[NU Sports] OSU game highlighted Randy Walker's shortcomings

[Jeff Beamsley]

[long post warning]

I think this is more of the bigotry of low expectations.

The fact that a school takes a prop 48 player doesn't mean that they
automatically become more competitive unless all prop 48 players are somehow
more skilled than those that don't need that help.

Unless you missed the lively discussion earlier this year, there are a
couple of majors at NU that are significantly more popular with our athletes
than others.  So don't kid yourself.  Some kids do come to NU to major in
football just like they do everywhere else.  The difference is that our
football majors actually graduate with another degree that really means
something.   

There is no doubt that NU has the highest admission standards in the BT and
that it is a challenge to find football players to meet that standard.  But
it is also true that NU is the most expensive institution in the BT and has
the highest graduation rate in the BT.  It also has a national reputation
for academic excellence as well as a growing reputation in the NFL for
producing smart LB's and offensive linemen.

The bad news is that NU recruiters have to travel more than our BT rivals.
The good news is that when we find smart kids who are also good football
players (and yes there are enough of them out there every year), our
recruiters have the following advantages: We can hand them a check for
$160K.  We can virtually guarantee that they will graduate with a real
degree even in communications studies <g>.  We can guarantee that they will
be on TV playing against some of the best teams in the country.  We can
promise that if they have aspirations to play in the NFL (particularly if
they are LB's or OL) they will get a shot.  

So while NU may never get the same number of blue-chip recruits that UoM or
OSU gets, we will get smart kids that want to come here for all the right
reasons.  Because all of our kids share a certain attitude and make-up, our
coach starts out with an advantage that other coaches who may have access to
more raw talent don't have.  Our kids know that they only way they are going
to win is to play as a team. Because football is a team game, we have proven
over and over again that our team can often beat a group of more talented
players who aren't playing as a team.  With the right coach, that advantage
should allow us to post consistent winning seasons.

As I said in an earlier post, I don't think NU aspires to contend for a
national championship every year, at least not yet.  But it is certainly
reasonable to have expectations that our teams post winning records every
year, regularly go to bowl games as a result, and contend for BT
championships in "experienced" years.  If Purdue hadn't laid an egg this
year, I would have held them up as a reasonable model of how a school with
high academic standards could emerge from mediocrity and become a
respectable competitor in the BT.

Jeff  

-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
Behalf Of Hakirsch at aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2005 10:47 AM
To: loomis3 at sbcglobal.net; johnadeg at bellatlantic.net; nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] OSU game highlighted Randy Walker's shortcomings

Besides ND does any program in the country with high academic standards for
its football players (Michigan and Cal both take prop 48 players)
consistently go to top bowls ?- Heck even ND has taken at least 1 prop 48
player -Stanford was always the model, but in spite of a legacy of some
great QB's of Plunkett and Elway, and some Rose Bowl teams they only rarely
go to a top bowl.  Duke was decent when they had Spurrier- that-didn't last
long.  Vandy--this year perhaps, hardly any others-- 

Harry
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