Geez, would not want to go to an escape room with some and try to solve any puzzle. No great mystery here, most perceived issues has been covered here ad nauseam. Dont need a modern day Woodward (if one exists today) to meet deep throat in an underground garage for answers nor another cnn journalist of the year spinning half truths from anonymous sources recycling a old storyline with new actors. Recall that starting back in 2007 when program had collapsed under Desko never to recover before he and program went on to win a couple of more championships. Maybe that sequel repeats aided by our guardians at the gate.
This question recently posed was if this team was one alpha away from FF and a possible natty . All several who answered (thank you for doing so) did so affirmatively which leads me to believe that the underlying assessment of the current team is quite good despite the complaints about recruiting, which is either an exaggerated fault or Desko is one great coach in making chicken out of chicken feathers. The sightings of Donahue and Rogers at hs fields close and far and tourneys must be a mistake. Guess they'll just have to wear Orange wear or carry clipboards so their presence is better known to naysayers.
Checking on the hometowns of those missing offensive alphas on AA lists , none from CNY warm bed which needs its own revitalization --grateful for Trimboli and Mellen sticking around .Those AA come mostly from Maryland, PA, LI, NJ . Many stayed close to home--- grateful to Curry, Lipka , Buttermore, Phaup coming up here not to mention Solomon, Dordevic and several Texans looking us up since Cuse doesn't venture beyond a radius, those field scouts and many ex players know so little --- so surmising best for direct recruiting to be more aggressive in LI, Canada and with Native areas --because every player there is a Thompson about to happen and how can we ever forget those misses.
Returning to NY and lamenting Fields and Ierlan. They were ranked but both received no offer from any d1 program. During that time Cuse recruited higher ranked players who had offers elsewhere but never did much here. Evans was #1 prospect in country . I too wish that I had bought certain stocks and passed on some others but damn my advisor for not knowing.
Academics, degrees, tuitions, financial aid, endowments, job post college opportunities have all been covered. Return phone calls? Perhaps a now unemployed Mueller can subpoena phone records. My guess is Desko and staff are old school gentleman who dont believe in the dishonesty of overselling or pampering and somehow still believe that a commitment is a commitment . Different times where kids not only like to be massaged and stroked but also where every c family shops for maximum advantage to willing poachers. Gonna have to adapt . Decomitts? Yell rebel yell but let's face facts, not losing them to anyone. If Lax gets you into an Ivy you go. Chris Gray be perfect fit, he"d star and love it here while getting a fairly good education. Just one problem, he's leaving BU to better his academics, hopefully he wants to be a broadcaster someday.
Close, so close.
Gray is a needed alpha that could put us over the top but his arrival seems unlikely. Winaskaus was step down from one so damn him for going home. Does Desko at least get bonus points for recruiting him before others instead of abuse for not rushing ? Similarly damn Yale admissions for somehow getting Gaudet in. These are the breaks in a competitive arena. Where is Cuse advantag when comparing of the total package to the Ivies, near Ivies as well as other ACC teams we compete with ?
So, this team, like all the others in the past decade, didn't go to Championship Weekend ... but they could have? Got it: the contractions and delivery went well, but the baby was stillborn.
Yes, nobody's going every year like it's the '90s or the aughts, but if we're OK with being 0 for 10, we're insane.
I forget what it's called in logic, but the pulling a lone example out of a problem and using it to summarily dismiss the entire argument is not effective reasoning: "We wanted Wisnauskas to stay here. He wanted to be closer to his GF in Maryland. Nothing we could do about that. Therefore, trhe fact we lose commits is never our fault."
That's like a doctor saying "if I could just relieve this one symptom this one time, your disease is cured."
Sometimes the answer might be something you aren't willing to change -- say a kid who's performing as a freshman like Salcido did his first year thinks he should play more. You know he's not good enough, so you're not going to sell out your values to keep a kid from maybe leaving. But if you pay attention when kids tell you about why they're thinking about leaving, and you talk to your own players about why this group of recruits decommitted, some themes will emerge, and that'll help you fix some things. (this is not a radical idea; switch pharmacies and see how fast Wegmans or whoever sends you a "hom can we get you back communique.)
You're not going to save everyone -- the kid who bails for Michigan of Nova because he has a better chance to play isn't a big deal, and there'll always be kids who leave for the girlfriend -- but if you're hearing more than once or twice that a kid felt that Danowski or Pietramala or Tiffany made the kid feel like he gave a damn about them and your guy(s) didn't, that's something you need to address.
All this stuff comes back to the braintrust -- the coaching staff.
Re: The "we're one alpha away from the FF" claim. Whose job is it to get one to come here, or to develop one? The coaches'. They turned Rice into one, and they (and KR) deserve credit. They thought they had one in Evans, but didn't. No huge shame in that, either.
The problem is that every other coach in our conference is doing so. Of greater concern: so are Tambroni. And Toomey. And Shay. And those are guys/programs we never had to worry abotu before.
Again, if someone can find the Youtube vid of Donahue taking parents' questions about how to get kids recruited, please post it so we can see if that's the kind of spiel that's going to inspire a HS lacrosse star in 2019 to want to play for the guy. I'm not saying nuke the guy based on that, and not every coach needs to give Dino babers speeches but one of the things that needs to happen here -- frankly, Desko should initiate it -- is a 360-degree analysis of the program. Hell, you have a number of good marketing profs on campus. Ask for a volunteer or two to look at our salesmanship, and improve what we can do better. (Some of this is probably on the SID.) It seems to me the football program did something similar a few years back and made some positive changes.
If our coaches are all "old-school gentlemen," they'd return phone calls -- especially to people with whom they have a relationship they do, or should, value.
You point out that these guys attend events (other have pointed out that they don't see as much of SU's coaches as they do of others). That category counts for nothing for when the NCAA issues tournament bids.
Now here's a thought: Assuming Chris Wojcik doesn't have a new gig yet, how would he look as our OC? John Tillman coaching tree, ties in New England and Philly, and mid-40s, so a spring chicken by our standards. Thoughts?
expo.syracuse.com
