The questionable coaching decisions will continue to be rightly debated, but there are some things I noticed watching the game from afar...
- The stadium improvements come across on TV. It's been a long journey, but our facilities image well to the TV audience and that will continue to be important in recruiting and exposure. The future improvements will build on this. Compared to 5 or 10 years ago, we have made tremendous progress.
- Beyond the facilities themselves, the general stadium atmosphere was on point. The crowd seemed engaged and the stadium appeared full.
- The band sounds better than ever - it too comes across and helps build the general atmosphere. Even the intermission/time out "piped in" music selections were better than the crap we used to play.
- It is VERY clear that, especially with the injuries, that we suffer a significant talent deficit with a school like TCU. But with the Vanier center and stadium improvements, recruiting WILL improve and we are seeing evidence of that already. More talent across the board will paper over a multitude of "poor coaching decisions" that we are forced to make due to our current talent constraints.
I am disappointed about last night like many others, but the future for this program is bright. Even with Bill Snyder's likely retirement within the next 5 years, we have never been better positioned to attract a quality successor and we have never been in a better position to recruit talent to Manhattan as we are today. I suspect this recruiting class will be a clear "break out year" for us from anything we have seen in the past decade or more.
- The stadium improvements come across on TV. It's been a long journey, but our facilities image well to the TV audience and that will continue to be important in recruiting and exposure. The future improvements will build on this. Compared to 5 or 10 years ago, we have made tremendous progress.
- Beyond the facilities themselves, the general stadium atmosphere was on point. The crowd seemed engaged and the stadium appeared full.
- The band sounds better than ever - it too comes across and helps build the general atmosphere. Even the intermission/time out "piped in" music selections were better than the crap we used to play.
- It is VERY clear that, especially with the injuries, that we suffer a significant talent deficit with a school like TCU. But with the Vanier center and stadium improvements, recruiting WILL improve and we are seeing evidence of that already. More talent across the board will paper over a multitude of "poor coaching decisions" that we are forced to make due to our current talent constraints.
I am disappointed about last night like many others, but the future for this program is bright. Even with Bill Snyder's likely retirement within the next 5 years, we have never been better positioned to attract a quality successor and we have never been in a better position to recruit talent to Manhattan as we are today. I suspect this recruiting class will be a clear "break out year" for us from anything we have seen in the past decade or more.
