(12-26-2018 11:15 AM)Tribe32 Wrote: These kids want to play football. The fact that people on these boards don't understand that they are being recruited by dozens of schools and that any one of them isn't a top priority boggles my mind. The fact that people think that there is a problem with them not knowing the difference in W&M being a college or university just screams elitism and snobbery. BTW, many of these new recruits are from places like Texas and California. W&M isn't even on their radar and most people in the general population from these geographies have no idea that it is even a college.
(12-26-2018 11:18 AM)mrjoolius Wrote: Sure, it would be great if these kids took time to research the college that offered them. These are 15-17 year old kids from PA, FL, TX, and NJ that, until just recently offered, probably had never even heard of William and Mary.
(12-26-2018 01:27 PM)billymac Wrote: It wasn't that long ago (okay, 30-35 years) that people wanted to actually change the school's name to William & Mary University.
My being bothered by a recruit's not even knowing the true name of the school is NOT "elitism and snobbery". Here are my responses to the comments highlighted above:
There is nothing wrong with a kid wanting to play football. There is nothing wrong with an athlete wanting to use a football scholarship in order to get a great education and a diploma. But if
all you want to do is play football -- then W&M is not the school for you. It is not a pipeline to the NFL (sure, W&M has had great players in the NFL but NONE of those players matriculated at W&M in order to get to the pros). It is not the way to be seen on TV. It is not even the place if you are really big into winning. But it IS a place to get a great education while still playing respectable football at the Division I level.
What "boggles my mind" is that someone thinks that picking a school, knowing all about that school, and deciding that school has what he wants and fulfills his educational requirements should not be a recruit's top priority. Picking a school just for football -- if that school is W&M -- is the sure way to fail out or transfer because you can't hack the academic rigor. Being more knowledgeable about the school should be even more important to those students from the far away states, because they have to leave home, their comfort zone (more homesickness) and they will have even less familial support -- so learn about the school to make sure it is the best fit for you.
So, again, it is not elitism and snobbery to be bothered that it appears that these kids are not doing their due diligence on researching W&M. Such lack of attention will not bode well for their projected success in the classroom.
Billymac -- in addition to your comments, I simply add that it has been a LOT more recently than 30-35 years ago that folks wanted to change the name of the college. Ex-President Reveley himself was big into trying to change the name. He actually succeeded somewhat, to the extent that such things as highway signs now say just "William and Mary" whereas before they said "College of William and Mary". Reveley is probably loving it that these kids are calling it William and Mary University.