(04-28-2015 03:03 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(04-28-2015 02:42 PM)THUNDERGround Wrote:  

(04-28-2015 02:28 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(04-28-2015 09:25 AM)EvilVodka Wrote:  

(04-27-2015 10:17 PM)HtownOrange Wrote:  Aside from Texas and TAMU, no other Texas teams move the needle. Houston is UT or TAMU, with a few LSU, OU and Houtson fans mixed in. I live in the Houston metro (Thus the moniker Htown). UH has potential but gambling on potential when the nearest conference mate is a risky business. As for Baylor and TCU, neither is huge and they are just minutes apart. As for other Texas schools, most would not fit academically (Houston is targeted for more academic investment via the State)

See above for my reasoning on Houston. Personally, I would love to have the ACC invite Rice or Houston, but that is for selfish reasons of seeing my Orange, FSU and Virginia play nearby. My personal reasons aside, adding either or both would be a very large risk. I like the upside but that would be a long and potentially never ending road to get Houston on a UT or TAMU level of fandom. UH is still perceived of and to a good extent still a commuter school.

I'm in Houston too :)

It's a truth that UT and A&M are the major schools in Texas....but I see enormous potential behind those two schools.

If you're a Syracuse, Boston College, Pitt, even the two Virginia schools....where do you recruit football players? FSU and Miami create an opportunity to recruit Florida....adding two texas teams would open up Texas recruiting as well.

Now, what about a TV network and MARKETS? If you had BOTH Rice and Houston having Clemson, FSU, and Miami coming to town, I think you would have more of a chance to move the needle in the college sports world.

I don't think you can take a snapshot of NOW....right now TCU and Baylor are the top FOOTBALL teams, but not necessarily top programs. You've got to look at the potential of your candidates.....

Cincinnati? good school, growing athletic program, average recruiting, average market
UConn? Championship basketball....that's it. Good flagship school. No recruiting, no market
Houston? Growing athletic program, gigantic market, great recruiting

Where do you recruit players? Well, Virginia has 3 players from Florida on its roster (1 freshman and 2 RS freshmen). I'm not sure where they are on the depth chart, or even if they have scholarships. That's in contrast to the 61 players from Virginia, Maryland or North Carolina. Access to these remote recruiting areas is largely overrated, IMO.

If you are in a neighboring state, it may make more of a difference. But adding Texas isn't going to affect northeastern ACC schools much, if at all, when it comes to recruiting.

I don't know about that. A pretty large portion of our players are from Florida. I think it's where a coach can establish/keep connections. Doc and Bob Pruett had a FL pipeline from their time at UF... I would think that if any ACC coaches had ties to TX, it would be a valuable tool...

But crossing time zones like that is difficult (especially on a yearly basis... Example: No team from Texas has ever won in Huntington. Conversely, we have only won once west of the Mississippi... Not to mention travel costs for non-revenue sports (probably something you guys don't have to worry about like we do).

I have to believe that Marshall is exceptional. A quick check shows the Herd have 27 players from Florida on their roster (out of 94) and only 11 from West Virginia. That's a strange ratio.

Yeah, that's why I say a lot of it has to do with a combination of the connections a coach has (not to mention recruiting skills..lol), player experience with the coach that recruited him, and the campus visit. If it hadn't been for Tommy Shuler, Rakeem Cato would have been an FIU Panther.