Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
Welcome to Duke football Cole Finney from Massachusetts.
https://247sports.com/Recruitment/Co...ruitInterests/
"This is the best of all possible worlds."
Dr. Pangloss - Candide
247 article on the commitment.
https://t.co/sYRpm2uCKk
"This is the best of all possible worlds."
Dr. Pangloss - Candide
Thanks for the link!
This Cole Finney quote is noteworthy:
"Duke has the unique combination of big time football and a top tier education. They also care about how you do after you graduate, and they set you up not just for a career in the NFL, but also to be very successful in whatever field you choose. All of this really stuck out to me because you don’t see it in every program."
Bob Green
I continue to wish we recruited more heavily in the Northeast, specifically the NJ and PA areas where Duke's reputation is well known, we have recruited well in previous decades, and there is a plethora of talent at good academic high schools (lots of very strong parochial schools among others)...
The recruiting budget is fine...they recruit some in California...getting to NJ or PA is no more difficult than getting to Florida or much of Georgia, seemingly our preferred territory. Yes, there are lots of talented players there, but I think we shortchange our academic allure by failing to look to NJ and PA.
Distance doesn't matter too much. You have to get to the airport wa-a-a-y early, so going anywhere is about the same time. The airlines charge a fortune for even the shortest flight, so air fare doesn't matter so much.
What does matter is connections and knowledge -- knowledge in the press and among coaches and players that Duke is actively recruiting an area and a track record of players going to Duke and being successful. Knowing the coaches is possibly the most important -- if you are in a sales role, it is wonderful if the phone rings...
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
^ agreed, but we need coaches who know other territories which have been fruitful for Duke in the past...at the time being, as much as it pains me to say it, we are stuck in a bit of a mediocrity rut when it comes to recruiting...yes yes yes, way better than 15 years ago, but we're not getting the talent right now to "compete for championships" which is Cut's stated goal...I just think we can do better. There is a reason why we lag almost everyone else when it comes to NFL players.
Stars don't want to play in half empty stadiums. I know, I know. Not exactly rocket science.
"This is the best of all possible worlds."
Dr. Pangloss - Candide
This is true, but falling attendance has been an issue for probably 75% of D1 for a long time. UVA, just last year, was getting about 32 K in 65 K Scott Stadium. The way that UVA finished last year--they'll start getting people in the seats with the way that they're winning. Duke won 10 games in 2013 when everyone had Duke pegged for last place. Won 9 the following year. Attendance was decent but not great. You have to win home games when the Wade is over 30 K or so (like VT or Miami) and not come out flat. Just the way it is.
That's not Duke's problem. Duke's problem is that attendance stunk even as college football attendance was surging in the 80s and 90s. Duke is a 30 thousand fan football school, and they should have right-sized Wade instead of building the gigantic pressbox that ate the program.
Oh, I agree with the attendance part, but the product post 94 thru 2010 was a complete joke. The patient was dead. Who was going to show up for that? Small wonder there were poetry readings at half of one game. Re: the press box, Duke had to make that investment-- Have you seen what those suites go for? They practically make up for the lackluster attendance when Duke isn't playing VT, Clemson, Miami, or UNC at home. Moreover, Duke needed the additional space (larger media capability, conferencing, newer press box needed, etc) . The old press box had to go. Also, it IS Duke's problem when they don't capitalize on a good home crowd, and far too often that's been the case. Start off 3-0 or 4-0 and look completely unprepared or worse drop 2 scores in the first 5 minutes and piss away a game vs VT. That's very much in their control. When you don't sufficiently market to your base (which Duke doesn't and used to do with the summer speaking circuit) then you're really relying on team performance as impetus for showing up. That's tricky when few remember how successful Duke was in the 40's, 50's, and early 60's.
I'm gonna jump over to the Wallace Wade attendance thread and start talking about recruiting.
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
Er, the "pressbox" tends to refer to the entire building, at least colloquially, even though certainly there is more going on inside. It doesn't just refer to the specific room you are in as a member of the press.
The new building is definitely larger than the old one.
Should we start a conversation about professional fan bases in the lacrosse thread?
This is what happens when not much football recruiting info is available. As usual, we know little, we will continue to know little.