How does Rutgers outrecruit us?

[Palatine]

Seriously, we have two BE Championship Trophies, RU has none.

We've gone to the BCS. RU, well.

Our facilities are world class. RU has a bubble.

We produce more All BE players every year.

RU is fighting a funding battle in the press. Our athletic department has never been stronger.

In fact, our athletic department stacks up national championships in multiple sports (I don't think RU has any) and we produce All Americans in multiple sports. That's a heck of an environment for an athlete.

I could understand it when Edsall was here. He didn't believe in UConn and I'm sure recruits could sense it. But with all the advantages of the football program in Storrs, we lose recruiting battles to Rutgers? Sheesh. What are they selling that we're not?

 

[Nostical]

Strippers?

 

[uconndogs]

How are you defining "out recruit"? Actual talent or how the recruits are rated on these sites? Becasue if it's the former I disagree with the premise of your question.

 

[NutmegState]

Seriously, we have two BE Championship Trophies, RU has none.

We've gone to the BCS. RU, well.

Our facilities are world class. RU has a bubble.

We produce more All BE players every year.

RU is fighting a funding battle in the press. Our athletic department has never been stronger.

In fact, our athletic department stacks up national championships in multiple sports (I don't think RU has any) and we produce All Americans in multiple sports. That's a heck of an environment for an athlete.

I could understand it when Edsall was here. He didn't believe in UConn and I'm sure recruits could sense it. But with all the advantages of the football program in Storrs, we lose recruiting battles to Rutgers? Sheesh. What are they selling that we're not?

When going head to head for a recruit from a state other than New Jersey, your concerns are valid. When a kid is from New Jersey, UConn is recruiting from an obvious disadvantage.

 

[Carl Spackler]

When going head to head for a recruit from a state other than New Jersey, your concerns are valid. When a kid is from New Jersey, UConn is recruiting from an obvious disadvantage.

Seriously, we have two BE Championship Trophies, RU has none.

We've gone to the BCS. RU, well.

Our facilities are world class. RU has a bubble.

We produce more All BE players every year.

RU is fighting a funding battle in the press. Our athletic department has never been stronger.

In fact, our athletic department stacks up national championships in multiple sports (I don't think RU has any) and we produce All Americans in multiple sports. That's a heck of an environment for an athlete.

I could understand it when Edsall was here. He didn't believe in UConn and I'm sure recruits could sense it. But with all the advantages of the football program in Storrs, we lose recruiting battles to Rutgers? Sheesh. What are they selling that we're not?

Schiano is a great salesman, and has built a great sales department. Period. Stop there, never mind the product.

Does the product that a really good salesman actually sells, really matter?

I have no reason to expect that we won't start having more success in New Jersey than we've had in the past as we continue to hit the recruiting trails and re-establish, and make new contacts.

You have to step up to the plate to get hits, and we're getting at our at bats in.

The more trophies we line up, and banners we hang, for those Jersey kids to see, when they come visit Rentschler field decked out in Red, and then go back to their own stadium and look at the walls - can't hurt either.

 

[B1GEast]

I posted this in another thread, but it makes more sense in this thread:


I would like to see uconn add a director of recruiting. While we have Cersosimo, who doubles as a WR coach and I'm sure the wr duties come first, we also have a recruiting asssistant in Dave Wilczewski.

Check out Rutgers's recruiting staff, http://www.scarletknights.com/football/coaches/staff-recruiting.asp

they even have a guy who manages 10 student workers and then they also have their recruiting bashes in NYC as I detailed a month ago. They know how to put on a show and sell jersey very well, the funny thing is when you hear them talk about family. Every team is like a family, but you would think that Rutgers is the only school to treat players like a famliy, amazing how they pull it off.

 

[hinson32]

I will take a stab at it with my scarlet colored lenses on:

1. NFL. how many players has RU put into the NFL vs. UConn in the past 5 years?
2. APR/graduation rate: parents eat this up. RU is near the top of the nation in both.
3. FAMILY- all schools talk about this, but somehow a lot of recruits mention how Rutgers really has it. I am sure the Legrand tragedy has helped with this.
4. Facilities: You mention the bubble, which I grant you is not as nice as your indoor facility. However, everything else at RU is top notch: locker rooms, training room, recruiting lounge, players lounge. Don't forget RU has a 53K on campus stadium. Uconn has a 40K stadium 20 miles away on an old airport.
5. STAFF- Schiano is a GREAT closer and he has put togher a tremendous recruiting staff.

just my humble opinion.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

I'd rather envy their recruiting victories in February than envy actual freaking championships.

 

[Carl Spackler]

There's nothing wrong with building an entire department focused on recruiting. Nothing at all. Only problem you face is how you fund it. Rutgers athletics is a stone's throw away from what Maryland is going through right now in their athletic department. If they can't find a way to seriously ramp up income revenue without having to draw from student fees and university funds other than what they're bringing in through the athletic department, they're going to have to start cutting athletic programs.

At UConn, we've got the basketball facility upgrade to work on right now, which is moving along quite nicely now that the other PP is back in his chair. Once that gets settled, I will be 100,000% behind a major overhaul and major investment in how the athletic department handles it's recruiting services, especially around football.

Frankly we're going to need to, because the head coaches we've got in the three top spots aren't spring chickens and will need to have guys come in behind them in the not too distant future, and having a powerful recruiting department set up to help the newcomers, well - is pretty ideal if you ask me.

 

[mattp]

it looks like all of the RU recruiting staff started in 2009, so presumably that's when they started this little recruiting team. do we even have such a thing? i assumed there were NCAA limits on the number of football coaches a team is allowed, and if that's the case this seems to be a waste of 3 spots. if there are no limits, or these 3 aren't counted towards it, than we should probably follow suit. RU is probably spending less than 100k on these three combined and if it even brings in one recruit/year that they otherwise wouldn't get it's money well spent

 

[Dann]

i dont see rutgers having sucess in new rngland. and were "making strides" in nj. they are keeping kids home like they should be. congrats to them. we go all over for recruits. if it was us and rutgers for a kid from dc pa or fl, then i would be wondering why. hicks had offers from cuse and ruty among others, we won. time will tell if nj kids see through the bullpoop down there. up in ma its pretty dam obvious that those home grown kids see through it up there. every goto a bc board. on eo they have been crying for several pages now about how bad rutgers is kicking there ass in nj(becuase they have already given up on new england).

 

[CTMike]

I don't think this unrelated to the thread that ktuck just started. Rutgers tends to win publicity for paper championships (and even manages to be arrogant about this). I wouldn't mind UConn winning some public recognition too, but we've got the real thing to back it up, and real > paper.

Beyond that, there are a million factors. Schiano has proven to be a very good recruiter. Some kids might like a more suburban atmostphere for school as opposed to, well, more rural. They aren't coming off a transition 5-7 year.

I have every confidence that Coach P is heading in the right direction and will start to win more of these battles in the future.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I will take a stab at it with my scarlet colored lenses on:

1. NFL. how many players has RU put into the NFL vs. UConn in the past 5 years?
2. APR/graduation rate: parents eat this up. RU is near the top of the nation in both.
3. FAMILY- all schools talk about this, but somehow a lot of recruits mention how Rutgers really has it. I am sure the Legrand tragedy has helped with this.
4. Facilities: You mention the bubble, which I grant you is not as nice as your indoor facility. However, everything else at RU is top notch: locker rooms, training room, recruiting lounge, players lounge. Don't forget RU has a 53K on campus stadium. Uconn has a 40K stadium 20 miles away on an old airport.
5. STAFF- Schiano is a GREAT closer and he has put togher a tremendous recruiting staff.

just my humble opinion.

University of New Jersey athletic department pulled $8.5 million out of student fees and $18.5 million out of the university general fund just to meet opearting expenses last year. How long you think that's going to last? It's not the first year it's happened, and it's getting progressively more an more every year.

If you ask me, the sales job that Schiano seems to be able to pull on local athletes, well - he's pulled the same sales job on the State University of New Jersey.

You can look up how the UConn athletic department operates financially if you want, for a comparison/contrast exercise if you'd like. We're not perfect either, and our former AD did some very good things, and some very not good things, but there is absolutely no danger of UConn athletics going through what the state universities of New Jersey and Maryland are going through right now.

 

[Carl Spackler]

i dont see rutgers having sucess in new rngland. and were "making strides" in nj. they are keeping kids home like they should be. congrats to them. we go all over for recruits. if it was us and rutgers for a kid from dc pa or fl, then i would be wondering why. hicks had offers from cuse and ruty among others, we won. time will tell if nj kids see through the bullpoop down there. up in ma its pretty dam obvious that those home grown kids see through it up there. every goto a bc board. on eo they have been crying for several pages now about how bad rutgers is kicking there ass in nj(becuase they have already given up on new england).

agreed. There are quality players to build football programs with in New Jersey. That's all this is about.

University of New Jersey has done a good job of getting them to stay home at a good clip, and we're just getting back into the ring with them and taking some swings, we'll connect, we have connected with Edsall in the past, and so far this year too.

I don't see any sort of competition w/ rutgers once you get outside that pretty small driving radius from the Jersey turnpike exit.

 

[Dann]

War
Against
Rutgers

 

[Palatine]

I define out recruit as a one on one battle for a kid. Or us, rutgers, Syracuse. Or us Rutgers and BCU. But basically anytime we're up against them 1 on 1, or 1 of 3. It defies logic.

 

[Eagleton96]

Carl, how many varsity sports does UConn field? The football team I think was 1 mil in the red last year, and was in the black the year before. The 18 mil is what the rest of the athletics department costs.

I think the only thing UConn has over RU is two BE championships. So kudos on that. But for facilities, coaching, player development, on field performance, the two programs generally stack up evenly. The three things RU has over UConn are:

1. We are the U of NJ, and NJ has more talent than Connecticut. This is a bid advantage and always will be.
2. Schiano - Great recruiter, and has stability. He's not leaving for another job. So despite all the attempts to portray RU as shaky, we are rock solid in terms of what kids want and will stay that way.
3. Taking care of the kids. RU has worked hard to make sure they take care of the kids. The APR is the highest among public schools. They don't get into trouble at the same rate as other schools. There is a strong community there. Parents feel safe sending their kids to RU and that makes a difference.

 

[mattp]

If you ask me, the sales job that Schiano seems to be able to pull on local athletes, well - he's pulled the same sales job on the State University of New Jersey.

he's unquestionably a great salesman. they were building the RU stadium expansion before anyone even realized it was approved. he's a good enough salesman to convince Jon Corzine, himself a great salesman, to start building the stadium before the financing was even in place b/c he thought he had to strike while the iron was hot. Corzine even offered to call all of his personal friends to pay for it, which of course never panned out. NJ finances may be a mess as a result, but they have their big stadium now and you can't take that away from them.

 

[Dann]

i'll take the 2 BE ships, the 18 wheeler full of bball trophys and the other stuff like soccer ships and baseball trips. rutgers was never good and when uconn made the fball move we passed them when we set up the chairs for the confrence. when rutgers wins something, you guys let me know. rutgers has done a whole lot of nothing since uconn moved into the neighborhood.

 

[Eagleton96]

mattp, so you are saying that Rutgers' 3 billion dollar budget, and NJ's 30 billion budget, are at risk due to Rutger's 100 million stadium expansion that is being paid out in bonds over 30 years?

 

[sportsart]

Regarding stability with Schiano. The reason he won't be going anywhere is nobody would want him. Not a slam, just the truth.

He peaked and missed his window. Besides I am sure other schools are wondering why he didn't do more with his recruiting classes.

Carl, how many varsity sports does UConn field? The football team I think was 1 mil in the red last year, and was in the black the year before. The 18 mil is what the rest of the athletics department costs.

I think the only thing UConn has over RU is two BE championships. So kudos on that. But for facilities, coaching, player development, on field performance, the two programs generally stack up evenly. The three things RU has over UConn are:

1. We are the U of NJ, and NJ has more talent than Connecticut. This is a bid advantage and always will be.
2. Schiano - Great recruiter, and has stability. He's not leaving for another job. So despite all the attempts to portray RU as shaky, we are rock solid in terms of what kids want and will stay that way.
3. Taking care of the kids. RU has worked hard to make sure they take care of the kids. The APR is the highest among public schools. They don't get into trouble at the same rate as other schools. There is a strong community there. Parents feel safe sending their kids to RU and that makes a difference.

 

[businesslawyer]

I define out recruit as a one on one battle for a kid. Or us, rutgers, Syracuse. Or us Rutgers and BCU. But basically anytime we're up against them 1 on 1, or 1 of 3. It defies logic.

Because history matters more than you believe. First impressions are very lasting, and to many (not players but parents and coaches) RU was a place where future NFL players went long before UConn was. I do not believe that Esdall was/is a good recruiter, in terms of winning and losing head to head battles. But you are going to find out over time that the lack of a I-A history is not going to be totally overcome in a decade.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Carl, how many varsity sports does UConn field? The football team I think was 1 mil in the red last year, and was in the black the year before. The 18 mil is what the rest of the athletics department costs.

I think the only thing UConn has over RU is two BE championships. So kudos on that. But for facilities, coaching, player development, on field performance, the two programs generally stack up evenly. The three things RU has over UConn are:

1. We are the U of NJ, and NJ has more talent than Connecticut. This is a bid advantage and always will be.
2. Schiano - Great recruiter, and has stability. He's not leaving for another job. So despite all the attempts to portray RU as shaky, we are rock solid in terms of what kids want and will stay that way.
3. Taking care of the kids. RU has worked hard to make sure they take care of the kids. The APR is the highest among public schools. They don't get into trouble at the same rate as other schools. There is a strong community there. Parents feel safe sending their kids to RU and that makes a difference.

UConn's APR is certainly nothing to scoff at or the sense of "community", whatever that means.

 

[Waquoit]

At UConn, we've got the basketball facility upgrade to work on right now, which is moving along quite nicely now that the other PP is back in his chair. Once that gets settled, I will be 100,000% behind a major overhaul and major investment in how the athletic department handles it's recruiting services, especially around football.

So we shouldn't hope for improved recruiting until the BB facility gets built? You lost me.

 

[Eagleton96]

john, i think it's image as much as anything. RU is in the community, doing good deeds etc. So people feel part of the RU community long before they actually join the team. Once at UConn, a NJ kid may feel just as at home. But part of being the state school is that you have a broader service mission. People feel they are a stakeholder in the state U.

Add the top ranked APR and stuff like that...and an image get's made.