If you want to talk ASUN smack or ramble ad nauseum about your favorite pro or major college teams, this is the place to let it rip.

Moderators: jcmanson, Sly Fox, BuryYourDuke

By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#543266
I see VT will build an Athletic Performance Center. Someone donated 15.2 million dollars toward it. I wonder did VT see what LU has ?

TF took Cider and ballcoach on a tour of APC Saturday. With our facilities, recruiting should improve immediately. Our facilities are better than some Power 5 schools, and most all other FBS and FCS schools. Ours make some schools look like high school facilities in comparison.
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#543268
Facilities don’t equal wins.
By Yacht Rock
Registration Days Posts
#543270
I once interviewed a guy who came in wearing a really nice suit. I mean, this suit was nicer than any suit I've ever seen. Dude crapped himself on every question. He didn't get the job.
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By Class of 20Something
Posts
#543277
Yacht Rock wrote:I once interviewed a guy who came in wearing a really nice suit. I mean, this suit was nicer than any suit I've ever seen. Dude crapped himself on every question. He didn't get the job.
But he made a heck of a first impression.
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By Sly Fox
Registration Days Posts
#543284
I love how some try to make the argument that having great facilities is not a significant asset. The odds of attracting better players and coaches is directly impacted by the total package. Yes, it is incumbent on coaches and players to properly leverage the facilities. But to take a negative spin on every mention of facilities seems disingenuous.
By flamehunter
Registration Days Posts
#543285
Sly Fox wrote:I love how some try to make the argument that having great facilities is not a significant asset. The odds of attracting better players and coaches is directly impacted by the total package. Yes, it is incumbent on coaches and players to properly leverage the facilities. But to take a negative spin on every mention of facilities seems disingenuous.
Yep and these are the same people who would be complaining that we will never get good athletes on the mountain if we didn't have the facilities we do have.
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By Class of 20Something
Posts
#543286
Sly Fox wrote:I love how some try to make the argument that having great facilities is not a significant asset. The odds of attracting better players and coaches is directly impacted by the total package. Yes, it is incumbent on coaches and players to properly leverage the facilities. But to take a negative spin on every mention of facilities seems disingenuous.
In 8 months, any recruit approaching from 29N going southbound will exit onto campus and will only be able to see three buildings. From right to left, the classiest club hockey rink in ACHA, an Indoor Football Practice Facility housing a full size indoor field, and a newly finished Williams Stadium built to hold 25k raging fans. If that can't set the tone of commitment to athletic success before the coaches start in, nothing will.
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#543298
Sly Fox wrote:I love how some try to make the argument that having great facilities is not a significant asset. The odds of attracting better players and coaches is directly impacted by the total package. Yes, it is incumbent on coaches and players to properly leverage the facilities. But to take a negative spin on every mention of facilities seems disingenuous.
There are far more people who think wins will magically appear because LU has an APC or Indoor Practice Facility than what you take issue with. There is no doubt those things are nice to have. Great to have even. As has been mentioned before, they are nicer then even some P5 facilities. But, where is the success? Perhaps having these wonderful facilities is part of the Cultural Mindset problem that LU has had which has been discussed. Traditionally a team is successful before they are lavished with palatial facilities. The hard work establishes a mind set that good things happen when success is achieved. It says ‘look what we did BEFORE we had these great facilities. Imagine what we can do now!’
That obviously is not the path LU has taken. That is not a knock on the facilities. It is a knock on those, and there are a lot of them, who see the sizzle but don’t realize there is no steak
By flamehunter
Registration Days Posts
#543299
I don't believe that most on here are in that category PH. We realize there are a lot of pieces to the puzzle for a successful transition to FBS. This is one major piece to the foundation necessary for future success. However, your program is only as strong as it's weakest link. Which link is that here? Definitely not the facilities.
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By Jonathan Carone
Posts
#543302
Purple Haize wrote:That is not a knock on the facilities. It is a knock on those, and there are a lot of them, who see the sizzle but don’t realize there is no steak
To add to that: it's a knock on people who think because we have great facilities we automatically will have success. Or that we deserve to have success because of the facilities.
Purple Haize wrote:Perhaps having these wonderful facilities is part of the Cultural Mindset problem that LU has had which has been discussed. Traditionally a team is successful before they are lavished with palatial facilities. The hard work establishes a mind set that good things happen when success is achieved. It says ‘look what we did BEFORE we had these great facilities. Imagine what we can do now!’
I've said for years one of our biggest problems - especially with football - is an entitlement culture that we deserve to be good because we have so many good things. That goes back to Rocco's later teams as well. That quote is exactly what I'm talking about.
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By cruzan_flame13
Posts
#543305
Liberty will always struggle, or take a longer time, to develop based on the fact of 'illegal' tactics. Since we will not give prospects luxuries like many other schools do from time to time, the facilities will not be enough to most of the athletes we would love to have. Now facilities can be helpful, but I'm sure many on here know deeply that we do not expect to be great immediately. From the massages I have read, I see more of a frustration on how the program could've been better than what it is now. Yes, other words could've been used to express these frustrations, but that can happen when there is a repetition of mediocrity for several seasons. I would also say for the folks who have the older mentality of football (I'm writing this out of respect), having great facilities is a big deal for prospects nowadays. So PH, you might have some good points, but that sort of doesn't matter in modern day football. That's why a lot of P5 schools are renovating so much in little time periods and also offering their students cars, girls,etc. on their side account(s). Liberty doesn't do that(side girls, sports cars part[folks can debate this if needed]) plus the idea that we're a traditional christian school with rules (somewhat strict in societies opinion)doesn't help either.
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By Sly Fox
Registration Days Posts
#543309
So basically the argument is that this is a half glass full or empty discussion. Because some people have inflated expectations based on our facilities, we should reserve our enthusiasm and use the blessing of better facilities as a hammer to bang on the heads of the programs that are perceived to have under-performed.

OR we could focus on the improvements that position our programs to meet the greater challenges that lie ahead as we transition into the FBS. Call me a Pollyanna but I prefer to focus on the latter. Life is too short to waste precious energy dwelling on the negativity when there is so much for us to be grateful right now. Forgive me having an Old Hag perspective but to see what God has provided this school today from where it stood when some of us were in school ... it is tough to want to play the role of Negative Nelly when new facilities are opened. But everyone has to make their own choices in life. And I am all for accountability but forgive me for not wanting to pull that discussion in until it is necessary.
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#543330
The best analogy (simile?) I’ve heard is as follows:
Would you buy your kid a brand new BMW as their first car if you could afford it? If you did, what message are you sending? How can they possibly improve on that? After a few years they will tire of it and want a new car. Well, you’ve set the precedent so anything less than another new BMW will be a let down because that is all they know. When they get out on their own and leave your house in their 30’s will they only look to buy new BMW’s? Will they bankrupt themselves buying bigger better and newer cars because that’s all they know?
What if you started them out with an 07 Camry instead? As they prove they could be trusted and pass certain mile stones you help them upgrade to say a 2012 Camry. This gives them a realistic expectation of life in the real world and as they look around and see people with worse cars appreciate what they have. And as they see people with better cars they strive to someday get there
Perhaps LU has reached a point of diminishing returns with their investments in Football There is nothing wrong with them per se. And there is not a lot to show for it. FSU has been to a National Championship game with facilities not as good. JMU has a National Championship with facilities not as nice as LU. What those schools, and many others, have is a sense of ownership with their teams. They have been through the struggles. Seen the success and seen the fruits of their labors. LU is giving it’s FB the fruits of those labors without the actual labor.
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#543331
cruzan_flame13 wrote:Liberty will always struggle, or take a longer time, to develop based on the fact of 'illegal' tactics. Since we will not give prospects luxuries like many other schools do from time to time, the facilities will not be enough to most of the athletes we would love to have. Now facilities can be helpful, but I'm sure many on here know deeply that we do not expect to be great immediately. From the massages I have read, I see more of a frustration on how the program could've been better than what it is now. Yes, other words could've been used to express these frustrations, but that can happen when there is a repetition of mediocrity for several seasons. I would also say for the folks who have the older mentality of football (I'm writing this out of respect), having great facilities is a big deal for prospects nowadays. So PH, you might have some good points, but that sort of doesn't matter in modern day football. That's why a lot of P5 schools are renovating so much in little time periods and also offering their students cars, girls,etc. on their side account(s). Liberty doesn't do that(side girls, sports cars part[folks can debate this if needed]) plus the idea that we're a traditional christian school with rules (somewhat strict in societies opinion)doesn't help either.
You realize there used to be Athlete Only Dorms Right? Those things were A. Maze. Ing. Programs have been offering cars, girls and cash for longer than I have been alive. (Its why Kentucky doesn’t use FedEx anymore :D ). Having nice facilities has always been a draw for athletes. Nothing you stated is new. It’s been like this forever.
By ballcoach15
Registration Days Posts
#543374
Our facilities should help steer some recruits to LU. But one never knows what goes into a recruits mind. every signing day, I see players sign with certain schools that baffle me.
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