Local obsession

tjgopher said:

And, there are probably another 10-12+ athletes per year who get hockey scholarships that could have gotten football scholarships if they had either concentrated on football instead of hockey, or - in some cases like Mark Alt, Anders Lee - just chosen football. Some other states like Kentucky or Indiana - where there is little to no hockey - have a small advantage in total numbers over Minnesota, even though Minnesota produces far more overall D-I athletes when you consider the 40+ hockey players per year that get D-I scholarships. Minnesota is like the Florida or Texas of hockey recruiting.

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When I was in college, we did a geographical analysis on this. In the Mid-West the student athletes played more sports on the average than their counterparts in the other regions. This study took place over 10 years ago, though...

dpodoll68 said:

Can anybody honestly give me a rationale as to why this is a constant refrain here?

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I disagree that it is a "constant refrain" here. It is discusses in the proper context from what I have seen. We appreaciate national talent , but overlooked and "leaking" local talent is the 8,000 lb. elephant in the room for Gopher Football (at least since the move to the metrodome).

For all the talk about how bad this state is compared to the "southern states" for football talent, we sure export a hell of a lot of it. If the program were even getting half of all the local players they could use NDSU would never have stood a chance.

As far as coaches go ... how many former Minnesota football players have been assistants at Minnesota? Now look at a place like Texas.

Former players becoming staff and coaches adds continuity and a sense of tradition. It happens other places. I'm not saying all coaches should have previous ties to the U, but it can be one positive variable. All things being equal, would you rather Roof been a UofM alum? Would you rather his "permanent home" been Atlanta or Saint Paul?

It is a similar situation with the players. Where the kid is from is just one variable. But it can be awfully helpful if his family lives nearby (for a dozens of reasons).

Goldteam said:

The state of Florida had 64, 4 and 5 star football this past year

what did minnesota have?

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What is your point? Everybody knows that Florida puts out more football talent than Minnesota. They have 6 FBS programs (Florida, FSU, Miami, USF, UCF, FAU) to our one program and they still are a major exporter of talent.

Is there anybody that actually thinks we shouldn't have gone after Carter, Singleton, Keise, and Jacques in this class because they are from Florida?

Is it wrong to infer that minorities place a larger emphasis on excelling in certain sports.
Larger minority population = larger talent pool. just throwin it out there.

dpodoll68 said:

I'm not posting this to be a smart-aleck, or with any kind of hidden agenda. I honestly want to know what people are thinking. Whenever I hear Barreiro start talking about the "one of us" phenomenon, I usually roll my eyes and switch the dial. But after reading this message board for several years, I think he may be on to something. Whenever a coaching vacancy opens up, somebody inevitably says "Hire [insert Gopher alum here] immediately!!!!1!!!11!!" Likewise, if we have an open scholly or two, the refrain is always, "Give [local kid X] a shot, he's just not well-known, he'll really blow up if given a chance."

What is the obsession with keeping things local? I personally would rather have the best players and coaches available, regardless of where they went to school. Can anybody honestly give me a rationale as to why this is a constant refrain here? I can totally understand giving a local kid a shot as a walk-on, and lots of NFL players past and present got their start that way. But it seems to me to be utter nonsense to sign a coach or player if you're competing against yourself.

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Are you trying to tell me that Marc Trestman would not make the best Gopher FB coach in history? You obviously aren't familiar with a little squad known as the Montreal Alouettes.