Recruiting

[Rambler63]

Ok thank you both that was very helpful. That makes alot of sense. Do you think the struggles that the program has had is mostly just due to lack of caring by the administration or what exactly went wrong?

I think a lot of it was that Basketball was a secondary thought. For a long time, there was little investment in basketball. Part of it comes from the University being in a terrible financial place (under past Presidents) but part of it comes from a lack of interest. Basketball wasn't a priority. Thankfully, this new AD and our President have a new found respect for the athletic programs. It's as if they realize that athletic success can bring more students to the school (and, as such, more academic success).

This recruiting thread is getting a little philosophical, isn't it? My take is that the various administrations, especially since 1963, assumed that winning came pretty easy. They weren't spending a lot of money on facilities, or athletic directors, or maintaining a vigorous sports program when we won the national championship, or when Tom O'Hara set the world record for fastest mile in indoor track, so why should they have to do it now? Why should we have to pay money to go out and beat the bushes for good athletes--- wouldn't those dim-witted jocks just want to come here because we're such an awesome school in an awesome town with especially awesome faculty? Also, athletics can be an enormous nuisance and a financial burden to a lot of college presidents--- thankfully, the one we have now seems to recognize its enormous intangible value, over and above its value in admissions, retention, public relations, marketing, etc.

[ahunte1]

I followed the team closely from the 02-03 season until the 06-07 season, which was the last time we won 20 games. From then until Moser's first year, I only checked in on them here and there, and I imagine things got pretty bleak for those four years. The wins just weren't there.

But, it's easy to forget that the team wasn't that bad until Moser's first year. They were mediocre at best (and they played weak schedules), but things didn't hit rock bottom until the 1-17 disaster of 2011-12. That team was just awful.

We are all hoping that it's part of the process of restarting the engine.

Looking at the talent level, I feel like we are back to where we were in the early 2000s, and we need to keep moving up.