Recruiting Concerns

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alaska

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I am very concerned that if we get housed this year and it looks that way, that we are not going to keep or get recruits in this next cycle.....
 


PJ is a good recruiter. He has proved that. Another concern of mine is the horrible optics the city of Minneapolis is getting in the national press due to the looting and rioting. Its an embarrassment and an albatross around PJ's neck in the recruiting wars. Non one wants to send their son to a media described lawless city. What the hell has happened to Minneapolis since my days at the U many years ago? Then it was one of most pristine, best cities in the country. Not anymore in the eyes of many who pay attention to the national media.
 

What the hell has happened to Minneapolis since my days at the U many years ago?

For starters, people are sick and tired of racism and they are voicing their opinions. Minneapolis is still a pristine, beautiful city in the eyes of many that don't live there. I think it just matters what media you choose to listen to, the people you hang around and how open minded you are about social justice issues. Frankly, I don't think any of that really has as much to do with recruiting as you may think.
 

Hammer em' said:
What the hell has happened to Minneapolis since my days at the U many years ago?

For starters, people are sick and tired of racism and they are voicing their opinions. Minneapolis is still a pristine, beautiful city in the eyes of many that don't live there. I think it just matters what media you choose to listen to, the people you hang around and how open minded you are about social justice issues. Frankly, I don't think any of that really has as much to do with recruiting as you may think.
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That’s not a bad take (I don’t disagree with much of your opinion) but you cannot seriously tell me that you don’t think parents wouldn’t be nervous about sending their kids here, regardless of your perspective. If you don’t think so you must be one of those hard core echo chamber people who only watch one side and “we don’t want kids that have parents that think opposite of me!” It’s not a good perspective regardless of if you are left or right.
 


NotAFanOfBecky said:
That’s not a bad take (I don’t disagree with much of your opinion) but you cannot seriously tell me that you don’t think parents wouldn’t be nervous about sending their kids here, regardless of your perspective. If you don’t think so you must be one of those hard core echo chamber people who only watch one side and “we don’t want kids that have parents that think opposite of me!” It’s not a good perspective regardless of if you are left or right.
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I know with 100% certainty other coaches are using the civil unrest in Minneapolis as a recruiting knock on Minnesota. Only time will tell if it has in impact.
 

LesBolstad said:
I know with 100% certainty other coaches are using the civil unrest in Minneapolis as a recruiting knock on Minnesota. Only time will tell if it has in impact.
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Correct

And whether people want to believe it or not...about half the country sees what is going on as extremely negative and unsafe for one reason and a lot of those people might want to avoid Minneapolis for that reason.
And another chunk think Minneapolis is unsafe because the police profile and might want to avoid Minneapolis for another reason.
 

LesBolstad said:
I know with 100% certainty other coaches are using the civil unrest in Minneapolis as a recruiting knock on Minnesota. Only time will tell if it has in impact.
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Yup, I don't believe I saw buildings in Madison, Columbus, Ann Arbor, Iowa City, etc. burning on national TV.
 

The proof will be to watch how the hockey and basketball programs develop. If the hockey program can re-establish via Motzko and recruiting then this entire argument is nullified. Has it affected hockey recruiting? I don't think so.
 



GopherDog1 said:
The proof will be to watch how the hockey and basketball programs develop. If the hockey program can re-establish via Motzko and recruiting then this entire argument is nullified. Has it affected hockey recruiting? I don't think so.
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Strongly disagree with this.
hockey recruiting is so different than football and basketball because it is so niche both nationally and regionally

Basketball recruiting is so different than football because of the size of the team
 

alaska said:
I am very concerned that if we get housed this year and it looks that way, that we are not going to keep or get recruits in this next cycle.....
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There are people responsible for recruiting who put together plans on who to recruit and how to recruit for players lost.

We'll be okay.
If someone leaves, we'll grab a transfer or grab another player from someplace else.
MN is more desirable than it's been for quite some time. A Covid year doesn't throw that all out.

The process is the same even though the outcome is different, and the process isn't broken.
 

I've gone round and round on this.

I think before 2020, I had settled on something like this: the U being embedded so deep within the urban core of such a major urban city like Mpls, does not help us. It might not hurt us per se, but it does not help.

I can't think of a single program in the P5 that is consistently regarded as a top, powerful program, year after year, that is similarly embedded right in the urban core of a top 15 urban population center ...... other than USC. And they've been hit and miss since Carroll left, to be honest.


Then with George Floyd and Defund the Police. Again, for now, I'm going with it certainly does not help. But it can't be viewed as a positive, by any black recruit or any recruit in a conservative family.
 

Some guy said:
Strongly disagree with this.
hockey recruiting is so different than football and basketball because it is so niche both nationally and regionally

Basketball recruiting is so different than football because of the size of the team
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Hockey recruiting is actually International these days with kids from Canada and Europe but I do respect your opinion. So are you saying a kid from Finland will come here to play hockey but a kid from Chicago committing to the Gophers for football is in doubt because of social unrest?
 



LesBolstad said:
I know with 100% certainty other coaches are using the civil unrest in Minneapolis as a recruiting knock on Minnesota. Only time will tell if it has in impact.
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We reduced funding for the police, and now a surge in crime has kicked in. It's another negative in trying to get recruits to come here.
 

GopherDog1 said:
Hockey recruiting is actually International these days with kids from Canada and Europe but I do respect your opinion. So are you saying a kid from Finland will come here to play hockey but a kid from Chicago committing to the Gophers for football is in doubt because of social unrest?
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No I’m saying that hockey is so niche I have no idea what even matters

but you aren’t recruiting the general population of the United States for hockey.

as you said, there is international recruiting on a larger scale...and even recruiting within the United States you’re recruiting a very small part of the population and there are limited places for kids to go



football you essentially have to recruit a cross section of the socioeconomic US population or you aren’t going to have enough talent to fill a roster
 

We reduced funding for the police

Lie.

Over 100 officers in MPD have chosen to take voluntary leave, though.

In fact, city council just approved $500k funding to bring in additional officers from outside depts. Will probably be Hennepin County officers.
 

I've said this in another thread too.

What could have been. If the U of MN (main campus) and the state capital had been in Rochester, along with Mayo.

It could've been a leading technology (IBM) and medical hub, in the world. It would've been a real college town feel.

Who knows.
 

Some guy said:
Correct

And whether people want to believe it or not...about half the country sees what is going on as extremely negative and unsafe for one reason and a lot of those people might want to avoid Minneapolis for that reason.
And another chunk think Minneapolis is unsafe because the police profile and might want to avoid Minneapolis for another reason.
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Speaking as a parent who has a son applying to colleges, the environment in and around the college has as much to do with the decision process of where to go as getting a quality education. Cities and towns where there is rising crime and defund police movements didn’t make his list of potential landing spots, including the U of Minnesota. No way SOME recruits aren’t viewing it the same way.
 

U2Gopher said:
Speaking as a parent who has a son applying to colleges, the environment in and around the college has as much to do with the decision process of where to go as getting a quality education. Cities and towns where there is rising crime and defund police movements didn’t make his list of potential landing spots, including the U of Minnesota. No way SOME recruits aren’t viewing it the same way.
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Especially in a state where Minnesota doesn’t have the talent to just fill out the roster from the suburbs.
 

GopherDog1 said:
The proof will be to watch how the hockey and basketball programs develop. If the hockey program can re-establish via Motzko and recruiting then this entire argument is nullified. Has it affected hockey recruiting? I don't think so.
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Hockey recruiting is done for years out so it's not apples to apples. Also we are a premier hockey program so someone may out weigh the risks to go to a proverbial helmet school.
 

Some guy said:
Especially in a state where Minnesota doesn’t have the talent to just fill out the roster from the suburbs.
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Those kids want out of Minnesota, anyway. They want to go to the coasts or somewhere else, and live life in some other place for a change.

Then come back and raise their kids here. But that doesn't help the U.
 

MplsGopher said:
I've said this in another thread too.

What could have been. If the U of MN (main campus) and the state capital had been in Rochester, along with Mayo.

It could've been a leading technology (IBM) and medical hub, in the world. It would've been a real college town feel.

Who knows.
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That’s interesting to think about. I had never considered that.
And, on the other hand, I specifically chose the U because it was in a city. Being a small town kid, the city was what drew me.
 

When I lived in Rochester I wished the Mayos had established their clinic in Winona and built up a city there in a beautiful setting rather than in one of the only lakeless counties in MN.
 

NotAFanOfBecky said:
That’s not a bad take (I don’t disagree with much of your opinion) but you cannot seriously tell me that you don’t think parents wouldn’t be nervous about sending their kids here, regardless of your perspective. If you don’t think so you must be one of those hard core echo chamber people who only watch one side and “we don’t want kids that have parents that think opposite of me!” It’s not a good perspective regardless of if you are left or right.
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It's not a positive for the U.....but I also think it's not a high priority situation. Certain places in the city are not as safe for younger college age students (or anyone)....but I don't recall rioting specifically on campus or in the immediate surround areas.
 

Hammer em' said:
What the hell has happened to Minneapolis since my days at the U many years ago?

For starters, people are sick and tired of racism and they are voicing their opinions. Minneapolis is still a pristine, beautiful city in the eyes of many that don't live there. I think it just matters what media you choose to listen to, the people you hang around and how open minded you are about social justice issues. Frankly, I don't think any of that really has as much to do with recruiting as you may think.
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It is not a pristine city after all that went on. Also carries a sentiment of defunding police and lawlessness now. The whole of outstate Minnesota probably won't be caught dead there any longer, let alone people not from here. It is what it is.
 

People are moving out of the city of Minneapolis. Its not a great outlook. People in my neighborhood wont even go into MPLS.
 

alaska said:
People are moving out of the city of Minneapolis. Its not a great outlook. People in my neighborhood wont even go into MPLS.
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Here either. I live in Southern Minnesota and folks in my area flat out won't go down there anymore. Don't want to take their kids there and are pretty much done with it until things change. If people don't think anything is wrong or that things are business as usual, they are kidding themselves.
 

People are moving out of the city of Minneapolis. Its not a great outlook. People in my neighborhood wont even go into MPLS.
 

tmvander said:
I'm not sure...i think if pj can do anything it's recruit. My concern is the development of those players (especially on defense) once they're here.
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So he and his staff get no credit for the development of Martin, Barber, Winfield, Renner, Williamson or Coughlin? Pretty sure those guys were all underclassmen when Fleck took over. So they didn't improve and play better at all in their final 3 seasons? Very strange take.

Pretty sure we need to realize A. How much turnover we had on the D side this year and B. How much it affects things when a new defense doesn't have spring ball, very little contact in practice and no off-season time together.

This year is a shitshow but I am not worried in the least about PJs ability to recruit and develop talent. Definitely not changing my opinion based on 2020 (the weirdest year ever)
 

Good friend of ours is moving his businuess out of MPLS and relocating to Woodbury area. He has had enough of the crazyness down there. At thats the 9-5 time period!
 

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