[NU Sports] Talent

[cherron604 at aol.com]

An on-campus stadium is not an option without additional lakefill.



Additional lakefill is not an option - Evanston will fight it, everybody concerned about the Lake will fight it.  Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan will all fight it. (Remember, sand from the Indiana Dunes was used in Lakefill #1 - that could never happen today.)  Senator Paul Douglas nearly derailed Lakefill #1 - Lakefill #2 would be political poison - NU would be blown out of the water.



Dyche is as near to the campus as possible, with adequate parking available nearby.



If a player is going to be attracted to Cornfield U because they have an on-campus facility (with of course, the best seats and parking allocated to those who pay a lot of money, and the students squeezed into the cheap seats), then they are probably not the caliber of student-athlete that would succeed at Northwestern.



Besides, as a percentage of total enrollment, I would match our student crowds against most schools.



And USC and Miami do okay despite playing in off-campus facilities.



If the training facilities behind Dyche are inadequate, improve them.



Chuck Herron   Tech '85


-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis W. Brandt <tbng at comcast.net>
To: Northwestern Wildcats <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Sent: Mon, Oct 19, 2009 1:52 pm
Subject: [NU Sports] Talent



<I was of the understanding that our style of spread offense could be adjusted to compensate for lesser talent. 
 
Just how does one compensate for lesser talent? If the other guy is faster, he'll run you down. If he's stronger, he'll over power you. If he's more agile, he'll make moves you can't stop or respond in time to yours. A given offense may minimize talent differences, but it cannot overcome them. NU's football talent has improved, but it is still, on the whole, of average caliber. To attract talent, we must build a quality, on-campus stadium and supporting facilities that will wow a kid on a campus visit, which is what Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan do every year. (It will be interesting to see how Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota progress over the next few seasons now that they are playing in new or updated faclilities. We may not like the results, but they will be interesting.) New facilities will not be enough on their own, but recruiting top talent will remain a nearly insurmountable obstacle as long as we play in ancient, however-renovated, off-campus Dyche before crowds of 25,000, half of whom are rooting for the other team. This will be a slow and often painful building process, and we cannot afford back-sliding seasons as this year's is in danger of becoming. But any goal of short of putting us into annual contention for the Big Ten title is a waste of time and money. I am eager to hear the long-range goals of the incoming administration. 
 
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