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Post by Outsider on Mar 24, 2021 10:20:34 GMT -6
I also think we have to understand the week that was. Men's basketball in the tourney. Women's basketball in a tourney. Softball, baseball and volleyball all playing. I was asked by Coach Farler if I was announcing the softball games last week. I told her, no one has contacted me. It just tells me how the athletics department was scrambling to make things happen. Could you imagine last week and then if our football team had opted out of the fall and had a game last weekend? Yikes! Resources...
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Post by acutrackfan on Mar 24, 2021 14:33:59 GMT -6
Mavsman, this has been an unbelievably difficult time for the SID office, particularly since we have one of the smaller SID offices in D-1. I think the football coaches should have had something in the can and out on ACUSports before spring break. Or in the can timed to come out during the March Madness -- that would have maximized the exposure. There is still no announcement on ACUSports.com -- the above tweet is the extent of the spring practice announcement. It is beautifully done, as is everything from ACU Creative Services.
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Post by acutrackfan on Mar 30, 2021 9:53:09 GMT -6
So, it is March 30 and still there has been no report on ACU football of any kind on ACUSports.com -- and I do not believe that is because of the SID's office, but rather is the choice of the coaching staff. As a season ticket holder and a donor to the stadium, I am totally frustrated by this lack of information from the team.
Looking back on past years and the info that came out -- there was a good info stream in 2017, Coach Dorrel's first year. The info stream was much better than it had been during the Coach Collums years. In 2018, the info stream improved over the previous year and ACU had a solid season -- 6-5 and the 'Cats appeared to be headed on an upward trajectory. The information stream began to lag again in 2019 and we ended up with a disappointing 5-7 season. Then, last year the info slowed to a trickle -- no doubt impacted by the pandemic and the lack of spring training. In 2020, ACU struggled to a 1-6 record, including a round thumping at the hands of a D-2 school. You would think that this year would be a year of a FLOOD of information on the team in an effort to reassure the Wildcat faithful and yet, the opposite is true. Information has totally stopped. I am mystified by this ringing silence. Maybe this cloak of secrecy is being used to cover a complete change in offensive and/or defensive style that will allow ACU to be highly competitive in 2021 -- at least that is my hope.
Now, my decision becomes whether I will put my money into season tickets again (I did not get season tickets last year due to the uncertainty of the season and I am very glad that I did not) in 2021. Right now my inner debate is whether to get fewer season tickets than in previous years or to just forego season tickets altogether. I will probably end up buying fewer season tickets (2 instead of 4), because I can't see cutting the cord completely. I wonder if there are others on CatChat who are faced with the same dilemma.
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Post by Cap'n Cattitude on Mar 30, 2021 13:07:36 GMT -6
I got my tickets last year but then swore that I was not going to pay a bunch of money to see D2 and NAIA football teams come to Abilene. Thankfully, this year looks a whole lot more interesting but it’s difficult to find wins on paper right now.
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Post by rc on Mar 30, 2021 15:19:38 GMT -6
Something seems off and putting your finger on it is difficult. This season should tell us a lot. I would think ACU would be a very desirable choice for many athletes and their families. Of course the rules we have for behavior are more strict that most but we have a good network of ex's and our academic ranking is really good. So in the grand scheme of things I find it difficult to believe that finding very good players is harder than choosing which ones we would take. What am I missing or what is the illogic in this view? We need to step up and recognize (and promote) the value and accolades of ACU. When ACU shows up, why is it not a very strong celebration for most?
Seriously, the circles I tend to run in (state-wide and beyond) all seem to recognize ACU as being a more exceptional university than we seem to sell to perspective student athletes, or maybe the message and execution is not well crafted. At least it sure seems to be the case to me. Something just seems off. I could name a bunch of universities that get football players and I have to think, why in the world would they choose those places over ACU.
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Post by mavsman53 on Mar 30, 2021 15:52:46 GMT -6
There are reasons ACU is a hard place to recruit at football wise.
1. 1-6 Record. Winning helps, and right now, that is not happening 2. Academics. The standard is high; higher than it has ever been. Yes we can say the same for every other sport on campus, but no other sport has 120+ players. 3. Christian. For some, that is a tough sale and a hard pass. I heard someone high up in athletics say that being a Christian school makes it difficult to recruit 4. Abilene. We aren't a hotbed of activity. We aren't the Metroplex, Houston, Austin etc. 5. LGBTQ standards. Some know where ACU stands and do not want to be a part of that
Again, those are just a few. RC, I hear what you are saying, but a lot of players just want to play football. They don't care about our academic standing or reputation. They just want to play football. I had a high school coach who played at TCU. First day of practice, "son what is your major? Football sir! Ummm, that's not a major. What is your major? Football!"
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Post by rc on Mar 30, 2021 16:08:02 GMT -6
Good and reasonable answers, but I still think something is not optimized. Maybe it is the losing record, but we should be able to change that. Academics I understand, but logically that should be an advantage. But Stephenville? San Angelo? Huntsville, ... I could go on and on. They may be wonderful cities but not a lot different from Abilene. It just seems something is missing. We have no problem recruiting super star academic students who win national recognition and fellowships. About half the country is still religious in nature.
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Post by bucfan on Mar 30, 2021 16:41:29 GMT -6
I could be completely off base but it often feels to me that in football recruiting we still have a D2 mindset. I am certainly not an expert and I realize football is its own beast, but with the facilities we have and the academics we offer, it seems like we shouldn't have such a hard time recruiting. Abilene isn't paradise but there are plenty of worse places to spend four years. There are bound to be good players that want to be a part of building a program and don't just look at our win/loss record. It happened in basketball, why can't it happen in football? Yes, I know you are recruiting 100+ instead of 15, but Texas alone seems to supply half the nation with good football players.
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Post by Outsider on Mar 30, 2021 19:58:45 GMT -6
The proof will be in the pudding come September......
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Post by bucfan on Mar 30, 2021 20:33:14 GMT -6
I do see lots of positive tweets from some good looking players thanking ACU for the virtual Junior Day. Hoping some of those pay off.
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Post by floppyfloopy on Mar 31, 2021 11:45:23 GMT -6
I could be completely off base but it often feels to me that in football recruiting we still have a D2 mindset. I am certainly not an expert and I realize football is its own beast, but with the facilities we have and the academics we offer, it seems like we shouldn't have such a hard time recruiting. Abilene isn't paradise but there are plenty of worse places to spend four years. There are bound to be good players that want to be a part of building a program and don't just look at our win/loss record. It happened in basketball, why can't it happen in football? Yes, I know you are recruiting 100+ instead of 15, but Texas alone seems to supply half the nation with good football players. A lot of it probably has to do with the fact that we don't have a recruiting department. ACU has shuffled around who the recruiting coordinator has been for a bit now and that can't help. We would benefit from having a director of recruiting or director of player personnel but I doubt the school would spare any $ for that.
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Post by mavsman53 on Mar 31, 2021 12:21:59 GMT -6
Actually, I think ACU is at the best spot they have ever been under Dorrel when it comes to recruiting.
Coach Curlee, who had served as the recruiting coordinator, is handing all transfers. Earlier this year, they had him doing transfers and 2021 recruits.
Coach Bac. and Coach Williams are the high school recruiting coordinators. Bac. handles offense and Williams handles defense.
Time will of course tell if this is working or not. I can tell you that they are looking at more players at this time of year than ever before, and they are doing so in a pandemic. Several times a week, they are hosting a junior day via zoom. To date, over 30 high school players have been a part of this. Coach Dorrel has made it known that he wants to get players onto campus, once in the spring/summer before their senior year and at least once during the fall.
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Post by floppyfloopy on Mar 31, 2021 13:03:02 GMT -6
Actually, I think ACU is at the best spot they have ever been under Dorrel when it comes to recruiting. Coach Curlee, who had served as the recruiting coordinator, is handing all transfers. Earlier this year, they had him doing transfers and 2021 recruits. Coach Bac. and Coach Williams are the high school recruiting coordinators. Bac. handles offense and Williams handles defense. Time will of course tell if this is working or not. I can tell you that they are looking at more players at this time of year than ever before, and they are doing so in a pandemic. Several times a week, they are hosting a junior day via zoom. To date, over 30 high school players have been a part of this. Coach Dorrel has made it known that he wants to get players onto campus, once in the spring/summer before their senior year and at least once during the fall. That's something at least. We'll have to see how that compares to schools in our state that have momentum from playing games right now. UIW (even though they're going to the WAC) recruited well and is having a good season. SHSU also had a good class made up of mostly HS and is ranked in the top 5 right now. In the short term for next season's mishmash conference, Jacksonville State is ranked highly, although they don't recruit the same area as ACU. A head start is good but we'll have to see if current on the field success for our peers compared to going 1-6 and not having more than 6 wins with the current staff counteracts that head start.
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Post by mavsman53 on Apr 7, 2021 15:56:34 GMT -6
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Post by mavsman53 on Apr 10, 2021 16:55:50 GMT -6
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