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top five reasons to eschew...RU

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ngrant

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Mar 12, 2009
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I've seen a plethora of reasons for not committing to RU on this board. What are the top five? Campus? OOOH what a nice bell tower! Facility? Wow. Those are some barbells!!! Great team in place so I can sit on this ice cold bench for two years? And it's situated 300 miles away so I don't have to be bothered by my precocious sister? Any offerings for a list would be magnanimous. I fail to attain cognition as to why Haskins goes to Miami, Barbir to PSU and Gary's about to jet into Mich. Why? i.e. rationales. I dunno. That's Latin. I don't speak Latin.
 
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Because they want to be surrounded by other great players, they're confident enough in themselves they will play and contribute early, they want to play for coaches who already have a track record of winning, they like tradition and great facilities, there's no real history of the best NJ boys staying home in mass, only a dream.
How do we know what they're home life is truly like? Maybe they can't wait to get away from NJ, maybe they don't like the diversity at Rutgers....
All will be cured by winning IMO, GS was very close, Ash can get us to that 2006 type season and not waste the momentum like GS did.
 
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First every kid has their own reasons, it's not cookie cutter....some are very valid, some are shady, and some are decided for them:
It's in some kids best interest to get out of NJ because of their home situation
Some kids really value education(stanford)
I know one recruit in this class who wanted to come to Rutgers. FLood said no and now he's at another P5. He would flip to RU in a heartbeat but his parents are making him honor his word.
Others get caught up in tradition, stadium size, coeds, God only knows.

It's fun to be on this site and basically stalk teenagers but you have to remember they are just kids and a lot of them have very poor guidance from family members and friends. I've seen way to many kids choose schools based on what was best for their parents or advisors and not for them.
 
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Despite the plethora of reasons, I also can't attain cognition as to why recruits eschew us. It's truly an enigma...

(Just busting...)
 
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Kids from all over the country leave their home state for these schools. All the ones you list have won national championships and have a rich tradition of making it happen on the field. Any home state school that doesn't have that tradition feels like settling for these kids. Don't you get the appeal when you have teams that have been winning for 40 years saying they want you?
 
ngrant said:
I've seen a plethora of reasons for not committing to RU on this board. What are the top five? Campus? OOOH what a nice bell tower! Facility? Wow. Those are some barbells!!! Great team in place so I can sit on this ice cold bench for two years? And it's situated 300 miles away so I don't have to be bothered by my precocious sister? Any offerings for a list would be magnanimous. I fail to attain cognition as to why Haskins goes to Miami, Barbir to PSU and Gary's about to jet into Mich. Why? i.e. rationales. I dunno. That's Latin. I don't speak Latin.
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I had to reach for my dictionary to read your post.
 
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Crazed_RU said:
Kids from all over the country leave their home state for these schools. All the ones you list have won national championships and have a rich tradition of making it happen on the field. Any home state school that doesn't have that tradition feels like settling for these kids. Don't you get the appeal when you have teams that have been winning for 40 years saying they want you?
Click to expand...

It's been said before... Win and create a sustained "2006 like atmosphere" and a snowball effect will happen.
 
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Only small bags of money (really just pocket change) handed out instead of big bags of money handed out by bagmen.
 
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Do not ignore the fact that these are 17-18 -19 year old kids - who make decisions for what often, in retrospect turns out to be odd reasons .
if you took 100 - 40 year old regular college grads - who had a genuine range of options - and asked them to explain what drove their college choices - most would chuckle -
- my girlfriend was going there ... we broke up during orientation
- wanted to be a marine biologist - changed major to marketing sophomore year
- thought I walk-on to the wrestling team ... took up snowboarding instead
- wanted to be close enough to come home on the weekends - only came home on breaks
- had super impressive tour guide - with cool major that I thought I might like ... not.

It is funny to also hear people laugh about why they ruled out some schools -
- tour guide was stuck-up , a slob, inarticulate, whatever...
- my creepy lecherous neighbor went there 30 years ago & has stickers all over his cars
- it was raining when I visited.
- another kid (that I hated) from my high school was: in my tour group / is going there / might go there
- school name = too weird - (how many students did Arcadia University lose in the past? )
- - - - (used to be a girls school named .......Beaver College .... yep, wear that T-shirt much?)
.

the process is borderline wacky for your basic high school kid - it has to be super bizarre for a scholarship athlete with tons of adults (many with their own agenda) counseling / influencing / selling them on a pivotal decision like this.
 
Jersey kids want to play for Rutgers. That is fact. Rutgers just needs to give them a reason to.

Just imagine, in 2006 Rutgers finished with 2 losses. For any other program that would have been a ho hum season. But for Rutgers, the season was immortalized. From that year, legions of HS students became "Rutgers fans". It's what started the movement that if Jersey recruits stuck together and played for Rutgers, they could replicate what happened to the rise of Miami (when the South Florida kids decided to all play for the Canes). The equity from 2006 lasted long. If you could get that type of effect for again, what many prgrams would consider a good, but ho hum season, what more if Rutgers actually won? Like make it to a BCS bowl for example? It would be huge.

The giant slightly woke up in 2006, but then with the help of bad leadership, pressed the snooze button. But if we ever repeat 2006 again, this time in the tough B1G East, scarlet fever will run through the state once more and then truly, the sleeping giant that is Rutgers football, will truly awaken.
 
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some kids want to get away and experience new things, its not hard to understand.
 
If Jersey kids want to play for a TOP Team ,then just STAY HOME as a group.By year 3 of repeat stay home groups they WILL be playing for a TOP team. From that time ,going forward,RU WILL BE ONE OF THE B1G BOYS.RU has not yet made that case to the kids.It will take the Staff and Media working together to create this mind set in the players.IMO,it CAN be done. Will it? We can only stay on board,take the ride and see.
 
Honest question:

To what degree do their HS coaches influence their decisions? And to what extent do prior relations with college coaches and ego (hey, I have a kid playing for Notre Dame) come into the process?
 
My kids didn't have to have reasons for not wanting to go to Rutgers. Just because it was the right school for me decades earlier didn't mean it was the right school for them.
 
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mdk01 said:
Honest question:

To what degree do their HS coaches influence their decisions? And to what extent do prior relations with college coaches and ego (hey, I have a kid playing for Notre Dame) come into the process?
Click to expand...

A lot. HS Coaches are basically the kid's "parent" in school. So, of course what they say carries a lot of weight.
 
beaced said:
If Jersey kids want to play for a TOP Team ,then just STAY HOME as a group.By year 3 of repeat stay home groups they WILL be playing for a TOP team. From that time ,going forward,RU WILL BE ONE OF THE B1G BOYS.RU has not yet made that case to the kids.It will take the Staff and Media working together to create this mind set in the players.IMO,it CAN be done. Will it? We can only stay on board,take the ride and see.
Click to expand...

We were so close. Started somewhat in 2009, but then it was full blown in 2011, 2012, and then in 2013, we were the fave for AQM and even though Eli was a long shot, the other elite kids still considered Rutgers heavy. Then all that vanished.
 
RU Husky said:
Because Rutgers is Rosie O'Donnell in a world of Penelope Cruz.
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This pretty much sums it up. The top reason recruits don't choose Rutgers is because better programs offered them. Nothing mysterious about it.
 
beaced said:
If Jersey kids want to play for a TOP Team ,then just STAY HOME as a group.By year 3 of repeat stay home groups they WILL be playing for a TOP team. From that time ,going forward,RU WILL BE ONE OF THE B1G BOYS.RU has not yet made that case to the kids.It will take the Staff and Media working together to create this mind set in the players.IMO,it CAN be done. Will it? We can only stay on board,take the ride and see.
Click to expand...

Kids will talk about doing things as a group - but ultimately just about every endeavor I have seen kids talk about - ends up getting decided on an individual basis -
kids grasp that a group effort - of very extended duration like this would be may involve some sub-optimal individual aspect (impacting them as individuals) and may require some individual sacrifices. It will take a very charismatic, very believable - and very talented coach to entice several successive classes to buy into idea that "All together - U can put RU on top!"
 
JQRU91 said:
This pretty much sums it up. The top reason recruits don't choose Rutgers is because better programs offered them. Nothing mysterious about it.
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Better programs? If you are talking about the program's accomplishments (Bama, Michigan, Ohio State, etc), nobody will argue they are better programs. But in terms of what the program can offer the recruit - which is, ultimately what they should be thinking about - education, playing time, the NFL and OPPORTUNITY - then Rutgers takes a back seat to nobody.

There are two kinds of people in this world - coattail riders and trailblazers. You can go to Bama, and enjoy all the allure of Bama, but at the end of the day you're just being a coattail rider. These type of people are those that want to go work for Google, Microsoft, etc. There is nothing wrong with that. But in the end, again, coattail rider.

Now the other type of folks are those that want to lead. These types don't aspire to "climb the corporate ladder". They aspire to build the darn ladder and OWN IT. They are the Bill Gates, the Thomas Edisons of the world. TRUE TRAILBLAZERS. To do something that hasn't been done before. To go to Rutgers is to be a trailblazer. Achieve something that has not been achieved.

People like Jordan Fuller, Rashan Gary, Mitchel, Hawkins, etc can all go to Michigan and they might win. They might even win the championship. Who knows. But when they do, in Michigan, it would be expected. In New Jersey, except for their friends and families, nobody will care. NOBODY WILL CARE. But if they go to Rutgers, and they win, they will be IMMORTALIZED. That's the difference.

Trail blazer? Or coattail rider? That's your choice Jersey recruit!!! WHO ARE YOU???
 
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Crazed_RU said:
Kids from all over the country leave their home state for these schools. All the ones you list have won national championships and have a rich tradition of making it happen on the field. Any home state school that doesn't have that tradition feels like settling for these kids. Don't you get the appeal when you have teams that have been winning for 40 years saying they want you?
Click to expand...

If you go to one of those schools you get the best coaching, the best training facilities, the biggest crowds, the most tv exposure....and the best looking hostesses. We've actually taken some giant steps in the right direction this century....more than I ever thought we would or could. But there are several more to go before we can be considered top-level. Winning cures everything.
 
A history of failure since the middle of the 19th centry. Entrance into big time athletics 50 years too late. A state that has deeply flawed national perception issues. A lpopulace that still has not solved the pork roll vs taylor ham and north central and south jersey conundrums..
 
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It boil down to....

- Rutgers isn't viewed by the NJ kids and maybe more important, the people who have their ear as big time. It's as if they aren't as good as others if they go here.

- NJ has a strong tradition of a mass exodus out of state for college.

- No tradition when compared to the schools RU recruits against.

- All the negative press Rutgers constantly receives.
 
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knightfan7 said:
It boil down to....

- Rutgers isn't viewed by the NJ kids and maybe more important, the people who have their ear as big time. It's as if they aren't as good as others if they go here.

- NJ has a strong tradition of a mass exodus out of state for college.

- No tradition when compared to the schools RU recruits against.

- All the negative press Rutgers constantly receives.
Click to expand...
Concise summary of the reasons why top NJ recruits go elsewhere.The problem is that the solutions haven't happened on a sustained basis for decades.Mens basketball is a classic example.
 
RU2055 said:
We were so close. Started somewhat in 2009, but then it was full blown in 2011, 2012, and then in 2013, we were the fave for AQM and even though Eli was a long shot, the other elite kids still considered Rutgers heavy. Then all that vanished.
Click to expand...
That was the Flood curse. The nice guy no one wanted to play for. Schiano became a name coach by then and some recruits needed that to come to Rutgers. Even thought we went 9-3 in 2012, when your head coach basically wanted to punt on first down and allow the defense to win the game, recruits don't get excited.
 
NJ is just a very pessimistic place. In every regard. The state needs Chris Ash and his attitude leading the way.
 
knightfan7 said:
It boil down to....

- Rutgers isn't viewed by the NJ kids and maybe more important, the people who have their ear as big time. It's as if they aren't as good as others if they go here.

- NJ has a strong tradition of a mass exodus out of state for college.

- No tradition when compared to the schools RU recruits against.

- All the negative press Rutgers constantly receives.
Click to expand...

all these are symptoms of a larger problem which is a winning football program isn't as important to our alumni, as they have other priorities.
Winning Football is important to Notre Dame, PSU, Michigan, and Ohio State, among others. So alumni make sure the support is there to hire a Jim Harbaugh, Urban Meyer, Brian Kelly, etc.

If significant portion of our alumni really wanted a championship football program, we'd have a championship football program.

If you had a choice between a Mercedes, Ford, and a Hyundai, you'd choose the Mercedes every time. don't think its anything different with college football recruiting.
 
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rutgersal said:
all these are symptoms of a larger problem which is a winning football program isn't as important to our alumni, as they have other priorities.
Winning Football is important to Notre Dame, PSU, Michigan, and Ohio State, among others. So alumni make sure the support is there to hire a Jim Harbaugh, Urban Meyer, Brian Kelly, etc.

If significant portion of our alumni really wanted a championship football program, we'd have a championship football program.

If you had a choice between a Mercedes, Ford, and a Hyundai, you'd choose the Mercedes every time. don't think its anything different with college football recruiting.
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No I wouldn't. It really depends on what Mercedes, Ford and Hyundai we're talking about.

I'll let you apply that to your oddball analogy however you want.
 
rutgersal said:
all these are symptoms of a larger problem which is a winning football program isn't as important to our alumni, as they have other priorities.
Winning Football is important to Notre Dame, PSU, Michigan, and Ohio State, among others. So alumni make sure the support is there to hire a Jim Harbaugh, Urban Meyer, Brian Kelly, etc.

If significant portion of our alumni really wanted a championship football program, we'd have a championship football program.

If you had a choice between a Mercedes, Ford, and a Hyundai, you'd choose the Mercedes every time. don't think its anything different with college football recruiting.
Click to expand...

Very true Al.
 
RU2055 said:
Better programs? If you are talking about the program's accomplishments (Bama, Michigan, Ohio State, etc), nobody will argue they are better programs. But in terms of what the program can offer the recruit - which is, ultimately what they should be thinking about - education, playing time, the NFL and OPPORTUNITY - then Rutgers takes a back seat to nobody.

There are two kinds of people in this world - coattail riders and trailblazers. You can go to Bama, and enjoy all the allure of Bama, but at the end of the day you're just being a coattail rider. These type of people are those that want to go work for Google, Microsoft, etc. There is nothing wrong with that. But in the end, again, coattail rider.

Now the other type of folks are those that want to lead. These types don't aspire to "climb the corporate ladder". They aspire to build the darn ladder and OWN IT. They are the Bill Gates, the Thomas Edisons of the world. TRUE TRAILBLAZERS. To do something that hasn't been done before. To go to Rutgers is to be a trailblazer. Achieve something that has not been achieved.

People like Jordan Fuller, Rashan Gary, Mitchel, Hawkins, etc can all go to Michigan and they might win. They might even win the championship. Who knows. But when they do, in Michigan, it would be expected. In New Jersey, except for their friends and families, nobody will care. NOBODY WILL CARE. But if they go to Rutgers, and they win, they will be IMMORTALIZED. That's the difference.

Trail blazer? Or coattail rider? That's your choice Jersey recruit!!! WHO ARE YOU???
Click to expand...

Interesting comparison. I've always wondered why top talent isn't more interested in coming to a place where they could be the leaders and saviors instead of just cogs in the factory machinery, but you're right, it's not so different from anything in life. Millions of coattail rider/corporate worker bees keeping things safe and simple for every true Edison or Gates taking huge risks to change the world.
 
RU2055 said:
Jersey kids want to play for Rutgers. That is fact.
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I'm sorry, but "facts" are demonstrable. They're supportable by evidence. You're stating an opinion, unless you can provide us with evidence of all of the "Jersey kids" stating, for the record, that they "want to play for Rutgers".
 
Somebody told me this about the top NJ talent a while ago and it made sense. A very large percentage of the top NJ talent go to the private/catholic schools...which means from age13 or 14 these kids were taken from the kids they grew up with to go to a HS many miles away for the sake of advancing themselves in football. They were taught at an early age that loyalty means nothing. How will that change at age17 when these other coaches are promising the world?
 
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