(06-29-2016 02:42 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  I had thought it was odd that we were recruiting VA (although I wouldn't be opposed to it), but it turns out that he is from Canada originally.

I know you're not saying this and may not disagree with me at all (we agree on lots) but I wanted to jump on this a bit....

I don't think it would be a bad idea to literally recruit every 4 star or better athlete with Stanford or Duke or whomever else we see as academic peers anywhere in the country.

You never know who might have family in Texas that they'd like to see more, or were considering moving to Texas anyway... or maybe just wants to see another part of the world... and 'recruiting' them doesn't mean that we end up offering them, but if they show ANY interest whatsoever, we should invest a little money in investigating/recruiting them.

We spend a lot of time and energy trying to uncover the diamond in the rough... and many of them don't work out... a few never see the field. I'd say fewer, but certainly not 'zero' 4 star recruits don't become at least serviceable players... and if they aren't becoming stars, maybe they return to be closer to home and it works out for everyone.

I guess I'm saying we should take a few more chances on 4+ star athletes who have no obvious reason to be interested in us, but have expressed SOME interest in similar academic schools. Let these other schools AND the recruiting services do a little scouting work for us.

Of course we have to be smart with our recruiting budget, but I don't think we're talking about a huge amount of money here... and obviously what we're really doing is recruiting students... and spreading Rice's reach and reputation and diversity. I'd THINK we could get some support on campus for doing so.