sous vide
Member
... Just wait for 2012 ...
Do you realize just how many times each of us is going to be saying "Just wait for 2012" over the next 16 months :angry: ???!!
... Just wait for 2012 ...
You are right. Having a "Five Star" coach is more important than any recruit out there.Sorry we didn't get Gray, but we still got the best runner in the state. Also, we got the best coach in the country.
There's a reason so few of those Top50 high school recruits ever become Heisman winners. Prima Donna definitely has something to do with it.
I have a good friend that is a 5-A High School coach. He and I have had a number of discussions about the above, and most of the time it has been due to TCU not really being a "player" in this arena. However, in the past few years that has changed.
This may or may not come as a shock, but he told me that a lot of these players are prima-donnas, and after attending some of TCU's practices and seeing how hard they work during practice, he seems to have the opinion that when they go to the other programs, they aren't expected to work as hard, but will still see playing time. He says that this is how GP has been successful. He gets kids from small schools that nobody else wanted, knows they have a strong work ethic, and develops them into 5-star players while they are with him.
I never thought of that. Any discussion? Could this really be a factor?
Be wary of big-time players out of the University of Texas.
That’s the lesson I’ve taken from watching Vince Young and Michael Griffin at close range, and guys such as Ricky Williams, Cedric Benson and Michael Huff from afar. It seems they get babied in Austin, and that such star treatment don't help them get ready for the stresses of the NFL. (Derrick Johnson was slow to come around. Brian Orakpo has been an exception.)
From everything I've read about Gray, I would certainly not lump him in with the prima dona crowd of 5-stars. In fact he really seems like a class act (which is partly why it's so disappointing to miss out on him). However, we've all seen the way CGP is able to turn boys into men and that has helped to define our program this past decade.
Nevertheless, there is one incontrovertible fact that we will be dealing with from now until the foreseeable future: when recruiting kids from Texas it's going to be hard to overcome the desire that any young kid in Texas grows up with to play ball against A&M, Tech, Texas and/or OU. I'm sure there are plenty who wouldn't care if they played in front of a crowd of ten people if it meant being able to do that. We're moving to a bigger stage in the Big East, we've punched our ticket for BCS entry and all-in-all it is absolutely the right fit for us right now. But this is a challenge that we will be dealing with for years to come and the only way we're going to be able to overcome it is to win so damned much that people can't help but want to play for us no matter what part of the country we're playing in (oh, and maintaining an out of conference schedule to is stocked with plenty of former SWC foes).
Personally think J Gray is making a huge mistake and feel bad for the coaches who work their ever-loving tails off continuing the fight for the good guys, but they are making inroads and their are definitely some cracks being seen in the great fortresses.
Good luck to this staff and many thanks for all your hard work.
This. I said something similar in the VYPE thread. I don;t have to root for him because I feel he made a mistake. He chose to head to Austin and repair a crumbling castle instead of heading to FW and building a new one. He picked being coddled by Mack over hard work with GP.
Next please.