Depth?

[yote18]

I think this thread may have been hijacked a bit. But I’m gonna go ahead anyway. This summer as part of my MBA program we did research and presented it to Pres. Gestring and the exec team on the current and future landscapes of college in SD and the overall nation. Main point, SD right now is experiencing an overall decline in students going to college because we have less HS graduates. This is expected to continue for a few years, and then have An uptick for a while. Then by 2035 HS graduation rates are forecasted to to start declining sharply in SD. (Main reason USD now heavily markets itself to Iowa and Nebraska) State schools also are experiencing considerably less males attending traditional universities. Why? Because small town males are choosing tech schools. So how is this relevant? With less male SD students we obviously are going to have to recruit out of state more, so having a majority SD squad isn’t an option. SD’s population isn’t growing, all thats happening is small town kids are going to school and then moving to SF or rapid city.

[gopheryote]

Nov 17, 2019 16:05:15 GMT -6 yote18 said:

I think this thread may have been hijacked a bit. But I’m gonna go ahead anyway. This summer as part of my MBA program we did research and presented it to Pres. Gestring and the exec team on the current and future landscapes of college in SD and the overall nation. Main point, SD right now is experiencing an overall decline in students going to college because we have less HS graduates. This is expected to continue for a few years, and then have An uptick for a while. Then by 2035 HS graduation rates are forecasted to to start declining sharply in SD. (Main reason USD now heavily markets itself to Iowa and Nebraska) State schools also are experiencing considerably less males attending traditional universities. Why? Because small town males are choosing tech schools. So how is this relevant? With less male SD students we obviously are going to have to recruit out of state more, so having a majority SD squad isn’t an option. SD’s population isn’t growing, all thats happening is small town kids are going to school and then moving to SF or rapid city.

Sorry, but this conversation has no room for research, facts, or well thought out conclusions. 

[easmus]

Yes, it seems we’ve gone on a tangent. I am well aware of the trends. And who can blame many males for spending less money, or in the case of Build Dakota Scholarships nothing, for a tech school degree that’s in high demand and make as much or more as some bachelor degrees with less time in school? There are some college degrees that don’t have as much practical use as a generation or 2 ago. But the world will continue to need accountants, management, health services administration, marketing, HR, etc. It is good we’re marketing IA & NE hard as those are geographically in our foot print. But athletics plays a part in those males and their perception of our school as “cool” because we win at sports.

[Yote 53]

USD is practically in Iowa and Nebraska since Vermillion is located on the point of the tri-state area. I get tired of hearing the "we need more SD kids". There are plenty of local players from Iowa and Nebraska to satisfy the "local recruiting" requirement.

So let's get down to it. What a lot of you are inferring is that because a player isn't from SD that they don't care as much about representing the school and the state. That's complete BS.

Just recruit the best players available and coach them up to win. Period.

I don't think we have a player problem. Following the recruiting the last several years, we're recruiting in the same markets as the other schools and winning some recruiting battles.

Our issue is coaching and player development, specifically on the defensive side of the ball. Our defense flat out sucks and I hope Saturday is the last game for some coaches on that side of the ball. I'll leave it up to Bob to figure out who needs to go but that side of the ball needs a complete overhaul.

[coffeedrinker]

From personal experience I believe that Walk-Ons are the heart and soul of a team. NCAA rules allow 20 hours per week dedicated to team activities. Anyone who believes that student athletes who are football players only spend 20 hours a week on team activities are dreaming. While I know travel time doesn't count towards the 20 our players spent 11 hours on a bus traveling to and from the game this week. Add in position meetings, treatment, lifting, practice, and other requirements it's a significant amount of time. Walk-ons are not getting a dime for all of the time they putting in. Why to they do it? Love of the game, love of school, different for each young man though probably some overlap I'm sure.

Take a look at the walk-ons, where do they come from? You would find out that they are from a reasonably close radius to the school. The question then becomes do we work at trying to recruit local kids to Vermillion as walk-ons? Try talking with some of the kids who are invited to a game, how many are from with a 150 mile radius? If they are that close it's easy and doesn't cost the school (except for up to 3 tickets) to tell them to come to a game for an "unofficial visit". I realize this is antidotal information and not scientific because I don't have any idea if it's statistically significant, but I've talked with three families none from SD, MN, NE. One family was from IA. With in-state tuition we should be working hard at recruiting locally. How many of you who live within 150 miles know of a young man invited to a game to see the facilities? I know of a three time all-stater from a small school who was never contacted by USD but was recruited by SDSU and NIU. He lives closer to USD than either SDSU or NIU.

I've read on here about Greenfield being a former walk-on who is now a scholarship player, that's great. Who else, when was the last time you heard of Coyote who received a scholarship after walking on. Just thoughts about why geography is important.

[fightsd]

Nov 17, 2019 19:05:49 GMT -6 coffeedrinker said:

From personal experience I believe that Walk-Ons are the heart and soul of a team. NCAA rules allow 20 hours per week dedicated to team activities. Anyone who believes that student athletes who are football players only spend 20 hours a week on team activities are dreaming. While I know travel time doesn't count towards the 20 our players spent 11 hours on a bus traveling to and from the game this week. Add in position meetings, treatment, lifting, practice, and other requirements it's a significant amount of time. Walk-ons are not getting a dime for all of the time they putting in. Why to they do it? Love of the game, love of school, different for each young man though probably some overlap I'm sure.

Take a look at the walk-ons, where do they come from? You would find out that they are from a reasonably close radius to the school. The question then becomes do we work at trying to recruit local kids to Vermillion as walk-ons? Try talking with some of the kids who are invited to a game, how many are from with a 150 mile radius? If they are that close it's easy and doesn't cost the school (except for up to 3 tickets) to tell them to come to a game for an "unofficial visit". I realize this is antidotal information and not scientific because I don't have any idea if it's statistically significant, but I've talked with three families none from SD, MN, NE. One family was from IA. With in-state tuition we should be working hard at recruiting locally. How many of you who live within 150 miles know of a young man invited to a game to see the facilities? I know of a three time all-stater from a small school who was never contacted by USD but was recruited by SDSU and NIU. He lives closer to USD than either SDSU or NIU.

I've read on here about Greenfield being a former walk-on who is now a scholarship player, that's great. Who else, when was the last time you heard of Coyote who received a scholarship after walking on. Just thoughts about why geography is important.

I don't disagree with anything you said, but it still doesn't support the idea that program success or support is correlated with the amount of in-state or walk ons on the roster.

Totally agree with the dedication and hard work the walk ons put in. I don't think they work harder than anyone else on the roster necessarily, but they are definitely motivated. They should be given the exact same treatment and opportunities as anyone on the roster. But building a program around kids with a lot of heart doesn't win games in D1. Rudy had a lot of heart too, but there's a reason he rode the bench.

[Yotes]

Nov 17, 2019 19:05:49 GMT -6 coffeedrinker said:

From personal experience I believe that Walk-Ons are the heart and soul of a team. NCAA rules allow 20 hours per week dedicated to team activities. Anyone who believes that student athletes who are football players only spend 20 hours a week on team activities are dreaming. While I know travel time doesn't count towards the 20 our players spent 11 hours on a bus traveling to and from the game this week. Add in position meetings, treatment, lifting, practice, and other requirements it's a significant amount of time. Walk-ons are not getting a dime for all of the time they putting in. Why to they do it? Love of the game, love of school, different for each young man though probably some overlap I'm sure.

Take a look at the walk-ons, where do they come from? You would find out that they are from a reasonably close radius to the school. The question then becomes do we work at trying to recruit local kids to Vermillion as walk-ons? Try talking with some of the kids who are invited to a game, how many are from with a 150 mile radius? If they are that close it's easy and doesn't cost the school (except for up to 3 tickets) to tell them to come to a game for an "unofficial visit". I realize this is antidotal information and not scientific because I don't have any idea if it's statistically significant, but I've talked with three families none from SD, MN, NE. One family was from IA. With in-state tuition we should be working hard at recruiting locally. How many of you who live within 150 miles know of a young man invited to a game to see the facilities? I know of a three time all-stater from a small school who was never contacted by USD but was recruited by SDSU and NIU. He lives closer to USD than either SDSU or NIU.

I've read on here about Greenfield being a former walk-on who is now a scholarship player, that's great. Who else, when was the last time you heard of Coyote who received a scholarship after walking on. Just thoughts about why geography is important.

I know there have been walk ons who got scholarships (my mind jumps to Riley Donovan and Nick Jensen, correct me if I'm remembering wrong on their initial status) but I agree with your thought process. Get those passionate kids in the program - and keep them! - and good things will happen. Not the solution to our current problems, but something that would improve the program.

[easmus]

Caleb Vanderesch started as PWO.

[coffeedrinker]

fightsd said: "I don't disagree with anything you said, but it still doesn't support the idea that program success or support is correlated with the amount of in-state or walk ons on the roster. Totally agree with the dedication and hard work the walk ons put in. I don't think they work harder than anyone else on the roster necessarily, but they are definitely motivated. They should be given the exact same treatment and opportunities as anyone on the roster. But building a program around kids with a lot of heart doesn't win games in D1. Rudy had a lot of heart too, but there's a reason he rode the bench."

I don't believe I said that Walk-Ons work harder than anyone else in a program. They don't, but they do it without receiving any outside support. You brought up Rudy which is an example of what I am talking about. The Notre Dame team, those who had the athletic ability recognized the dedication that he had shown and was showing. Colin Powell (former Chairman of the joint chiefs and late secretary of state) in a Leadership Primer power point he used to give said "a positive attitude is a force multiplier". That is some of what walk-ons provide. It's why Tom Osbourne was so big on in-state walk-on's. They bring the desire and the positive attitude which is catching. It affects the whole team.

A positive attitude isn't just a football thing either, it's true within any organization/business/team. Conversely a negative attitude has the opposite effect.

This is completely different from the X's and O's which I believe also needs to be addressed.

[yotebewithyou]

One of the Gray brothers (I think Alex) started as a walk-on. It's more common than you'd think.

[elcoyote]

I agree with basically everything that's been said about walk ons and we've certainly hit the jackpot with some over the years, but I really don't think that's an issue with this team. The title of this thread is depth and I honestly believe that recruiting has been fine, we definitely have the talent on the team, but this defensive scheme just doesn't seem to maximize ability or put players in position the make plays. I was never a defensive guy so I certainly don't have any answers, but I will be sorely disappointed if we're utilizing the same system next season. Chalk it up to experience and move on. It's also somewhat disconcerting that SIU hired ex USD coach Jason Petrino to be their Defensive coordinator and he turned that trainwreck around immediately. I wish he would have come here and done that.

[yote18]

Just spotted on twitter, Phillip Powell and Levi Falck have decided to graduate transfer.

[coyotecrazie5]

Bummer to lose both of those guys are they were good players.

The good thing is the WR group is deep and the way McDaniels showed out I feel more content losing Powell.

[Yote 53]

Is this a case of a crowded room and players seeing where they are at and decide they want PT somewhere else? Falck was projecting to factor into the plans pretty heavily next year, unless I am mistaken. So is this about taking a shot to play at a bigger school? Or maybe he legitimately is going to do graduate work somewhere else and it is purely an academic move?

Just trying to get a handle on the why.

[howlingyote]

Nov 26, 2019 11:33:37 GMT -6 yote18 said:

Just spotted on twitter, Phillip Powell and Levi Falck have decided to graduate transfer.

Losing Falck hurts. Great possession WR.