(05-24-2016 02:50 PM)emu steve Wrote:  

(05-24-2016 02:02 PM)EagleTough Wrote:  

(05-24-2016 12:52 PM)emu79 Wrote:  Its tough to change decades of not winning and attempt to turn it around recruiting wise. A couple of points its great to get three star players but if you can't keep them or retain them well....I thought this recruit retention problem would go away with CC around but it is happening this year. Second we have a number of camps with players coming in to be evaluated, I expect more offers as the camps progress. I thought English was the guru of JUCO recruiting especially California and Arizona but the current staff has shown that they a number of nationwide JUCO connections from solid programs. I agree with Steve and the other comments that JUCO may be the way to go in terms of getting this program competitive. We all know that winning or signs of progress is the best way to improve our recruiting results being competitive in the MAC.

I'm sorry, but I don't buy the theory that you have to win first in order to recruit well. Look no further than PJ Fleck. Sure, he may be an extreme example, but recruiting is all about passion, work ethic, and being a salesman (used car salesman with gimmicks included, if need be) Yes, EMU might be a tough sell, but no harder than at least half of the MAC.

Unfortunately the program gets so little coverage, it's hard to figure out what's going on behind the recruiting curtain. Would love to hear what the actual plan is from Creighton and his recruiting coordinator? What is the thought process behind their offers scattered throughout the nation? What coaches are recruiting where and why? What's the Michigan/Ohio plan? What is the strategy regarding the Juco ranks and how that fits into the bigger picture?

Call me crazy, but if we end up in the bottom third of the conference recruiting rankings again, I'd call that unacceptable.

I still maintain, as I have for a long time, that what separates EMU from other MAC schools is the lack of local media.

When we had strong media at Ann Arbor News, e.g., esp. Amy Whitesall, interest was high.

Despite the jokes about print media, newspapers are still an excellent source of information on sports.

I get most of my information on the Tigers from the online versions of the Detroit News and Free Press.

With EMU there is NO local media, print or online, to speak of.

The beat writer is the one who hangs around the team and the offices and gets the scoops...

How is someone in 48197 going to get the scoop if there is no one reporting it either in print or online version.

To me, information falls into either of two categories: Official press releases which the university or team (as in the pros) put out and the efforts of beat writers who deal with scoops, rumors, opinion, etc. something which the official press releases do not.

I don't know if journalism is taught 'push/pull'. Push is where the information is feed to the consumer. Most likely someone picking up their morning paper and the information is there as soon as they open the paper. (can also be like distribution lists where information is regularly 'pushed' to the reader in e-mail, etc.).

The other is 'pull' where a person has to go out and find the information and 'pull' it down. This is what we do. Instead of a recruiting article in the newspaper, we have to dig and find the information and bring it down from the Internet.

A lot of MAC schools have very good newspaper coverage.

Just think: Buffalo, Cleveland, Akron, Toledo, Kalamazoo, Cincy, etc.

MAC fans know that WMU has been blessed with excellent local media coverage. Matter of fact, the Kalamazoo paper has been the breeding grounds for a number of successful WMU writers who went on to bigger and better jobs including the latest, Couch, now at Lansing State Journal, I believe.

Mlive sucks. Plain and simple. Would love to know who to contact at that POS "news" source that depends on community members to be reporters. I wonder what the EMU athletic department has to say about them.