[NU Sports] Recruiting at Stanford

[Jim Leonard]

Great point, Jeff. I don't know that our facilities played a role in either of their decisions. I'm not even sure they took tours of our facilities. I was simply pointing out that we have been on the short list for some great players and have lost out. I do find it interesting though that both these guys went to play for Harbaugh who split when the money was too good to pass up. 
 
I am certain that an on-campus weight room and indoor facility would be a serious boost to recruiting. Even when I was in NUMB it seemed like a pain in the ass to take buses up to Dyche stadium for rehearsal and we made about 1/3 the number of trips that a football player will make. 
 
Jim


________________________________
From: "Beamsley, Jeff" <Jeff.Beamsley at covisint.com>
To: Jim Leonard <jleonard518 at yahoo.com>; Northwestern Wildcats <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 12:03 PM
Subject: RE: [NU Sports] Recruiting at Stanford

While I agree that facilities are part of the recruiting process, it's always dangerous to suggest that the quality of the facilities was the specific reason why a particular recruit chose a particular school unless they have actually been quoted saying that.  I couldn't find any quotes from Luck or Stewart suggesting that their decisions were based on the quality of NU's facilities.

Luck was definitely the kind of kid that Northwestern wants to recruit, but he also had offers from Oklahoma State, Purdue, Rice, and Virginia.  According to rivals, he only visited Stanford and he committed early, so I suspect that Stanford had the inside track from the start.  

In Stewart's case, he visited Stanford, Northwestern, and UCF.  He also had offers from Kentucky, Louisiana Tech, and Southern Miss.  If it was only about facilities, UCF would have easily given Stanford a run for their money given their investment in 2007 which included a new football stadium, a new "athletic village", and the only indoor Dev I football practice facility in Florida. 

Just looking through the 2011 recruits, here are the NU players who were also offered by Stanford but chose to come to NU.  

Max Chapman
Deonte Gibson
Christian Jones

BTW with regard to Christian Jones, by implication, Stanford was one of the schools who withdrew their offer when Christian tore his ACL.  Clearly an advantage for NU recruiting going forward that didn't require a big dollar investment.

Jeff


-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of Jim Leonard
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 12:17 PM
To: Northwestern Wildcats
Subject: [NU Sports] Recruiting at Stanford

If my memory serves me, I believe both Jeremy Stewart and Andrew Luck had their offer lists down to Stanford and Northwestern when they were seniors in high school. I think that alone should help Fitz convince the board of trustees to build an on campus practice facility. We cannot compete with the weather and scenery of Palo Alto, but we need a "wow factor" to help us land these players. 
 
Go Cats!
Jim
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