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pienkows

Joined: 01/10/2012 Posts: 6165
Likes: 6022


Me either but it's just a fact we have to work around.


I have often wondered whether Tech should experiment with a strategy that focuses on finding athletes most likely to fit within the natural culture of Southwest, VA. Having grown up in Blacksburg (where I now reside 50% of the time) and resided in urban areas in virtually every region of the U.S., I can imagine what the town must feel like to kids coming from the urban sprawl of the Tidewater or D.C. areas.

When Jim Harbaugh first arrived at Stanford, which was a few-win bottom dwelling program at the time, he and his staff sat down to think about how they were going to get athletes to play for them. They realized that the Stanford name was going to appeal to academically gifted athletes (who, by the way, are going to be the most competitive people as well) all over the country. While that may seem to be a small pool, when you look across the country, its a pretty big one. They felt they could get the pick of the crop from those kids - and they did. They were at the top of the PAC-10 in no time.

Blacksburg is going to be appealing to kids that hunt, fish, and generally like nature and the outdoors. I have wondered whether it might work if they were to cast their net much wider geographically and look for the best kids at their positions who have grown up in areas that are a bit more rural. Is that pool big enough even if you cast a wider net? Do they compete against good enough competition? I don't know. I guess that's why I'm not a coach or recruiter.

(In response to this post by Mercury)

Posted: 05/18/2018 at 09:01AM



+1

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