Recruiting the South

[Dakota2]

How else would you interpret "There’s not a lot of other things that take them away from field sports"? There's still electricity and playstations and iphones and movie theaters. The only thing that prevents those things from being available would be if you're poor.

Brian Kelly is a football coach. Some are smarter than others. Somebody asked him a question and he rambles on, throwing random crap in the air. This is not where I would look for deep meaning.

Bottom line: he said it's better recruiting football talent in the south than elsewhere. He's right.

 

[South Carolina]

I lived in Brooklyn Park for 12 years, and I would comment to my wife that we did not see a lot of kids in the parks near our house (north of 610). We would see an occasional soccer practice, but nothing substantial. Often the parks were empty.

We moved to Greenville, SC, in 2020, and the park down the street from our house is very busy. Sports practices: baseball, soccer, lacrosse, football (there is a home school football team that practices there). The basketball court is always full. There are volleyball games, tennis, and a dirt bike track. Yes, a lot of it is the weather. It’s a very noticeable difference compared to Brooklyn Park.

 

[Gophers_4life]

I lived in Brooklyn Park for 12 years, and I would comment to my wife that we did not see a lot of kids in the parks near our house (north of 610). We would see an occasional soccer practice, but nothing substantial. Often the parks were empty.

We moved to Greenville, SC, in 2020, and the park down the street from our house is very busy. Sports practices: baseball, soccer, lacrosse, football (there is a home school football team that practices there). The basketball court is always full. There are volleyball games, tennis, and a dirt bike track. Yes, a lot of it is the weather. It’s a very noticeable difference compared to Brooklyn Park.

And I do think, no matter how ineloquently worded and rambling, that this is what BK was getting at.

For sure it’s the weather. But I would say up here especially, kids aren’t conditioned to think about playing outside, for fun or otherwise, a lot of months during the year.

I’m not so sure that holds as badly in the lower Great Lakes region though??

 

[Gophergrandpa]

That reads like BK is just throwing out weird-o anecdotes ...

Some of those don't make any sense at all.

For BK the biggest reason for his move I suspect was

1.) ND administration really seems less interested in football.

2.) Money.

Everything else is an after the fact excuse.

1. Money
2. Lower admission standard at LSU
3. Money
4. Easier to fudge the rules at LSU, maybe
5. Money

 

[Word]

I lived in Brooklyn Park for 12 years, and I would comment to my wife that we did not see a lot of kids in the parks near our house (north of 610). We would see an occasional soccer practice, but nothing substantial. Often the parks were empty.

We moved to Greenville, SC, in 2020, and the park down the street from our house is very busy. Sports practices: baseball, soccer, lacrosse, football (there is a home school football team that practices there). The basketball court is always full. There are volleyball games, tennis, and a dirt bike track. Yes, a lot of it is the weather. It’s a very noticeable difference compared to Brooklyn Park.

Not sure I'm buying this. I live in the north metro and have coached youth soccer for over over 13 years. We've practiced at multiple parks in a few different suburbs (including BP north and south of 610) and for the most part, the parks are being heavily utilized in the summer and not just by the organized sports. Not to mention when my kids were little and we would bring them to those parks, there would almost always be other kids there playing.

 

[fmlizard]

Wonder if there is data about being outside vs playing video games. I know in my neighborhood there are kids you only see once the snow is gone. Yesterday the park was full of kids/parents playing football, basketball and baseball. Last time that happened was 6 months ago. Althought Kelly has no data, access in the south to outdoor play if higher than in the north.

Of course! Here's the best data I could find on video gaming by state (2023)

• No apparent correlations between any regions, political patterns, or climate
• Some slight positive correlation between state wealth and gaming
• Some of the best recruiting states are highest in video gaming (CA, TX, PA, FL)
• Louisiana is in the middle of the pack at #27

This Verizon study from 2017 shows the Deep South spending the most time of any region online. The North spends about 30-40 minutes less on the Internet than the South according to this data.

Here's the Deep South bringing up the rear in outdoor recreation time, in spite of having much more warm weather.

Throw in inflated teenage obesity rates in SEC region - 6 of the 7 worst states in the USA by this metric are the core SEC states.

Not only is BK stereotyping and BS-ing, but the opposite of everything he says is the truth.

 

[PMWinSTP]

Not sure I'm buying this. I live in the north metro and have coached youth soccer for over over 13 years. We've practiced at multiple parks in a few different suburbs (including BP north and south of 610) and for the most part, the parks are being heavily utilized in the summer and not just by the organized sports. Not to mention when my kids were little and we would bring the kids to those parks, there would almost always be other kids there playing.

Ditto. I lived there as well and the parks and fields were always being used. Moved to St. Paul, same thing, fields are used consisitently in the warm months. Brother lives in south Mpls and same there. In fact, one of his kids plays ultimate and finding open unoccupied fields seems like a fairly regular challenge.

 

[Mustang68]

It also let him get in touch with his natural Louisiana accent.

Which he learned by listening to Hillary Clinton tapes.

 

[Gophers_4life]

Interesting that the two anecdotes above are about soccer and other "auxiliary" field sports (ultimate).

BK doesn't coach soccer.

How many times do you see kids out there playing or just throwing around a football, for fun?


It really is a southern thing. It's a religion down there. Not so in the rest of the country.

 

[GopherDog1]

Interesting that the two anecdotes above are about soccer and other "auxiliary" field sports (ultimate).

BK doesn't coach soccer.

How many times do you see kids out there playing or just throwing around a football, for fun?


It really is a southern thing. It's a religion down there. Not so in the rest of the country.

Hockey in Minnesota is possibly a better comparison to football in the southern states. Kids play hockey in driveways, streets, skating rinks, ponds, and lakes here in MN.

 

[#2Gopher]

Hockey in Minnesota is possibly a better comparison to football in the southern states. Kids play hockey in driveways, streets, skating rinks, ponds, and lakes here in MN.

Good point.

 

[Word]

Interesting that the two anecdotes above are about soccer and other "auxiliary" field sports (ultimate).

BK doesn't coach soccer.

How many times do you see kids out there playing or just throwing around a football, for fun?


It really is a southern thing. It's a religion down there. Not so in the rest of the country.

Like I said, the parks are heavily used all summer and not just by organized sports. Kids doing a variety of activities.

I only mentioned I coached soccer because it means I'm at parks 4-5 days a week all summer and it gives me insight to how parks are being used. All the fields, playgrounds, tennis/volleyball courts getting lots of usage.

Not to mention all the neighborhood kids playing basketball in their driveways or fishing in the nearby ponds.

 

[PMWinSTP]

Interesting that the two anecdotes above are about soccer and other "auxiliary" field sports (ultimate).

BK doesn't coach soccer.

How many times do you see kids out there playing or just throwing around a football, for fun?


It really is a southern thing. It's a religion down there. Not so in the rest of the country.

About as much as when I was growing up. Same with baseball. Football in the South is like hockey here.