 in the MLS with what they do. Unfortunately we are about 2.5 hours away. Tough to commit to one night a week, thru the winter too, with school and other travel club commitments. The DC United make you pay just to even try out for them. And, how can I say this, if you are a Caucasian male, you don't fit in with their system. It's great for the nations capitol and the diverse community, but it's nearly reverse exclusionary.
Fifa mandated the age change for the upcoming season as it pertains to travel clubs. It's going from an August 1 to July 31 grouping to straight up calendar year. Before, it more or less held true to school grades. Mostly Freshman were playing with other Freshman. But now it's going to hurt the late year birthdays that are in a lower grade than the early year birthdays. 8th graders will be grouped with 9th graders. The former not playing school organized soccer (for the most part, at least in our area) while the latter may be playing jv or varsity level all fall. Big gap in experience and practices. Then, when they get to be seniors, the late birthdays (Sep-Dec) will be left without a team since the early birthdays (Jan-May same calendar year) will have graduated. It's going to cost them all thru high school. Which may cost them the potential to play in college, even if it isn't on scholarship.
Above there was a comment that Klinsmann was to be applauded for his youth soccer growth. That's where my comment about the U23 team came in...Klinsmann doesn't have anything to do with the lower tiers. And he hasn't sparked interest in youth soccer, the parents have. It's not because of him that numbers have grown. And to be fair, it's not his fault we failed to qualify for the Olympics.
It doesn't matter unless it does matter. There isn't one formula.
I'm not sure if you would agree or not, but in the current state of VT football, we need to win. In part, because we hired a recruit second coach who populated his staff with equally as unproven recruiters. So, win. If you do that, it's going to make those unproven recruiters into proven recruiters much faster.
What I tried to outline is our current state of affairs in a fairly unbiased observation. Sure, there are other examples of how it has been done and there are hundreds of methods to program success. But with our current staff makeup, our recruiting will improve with more offensive excitement, equal defensive pressure and.....wins.
To me, this goes back to Al Groh's staff. None of those players he was able to recruit got better once they arrived on campus. They were recruit first coaches. The best schools have recruit/player development balanced coaches, but that's what makes them the best of the best. For the rest of us, you tend to have to choose one path or another. We have chosen our path, we should have a staff heavy in player development with potential to improve as recruiters. UMD, on the other hand, has by-and-large chosen the other path.
Edit: Final point, winning and relevance aren't the same thing. Tennessee and Penn State are great examples of that on one side, Baylor and TCU on the other.
Kid said he has wanted an Ole Miss offer his entire High School career. Strange for a kid from Richmond to be an Ole Miss fan.
I feel the same way about the Auburn TIGERS and "War Eagle" #goSEC
Don't think anyone here is expecting us to land 5 star recruits. We should do a better job of getting 4 star kids especially at positions of need though (i.e. DEs that the state has been loaded with or OTs which the state hasn't).
I personally think our ceiling is around the top 20-25 recruiting rankings on average, but don't think we'll be close to that this year where you should see a new coach bump.
And yet, just today, the Richmond Times-Dispatch is reporting QB Alex Faniel to Ole Miss.....
Who is advising these kids?
We are moving the in-laws to an independent living community in Winston so they can be closer, and neither of us is all that excited about it. Sometimes you just have to do the right thing.
You are not alone. As someone living right outside Winston-Salem, I am often amazed that when I tell people "like the cigarettes made there" as a descriptor I see the light go on.
That's one cherry picked example that happens to bolster you're argument. Besides Clemson what non-blue blood has ever started suddenly recruiting at an elite level?
Look at almost all the new powers in College Football; Oregon, TCU, Baylor (pre-scandall), Stanford, etc. None of them got to where they were by suddenly recruiting elite talent. They all introduced a unique scheme and culture, coached up decent talent, became perennial top 10 teams, and now are starting to get some good recruits 10 years later. And even now, they're barely breaking the top 25 in recruiting rankings, but still regularly putting up top 10 rankings.
This delusion that anyone can come in and compete for 5 star recruits with a .500 team and an average at best recruiting budget undermines any progress we might actually make.
I think BUY is a better word for what Butch does then SELL. They hired a coach who knew how to get away with getting recruits paid by boosters, like a bunch of SEC schools do, and so far they have not been caught. Ask most TN fans if you don't believe it.
Texas
42
1991-1996
|
10 years 1 month
# | Hokies Targeting Versatile 2017 LB Andrew Ward, Hoping for the Start of a Michigan Pipeline Well there it is. I wonder if this is one of those instances where a word got misused so often they just went ahead and gave it a second definition. Words are weird.
Michigan
26
2007-2011
No matter what I read up here, I always assume it's football at first...
It's a sad day when a /s is necessary for such a sarcastic comment.
I also think that getting the basketball program to the top of the ACC will also make VT a little more exciting and attractive. Having a good 2nd sport at a VT would help more than one would think. I know I saw more football players supporting the basketball players and vice versa a lot more these past few years and its good to see.
I'm quite certain that Saban is immortal and Harbaugh can't feel pain so it would be an interesting matchup.