How GT can be consistent Top 25 in recruiting

[jackets55]

Any chance to be top 10 in the next 10 years?

In a word, no.

 

[Buzztheirazz]

If our Assistant coaches are as good as I think , I look for them to move up and move on. I know people hate that but if you want the best they will move on.

This is the defeatist/lil brother attitude they are trying to change. We should not be a stepping stone. We should be expect to be a destination for top coaches. Guess we will see what they do/have done in 5 years.

 

[slugboy]

For whatever reason, it is pretty clear that the allure of living in a big city is not a major driving force for most football recruits. The vast overwhelming majority of top football programs are located in small, rural towns like Athens, Tuscaloosa, Norman, Gainsville, Tallahassee, Ann Arbor, Lincoln, Starkville, etc., and some like Clemson and Auburn that even share the exact same name as their small town. lol. There are a few exceptions like USC (LA) and Miami, and some pretty good ones located in medium cities like TX (Austin) and Ohio St. (Columbus), but those seem to be the minority.

How many good football programs are located in downtown NYC, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Philly, Boston, San Fran, Detroit, Seattle, etc.? Not a lot. While Atlanta could absolutely be a great selling point for certain kids, for whatever reason, it seems that the majority of college football players either do not care or would prefer a small town that is centered around the university and football team.

And, to be honest, I kind of get that. I absolutely love Atlanta, went to Tech, and have lived within a mile of Bobby Dodd for the last 15 years. That said, I also went to grad school in Athens (please don't ban me from the board, it was a program Tech didn't offer! lol). I would much much rather live in Atlanta now as a professional with some money. But I actually preferred the town of Athens as a college town as a young kid over the city of Atlanta. In Atlanta, most Tech football players would not get recognized if they walked into a restaurant two blocks off campus. In Athens and places like that, those kids are legitimate celebrities.

[Edited to say we should absolutely still try to use it as a selling point, I just don't think it is the big advantage for most kids that some do.]

First, Ann Arbor is rural? It didn't look at all like a small town when I was there.
You did mention Miami, USC, and Texas (all in good sized cities). But, to an earlier poster's point, there are a couple of things going on
1. The larger universities in the US are where they got huge tracts of land where land was cheap (and often just given by federal funding/bond issues to the university). There are some exceptions like Stanford where someone funded a university in or around a large city.
2. Aside from some places where State U is in the capitol (Tallahassee, Austin, etc.), a lot of the state "keystone" schools also got put into small towns because rural legislators had the "we're not letting anything else go to the big city" attitude (Arizona, etc.). (A reminder that the capitol of New York is Albany and not NYC, because of rural legislators--state capitols often end up being small towns because of rural legislators).

There are a lot of explanations for why the "big programs" aren't in big cities without having to say that young players would prefer to be in rural areas. If the University of Alabama were in Birmingham, I don't think any of their recruits would say "Birmingham is too big, I don't want to go there".

 

[Animal02]

First, Ann Arbor is rural? It didn't look at all like a small town when I was there.
You did mention Miami, USC, and Texas (all in good sized cities). But, to an earlier poster's point, there are a couple of things going on
1. The larger universities in the US are where they got huge tracts of land where land was cheap (and often just given by federal funding/bond issues to the university). There are some exceptions like Stanford where someone funded a university in or around a large city.
2. Aside from some places where State U is in the capitol (Tallahassee, Austin, etc.), a lot of the state "keystone" schools also got put into small towns because rural legislators had the "we're not letting anything else go to the big city" attitude (Arizona, etc.). (A reminder that the capitol of New York is Albany and not NYC, because of rural legislators--state capitols often end up being small towns because of rural legislators).

There are a lot of explanations for why the "big programs" aren't in big cities without having to say that young players would prefer to be in rural areas. If the University of Alabama were in Birmingham, I don't think any of their recruits would say "Birmingham is too big, I don't want to go there".

Ann Arbor and Athens are pretty equivalent on many levels. Both smaller towns an hour drive from a major city. Campus and the town intertwine. Both fan bases are composed of lots of Walmart fans, they both think they should be NCs every year, and they whine about everything.

 

[CHE90]

This is the defeatist/lil brother attitude they are trying to change. We should not be a stepping stone. We should be expect to be a destination for top coaches. Guess we will see what they do/have done in 5 years.

Disagree. Look at Alabama, it's assistant coaches move on all the time. Brent Key and Kirby Smart come to mind and i know there have been many others over the years. It is a stepping stone for the assistants. Probably lots of other examples.

 

[stech81]

This is the defeatist/lil brother attitude they are trying to change. We should not be a stepping stone. We should be expect to be a destination for top coaches. Guess we will see what they do/have done in 5 years.

Sorry any good assistant coach should move up either on the team he is coaching or elsewhere. Assistant coaches should not be thought to be permanent if they do well. Unless you pay them like Clemson. An assistant coach wants to be a head coach some day. No little brother attitude you want the best pay them and you may keep them a little longer. There is nothing wrong with having great assistant coaches that want to move up at some point.

 

[Buzztheirazz]

This is the defeatist/lil brother attitude they are trying to change. We should not be a stepping stone. We should be expect to be a destination for top coaches. Guess we will see what they do/have done in 5 years.

Oops. He said assistant. Poor reading comprehension on my part.