[NU Sports] You saw it coming...

[Roy S. Lamberton]

Maybe we should change the "speed demon" reference below, but what I was
alluding to was that many Div I prospects don't realize they need decent grades
until its too late.

There is an attitude among many HS students, [and I'm sorry this might offend
some around here] particularly those of african descent, that think they don't
need to study and get good grades because they're going to go to the pros and
make millions. They are all very talented athletes, but somewhere they get the
idea that they didn't have to work at anything but football [or basketball] 

I've heard it on the sidelines from parents who are distraught because their kid
isn't starting. Gee - the kid doesn't put out the effort to start, and besides
he's about to flunk off the team because of poor performance in the classroom.
This case was a black kid, but I've had white kids with the same "don't need to
study" attitude who are smart enough, they just didn't care about school [and
their future] enough.

I think even Jesse Jackson made the comment once that if Black kids put as much
effort into studies as playing basketball, we would have black scientists
running the major research programs, but I still see kids with NBA dreams
shooting hoops until dark instead of hitting the books. Any kid who puts out the
effort to study is branded with a negative stigma by all races - the ones who
rise to the top are always denigrated because they put out the effort, just look
around at the present political arena.

So how does that relate to NU recruiting. 

Many kids, who are smart enough to attend NU, never take the effort to get the
grades and work on improving SAT or ACT scores.

There was a young poor black kid in Baltimore who wanted to attend Maryland - he
raised his SATs by almost 500 points by taking a class. He wanted to get into a
college that wasn't going to bend its rules. He was smart enough, and good
enough to make the NBA, but he also realized at the last minute that he had to
have the grades and the SAT score. He did it and that effort should be what is
heralded, not his performance at the NCAA tournament.

Many Black Kids, who are smart enough to attend NU, and who play football, and
who have the grades and SATs will go to other top programs, who also covet their
mental and physical abilities. They go elsewhere because NU has a reputation of
being a "white bread" school. The Daily has even run a series on Black Athletes
not being involved in the "black" activities enough.

Yes, NU has a rep as an "old school" type program under Randy Walker, but we had
the "new school" coaching approach all through the 70's and 80's. We didn't win,
and we didn't recruit well. You want to return to that?

NU has a great message right now - "Come to NU and help us advance to the next
level. We're a tough program, we'll demand 110% from you, but in return you get
a great education, and maybe a look from the pros, just like at any other Big 10
College but even so, you'll have that degree when you're done."

I don't know if Randy Walker floated the idea that he might leave if offered a
better deal somewhere. I suspect its one of the beat writers looking for some
news and asking the question, but regardless of what you think, Walker and Co.
does a lot with what we recruit, and every class may not appear to be great on
the surface, but seems to turn out decent players after a redshirt and 2 years.

The last time Walker was asked about his future plans was right before the
contract extension, where he got a raise, but more important pushed for, and got
raises for all of the assistants. That could be in the works again.

Walker has the Cats at .500 with his current talent. I don't want to go back to
the 3-8, 2-9, 3-7, 5-7 and 3-9 records that St. Gary provided around his two Big
10 Champ years. This year we beat some pretty good Big 10 teams, all of whom
garnered bowl bids. Had we not scheduled Hawai'i, we'd be bowling too.

I'm not a big fan of changing coaches. I've seen schools with a merry go round,
and I've seem the same schools with the same coach for a long time - They were
given time and most of them got the program going, and kept it going for a long
time. Personally, I'd rather have RW around until one of our alums - like Fitz -
is ready to take over the program at NU.

rsl

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Roy S. Lamberton - Senior Associate
Computer Applications & Support Associates
and Publisher of Purple Reign, 
The Scout.com Northwestern University Site
(http://www.purplewildcats.com)
AIM Handle: CoachRoy74

=========================================
No Society has ever Taxed or Litigated
itself to prosperity...Think about it.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

> >What was apparent last night was our lack of sheer speed. College 
> >football has turned into a faster, stronger sport and NU is 
> racing to 
> >catch up. Unfortunately there are just not enough speed demons out 
> >there with the ability to get into NU.
> >  
> >
> Why not?
> 
> How many do you think we need?
> 
> I'm really hoping you didn't mean what you just said.  Do you really 
> think that the best 40 times only belong to the intellectually 
> challenged?  Is there some genetic or racial relationship 
> between quick 
> twitch muscles and IQ that I'm unaware of?  I thought we 
> moved past that 
> stuff a long time ago.  I'm hoping this was the result of 
> staying up too 
> late to watch a football game and not something you're willing to 
> attempt to defend. 
> 
> In terms of sheer entertainment value, though, it was a heck 
> of a season!
> 
> Jeff
> 
> 
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