as far as recruiting. Back in the day there were very few, if any showcases.
The baseball camp he started was actually sort of a precursor to that, but of course it makes sense to go to a showcase and be seen by a lot of people vs just one school.
Believe it or not, Polk at one time was a pretty good recruiter. He had the #1 class in 1995. Way before that, he was able to get a bunch of guys like Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro away from people like LSU and Miami not to mention MLB. Of course, that was a LONG time ago. What happened was Polk wanted to leave in 1992, we talked him into staying and his heart wasn't in it for a few years. He finally decided to leave again, and did LT's job for him, hired Pat McMahon and reels in the top class I mentioned above.
His plan was to ultimately develop such a reputation that the players would come to us (the camp) but it's very obvious that is an extremely flawed way to go.
Polk's biggest problem (or one of them) was the fact that he couldn't get guys who were draft worthy that would come to MSU. And I'm talking about not only high school, but draft eligible juniors who would stay for their senior years. Skip Bertman was always really good at that, and Cohen is pretty good at that as well- see Conner Powers.