Do negative posts hurt recruiting?

#1
Volmania

Volmania

Big Orange Fan
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#1
If I was a high school player or a parent of a prospect looking for a scholarship to play football at any of the big-time schools, I know I would be reading the message boards.

Just curious if you guys think negative posts about the coaches who are out recruiting these players undermine those efforts. It seems likely to me. I know I would want to play for coaches who are well respected and secure in their jobs. It almost makes me wonder if some negative posts could be from fans of competing schools trying undermine our recruiting efforts.

Take Alabama for example.

With all the negative things being said about Shula and the likelihood that he will soon be gone from Bama, It's hard to believe that any but the most die-hard Tide fan blue-chip recruit would put their future pro prospects in danger by going into such an uncertain situation.
 
#2
#2
yay.. i love these posts... go to any message board you can, and you will find this on just about every board except Tosu, Mich, and Souther Cal... it's part of it. if anything it shows how much the fans want their team to win and the fans really care.
 
#3
#3
I'd say most big time prospects are busy dealing with high school playoffs right now.
 
#4
#4
I don't think it hurts recruiting at all. I think they have enough sense to realize that it is what it is. A place where fans, educated and uneducated, come to express their opinions, no matter how absurd.
 
#6
#6
I think watching your prospective team get torn apart by a historically inferior team is harder on recruiting than rants on message boards.

Oh, and losing at home to LSU because you can't stop a 4th quarter 4th down and 8 play doesn't help either.
 
#7
#7
Volmania said:
If I was a high school player or a parent of a prospect looking for a scholarship to play football at any of the big-time schools, I know I would be reading the message boards.

Just curious if you guys think negative posts about the coaches who are out recruiting these players undermine those efforts. It seems likely to me. I know I would want to play for coaches who are well respected and secure in their jobs. It almost makes me wonder if some negative posts could be from fans of competing schools trying undermine our recruiting efforts.

Take Alabama for example.

With all the negative things being said about Shula and the likelihood that he will soon be gone from Bama, It's hard to believe that any but the most die-hard Tide fan blue-chip recruit would put their future pro prospects in danger by going into such an uncertain situation.
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I dont think all negative post hurt recruiting, more of the ones that attack individual players. I have seen numerous post on here that attack, or make fun of the very people we cheer and expect to do good things. Those post are the one that I would think would bother a potential recruit.
 
#9
#9
I know I've heard of several recruits or thier parents going on teams forums to see what the vibe on things are like there. I don't know if it hurts recruiting but it probably doesn't help on fan image wise. Bill is right oh, no matter what team there are always fans wanting players benched or coaches fired. It's the fun part of message boards..lol
 
#10
#10
Yes, they do hurt recruiting. Don't think for a second that a kid coming out of high school isn't exploring EVERYTHING about a program where he'll be spending the next 4/5 years of his life. No kid would go to a college and want to major in, say, communications without first knowing if that major is even offered. He'd also be doing the research on how difficult the program is, how prestigious it is, what the professors are like....what the dorms are like, how the food is, etc.

Don't underestimate kids being in tune with what the fans say online. Most conversations on here would be restricted to local sports talk radio, local sports sections of the newspaper, or in a bar somewhere. Now someone can listen in on satellite radio on online, read newspapers from Warsaw, or read the forums that have replaced the barroom musings.
 
#11
#11
Ohio Vol said:
Yes, they do hurt recruiting. Don't think for a second that a kid coming out of high school isn't exploring EVERYTHING about a program where he'll be spending the next 4/5 years of his life. No kid would go to a college and want to major in, say, communications without first knowing if that major is even offered. He'd also be doing the research on how difficult the program is, how prestigious it is, what the professors are like....what the dorms are like, how the food is, etc.

Don't underestimate kids being in tune with what the fans say online. Most conversations on here would be restricted to local sports talk radio, local sports sections of the newspaper, or in a bar somewhere. Now someone can listen in on satellite radio on online, read newspapers from Warsaw, or read the forums that have replaced the barroom musings.
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i would be willing to bet that most players and coaches have learned to take what is said on sports talk or internet message boards with a grain of salt. shoot, most will tell you (i've even heard HS players say) they don't read the sports page either.

most of the guys in HS i knew who were good enough to get their name in print, didn't really care to read what was said about them. nor did they care to hear about it either.

unless you (speaking in general) are a recruit it's hard to say. if it was me i doubt i would base my choice of schools on what some of their idiot fan base has to say on a message board.

i'm going where i feel like i can feel at home and be involved with the team and coaches.
 
#12
#12
doozer,

True enough, but the perception of a fan base is (normally) a determining factor. I coached two players who were both turned off to Ohio State because OSU fans sent threatening e-mails to a player who dropped a pass in the end zone of the Texas game last year and when one fan (ONE fan) made a threat against former OSU quarterback Kirk Herbstreit (and his family) because he picked OSU to lose to whoever that week's opponent was.

Having a passionate fan base is generally seen as a positive. Having a fan base that is regarded as fickle or over-the-top is a negative.
 
#13
#13
OSU fans continue to display the fact that they are the most delusional fans in all of college sports. i'm honestly not suprised to hear that at all.

i have another board i post on for a band that i like. the band is from Ohio St so the college football discussion in the non band related forum is filled with idiot OSU fans who love nothing more that to shoot their mouths off.
 
#14
#14
it does. Negative remarks helped destroy Bill Battle's program back in the mid 70's as it did to Ray Goff at UGA in the mid 90's. Those type of remarks are more destructive now then they were 10-15 years ago.
 
#15
#15
SMVTT said:
it does. Negative remarks helped destroy Bill Battle's program back in the mid 70's as it did to Ray Goff at UGA in the mid 90's. Those type of remarks are more destructive now then they were 10-15 years ago.
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I'm sure the fact that Battle and Goff were both galactically incompetent had nothing to do with their demises. It's not negative if it's true.
 
#16
#16
SMVTT said:
it does. Negative remarks helped destroy Bill Battle's program back in the mid 70's as it did to Ray Goff at UGA in the mid 90's. Those type of remarks are more destructive now then they were 10-15 years ago.
Click to expand...

Words had nothing to do with Ray Goff's demise. In fact, there aren't enough negative remarks in the world to describe how galactically in over his head Ray Goff was.
 
#17
#17
If you really want to know how bad a hire Ray Goff was, I just noticed that Hat and I went for the same adverb in describing him. :good!:
 
#18
#18
The Vols are the best!!!!!!!!

That post alone secured us 17, 5 star prospects.

That sums up my answer to the question of this thread.
 
#19
#19
Apparently the remarks re Battle and Goof were so negative that it kept every other college and university in America from offering them jobs ever again.
 
#21
#21
Ohio Vol said:
doozer,

True enough, but the perception of a fan base is (normally) a determining factor. I coached two players who were both turned off to Ohio State because OSU fans sent threatening e-mails to a player who dropped a pass in the end zone of the Texas game last year and when one fan (ONE fan) made a threat against former OSU quarterback Kirk Herbstreit (and his family) because he picked OSU to lose to whoever that week's opponent was.

Having a passionate fan base is generally seen as a positive. Having a fan base that is regarded as fickle or over-the-top is a negative.
Click to expand...

I doubt this message board is any different than the one for Texas, Ohio State, USC, or any other recruiting powerhouse. I really doubt these kids are really bothered by what some guy is typing on his keyboard. Recruits are concerned with how the fans act on gameday. Going through the Vol Walk and watching a game in Neyland Stadium will give them a very positive perception.
 
#22
#22
I think the biggest impact on recruits is to come into a stadium and see excitement and enthusiasm, the roar of the crowd, the atmosphere, whether the team is winning or not. Also, prospect of playing early and Tradition Im sure plays a big role. For parents, who may be encouraging a child to go somewhere, I would think number 1 is discipline within the program, location of the school, reputation...thats what I would be looking at if it were me. Im sure, everything being equal among schools, negative criticism from fans may play in decision.
 
#23
#23
Volmania said:
If I was a high school player or a parent of a prospect looking for a scholarship to play football at any of the big-time schools, I know I would be reading the message boards.

Just curious if you guys think negative posts about the coaches who are out recruiting these players undermine those efforts. It seems likely to me. I know I would want to play for coaches who are well respected and secure in their jobs. It almost makes me wonder if some negative posts could be from fans of competing schools trying undermine our recruiting efforts.

Take Alabama for example.

With all the negative things being said about Shula and the likelihood that he will soon be gone from Bama, It's hard to believe that any but the most die-hard Tide fan blue-chip recruit would put their future pro prospects in danger by going into such an uncertain situation.
Click to expand...


Bama can't fire Shula. If they had anyone else that would have actually took that job, Shula would have never got it. Bama admin is a joke when it comes to hiring and retaining coaches like the Bear.
 
#24
#24
these young men don't play HS football in a vacuum. Unless they've never been on a team that's lost a game or are from a community where the team is practically worshipped, they know how fickle the fans can be.

message boards like this one are a lot of fun for the users, but we represent a very tiny portion of the Volnation. There aren't even 5 thousand registered members here, which means that we wouldn't even fill the student section at neyland.
 
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