bpd wrote: ↑

June 26th, 2021, 10:22 am

I agree that SDSU, UNLV, and UNM are top tier. New Mexico has been historically good and were top 10 under Alford. Utah St does have a recruiting problem. We have had good coaching under Smith, which has overcome are recruiting problems. Let me ask you this. Would you rather be a college student in Fort Collins or Logan. Unless you are LDS, the answer is Fort Collins. This is why we are below CSU.

If you’re a 3-star LDS basketball recruit from California or Utah, would you rather be in Logan or Boise or Fort Collins?

If you’re a talented international player that wants to play in the NCAA tournament, do you want to play for a team that’s been in the NCAA tourney and has had a lot of success with international players, or do you want to live in Boise or Fort Collins?

To say USU has a recruiting problem overall is inaccurate. We have a different recruiting model that maximizes our areas of comparative advantage.

We do struggle with recruiting a racially diverse team, which is concerning. But no school in the conference has anything like the built-in advantage in recruiting a specific class of players —LDS players — that USU does.

I am just not seeing this in any way denigrating your program, your town , your success, your fans or anything else..

nvspuds wrote: ↑

June 26th, 2021, 10:42 am

I am just not seeing this in any way denigrating your program, your town , your success, your fans or anything else..

That’s fine — I respect your opinion. I do see it as significantly underselling our program. We just disagree on this, and that’s okay. You’re a good egg, spuds.

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑

June 26th, 2021, 9:36 am

This isn’t what ESPN thinks. It’s a selection of what other coaches in the conference think.

Correction. It's a sampling of what the coaches think. Hardly conclusive of the overall opinion of the coaches.

USU not a "sexy" job? Color me super surprised!

At the end of the day they are all jobs in the 7th best MID MAJOR conference according to last season's bracketology. Maybe we all have a tough time getting players good enough to get out of that level of mediocrity...Maybe none of these coaching gigs are all that desirable..

nvspuds wrote: ↑

June 26th, 2021, 1:38 pm

At the end of the day they are all jobs in the 7th best MID MAJOR conference according to last season's bracketology. Maybe we all have a tough time getting players good enough to get out of that level of mediocrity...Maybe none of these coaching gigs are all that desirable..

No disagreement.

nvspuds wrote: ↑

June 26th, 2021, 1:38 pm

At the end of the day they are all jobs in the 7th best MID MAJOR conference according to last season's bracketology. Maybe we all have a tough time getting players good enough to get out of that level of mediocrity...Maybe none of these coaching gigs are all that desirable..

At the end of the day it was a slow news day for ESPN which triggered a slow news, mid-summer topic on our board. I mean really, does anyone really care a rats behind what some goon at ESPN dredged up from a few opposing coaches? Like this is supposed to put a damper on the last 3 years and what I believe is a bright future for the Odom era?

Hey....he spelled our name right. So everything's OK. If it bummed you out and ruined your summer perhaps this will help.

https://www.usufans.com/Forums/viewtopi ... =7&t=58204

If it's just coaches voting, then this means something, but only as to their perspective. The perception among the coaches is that they would rather coach at most of the other programs in the MW. What does a coach look for? We can start with what most employees look for, getting the most money for least effort, balanced with a situation that will propel a coach forward in his career. The comments on recruiting only tell me that one may have to work harder for his paycheck at USU. Talent is available, but the coach might forced to be overly creative and aggressive, and may have to work twice as hard compared to places like San Diego, Albuquerque, Boise, and Reno. Recruiting is brutally difficult work. I've never heard a coach say he loves it. Also, exposure is built into the aforementioned places. Logan has to fight tooth and nail for exposure. BYU and Utah get more positive exposure than USU, even when they are losing. Accessibility is an issue, as well. Coaches probably prefer easy access/travel. Things are better in this regard, but not the same as the others. From a coaching perspective, if one is asked to vote and is forced to choose or rank the schools, I'm not surprised we are in the lower tier, but that does not mean that we can't get good coaches, which we've obviously proven otherwise. This is kind of a "much ado about nothing" issue.

What he said