2022 Badger Football Thread

[FlaPack]

If so, and I believe he was instrumental in shutting it down, how can we believe they are 13th in spending? Between shutdown of MGC, and the loss of Khalil, who was doing the best with what he had, and the appointment of Turner, who seems to have been clueless about recruiting outside of a six hour drive from Madison, or finding portal players, how was the money spent?

I go back to one weekend of recruiting for the University of Texas. The equivalent of over 60% of the total recruiting package the Badgers have.

To be honest, if I was a HC candidate, I don't know if Wisconsin would be my choice, unless I had control of the recruiting program, and saw at least enough money to classify us in the top 5 in the Big 10. You're not going to be a consistent winner, and that nice facility is never going to happen.

As to the portal I sense that the philosophy changed a bit. Dort, Shaw, Latu have shown flashes, Latu especially and Shaw was a 4 start kid coming out. Lewis also seems like he has some upside. Mellusi was class of 21 also

 

[Keg Man]

I believe the key we're hearing is that they have committed themselves to recruiting, and increased their budget for recruiting significantly, so they can do more than send kids a postcard with pictures of the UW campus as an enticement to attend UW-M. Minter is no idiot, and someday will be one of the better DI coaches, because he knows that you have to have talent on your team, if you want to win.

No matter who gets the HC job in Madison, let's hope they're given a recruiting budget that lets them get some of these kids from all over the country that they haven't been able to recruit, because of finances. That means making sure you have the right guys to get out there, and make these young men feel like the Durand kid does, who's in next year's incoming class.

Well if Bucky is sending recruits to UW-Milwaukee, the recruiting problem is explained

 

[Keg Man]

Facilities are important.

Recruiting funds are important.

But, I believe salesmanship is more important. Everybody's right, not everyone likes WI. That's OK.

But, to have a recruit show up and nobody knows who he is? That's poison. You think that didn't get out on social media? Probably cost WI several players

There's a lot to sell about WI.

 

[FlaPack]

Facilities are important.

Recruiting funds are important.

But, I believe salesmanship is more important. Everybody's right, not everyone likes WI. That's OK.

But, to have a recruit show up and nobody knows who he is? That's poison. You think that didn't get out on social media? Probably cost WI several players

There's a lot to sell about WI.

What’s to sell? And yes facilities matter. Sure sell Jump Around and a quality education that’s all good but in todays world it’s much more

 

[TW]

What’s to sell? And yes facilities matter. Sure sell Jump Around and a quality education that’s all good but in todays world it’s much more

I think Keg Man said there was more to it. Nobody disagrees with him, or you. Facilities do matter. But you're using it as the built in excuse to fail in recruiting.

As poor as our recruiting has obviously been, we've still had enough success to make the Badger program one of the better ones, but not elite, in the Big 10. That pretty much tells me that with more effort in recruiting, with a bigger budget, and field presence out there, it could be even more successful. Then, when they reach a level where they are knocking on the door of elite status, they can find donations large enough to develop a new, state of the art, facility for athletes.

But, no matter how big of a facility, how pretty, and how many golden calves you have in it, if you don't even know who the kid is, when he arrives on campus for a visit, on your nickel, you aren't going to get him to join your program.

At this point in time, if the Badgers came along and asked a son of mine to join their program, I'd look long and hard at it, and probably suggest another one, but not really based on facility, but how I viewed the program itself, and what it offered for education, as well as sports. Being a fan only goes so far.

 

[57packer]

What’s to sell? And yes facilities matter. Sure sell Jump Around and a quality education that’s all good but in todays world it’s much more

Have to both agree and disagree. They could certainly use some upgrades in facilities, and hell yes they need to do more in terms of spending on recruiting and also retention of asst coaches.

That said, it's not like UW has absolutely nothing to sell, like it's some armpit school in some armpit location. Madison, despite the cold winters, is a attractive city especially for young people. The campus is really nice and recruits routinely comment on that. The gameday atmosphere is really good to great. Academics are excellent.

The program also has a solid reputation of putting kids in the NFL, which might be as important as anything. They are tied for 12th in number of players on opening day NFL rosters this year - ahead of Texas, A&M, USC, Oregon and a number of other programs with better facilities, bigger budgets, etc. Maybe they need to sell that more.

As for facilities, the practice facility upgrades included in the next capital budget request will certainly help. $300 million is a pretty solid commitment to upgrading the facilities. Now, we'll see if that budget passes as proposed. After that, they need to work on the recruiting budget and coaches salaries. In the end though, even if they do all that, they still won't catch up to the blue-bloods in terms of recruiting success. Geography, weather, and other factors including academics, will always work against UW to some degree.

 

[Keg Man]

Absolutely, weather and other things hinder WI recruiting.

But, there is a lot to sell about Madison and WI.

WI is a winter wonderland: Snowmobiling, Cross Country Skiing, Winter Festivals, Sliding down the hill on a food tray, sledding, Broomball, Ice Skating, Hockey, Ice Fishing, Sports and other activities.

WI is an outdoor paradise: Fishing, hunting, boating, hiking, camping, Festivals, Sports and other activities.

No it's not for everyone and it's better for the recruit and WI to discover it's not a match. BUT, there are a lot of Football Players that love that stuff. Instead of admitting it's a detriment, sell it as the fun it is.

 

[Mark87]

Absolutely, weather and other things hinder WI recruiting.

But, there is a lot to sell about Madison and WI.

WI is a winter wonderland: Snowmobiling, Cross Country Skiing, Winter Festivals, Sliding down the hill on a food tray, sledding, Broomball, Ice Skating, Hockey, Ice Fishing, Sports and other activities.

WI is an outdoor paradise: Fishing, hunting, boating, hiking, camping, Festivals, Sports and other activities.

No it's not for everyone and it's better for the recruit and WI to discover it's not a match. BUT, there are a lot of Football Players that love that stuff. Instead of admitting it's a detriment, sell it as the fun it is.

I am sorry to all but UW is very very hard to sell and an acquired taste. I am in the heart of heavy-duty HS recruiting in the SE. Yes, UW has tried here but they can't compete vs the SEC/ACC and even Ohio State/ Michigan for these kids.

Keg none of these kids gives a blood nickel anymore about the outdoors or some of the things we sold 25-plus years ago. The outdated recruiting tactics are what ya'll are totally not grasping. I really like Jimmy L but folks here is the bottom line truth from the outside...

He can't fix what ails UW FB, you MUST change the culture of the program with an outside face and the administration internally has to fully support that culture. Otherwise yeah.. 7-8 win seasons are going to be your ceiling with USC and UCLA coming in.

 

[GBP4EVER]

I am sorry to all but UW is very very hard to sell and an acquired taste. I am in the heart of heavy-duty HS recruiting in the SE. Yes, UW has tried here but they can't compete vs the SEC/ACC and even Ohio State/ Michigan for these kids.

Keg none of these kids gives a blood nickel anymore about the outdoors or some of the things we sold 25-plus years ago. The outdated recruiting tactics are what ya'll are totally not grasping. I really like Jimmy L but folks here is the bottom line truth from the outside...

He can't fix what ails UW FB, you MUST change the culture of the program with an outside face and the administration internally has to fully support that culture. Otherwise yeah.. 7-8 win seasons are going to be your ceiling with USC and UCLA coming in.

UW needs to be going after the 2-3 star kids down south. Those are the kids they can possible land as the SEC schools will not be heavily recuriting them or if they do it's as backups. Many of those kids would have chances to start at UW.

 

[Mark87]

UW needs to be going after the 2-3 star kids down south. Those are the kids they can possible land as the SEC schools will not be heavily recuriting them or if they do it's as backups. Many of those kids would have chances to start at UW.

They won't go to UW. No reason too..they would prefer to go to schools like App State and stay in the culture they love.