I was listening to the Matt Stevens show and he was talking about Jake Thomas looking at Stanford and Ashton Shumpert looking at Vandy. My question is that does anyone else Vandy COULD possibly be a sleeping giant in that if they have a few consistent years. They have the unique ability to offer a highly respected education as well as playing SEC football. I think this could bring in highly rated prospects from around the country who otherwise may not stray too far from home and vastly transform the status quo up there.
Vanderbilt's future
- Thread starter MSDawg34
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I was listening to the Matt Stevens show and he was talking about Jake Thomas looking at Stanford and Ashton Shumpert looking at Vandy. My question is that does anyone else Vandy COULD possibly be a sleeping giant in that if they have a few consistent years. They have the unique ability to offer a highly respected education as well as playing SEC football. I think this could bring in highly rated prospects from around the country who otherwise may not stray too far from home and vastly transform the status quo up there.
While you might see a decline in wins this season, they're positioned to do very well (for Vandy) in the near future and threaten to evolve permanently. Think Northwestern, who routinely wins 6-9 games and goes to a bowl, and is capable of beating anyone in the Big 10.
Until they start pumping money (SEC type money) into their program, they will never be a sleeping giant. Potentially going to a bowl every 2-4 years, yes. Sleeping giant, no.<div>Unfortunately fortheirfans, they are going to have to deal with the same coaching rumors that we do every year. Maybe even worse.</div><div>
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looks to be good and a good recruiter, but if he does make vandy a consistent winner, will he stay. vandy for different reasons is like msu and ole miss. our jobs will always be harder than many. i believe the right guy can win almost anywhere that will committ to winning but there are easier jobs and if mullen or freeze or franklin do well enough to get offered a "big time" job, they'll have to consider just how much easier life might be for the same level of success and maybe more. i think all these elite academic schools will have a hard time maintaining big time success. it takes getting an andrew luck and/or a harbargh to really get them going. and those are few and far between and hard to hold onto.
Which is what it takes. They are unlike other Academic schools in that they fall in the SEC. All they have to do is find a way to enroll players (create a PE major or something), hire the next Nick Saban, build top notch facilities, etc... Dominate. One reason they are getting good recruits now is they can truely sell a top notch education with the SEC experience with a diversity of majors. One of the biggest drawbacks to Georgia Tech is that they only offer Engineering.
If you were a kid from Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and someone offered you a 40k per year education and the chance to play in the SEC it would be hard to turn it down to play for a 5k a year State School Education.
(my views on cost of college and prestige of Universities aside, only speaking about whata HS student may thing)
If you were a kid from Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and someone offered you a 40k per year education and the chance to play in the SEC it would be hard to turn it down to play for a 5k a year State School Education.
(my views on cost of college and prestige of Universities aside, only speaking about whata HS student may thing)
look at stanford, duke, and northerwestern. those are their BCS conf peers. get lucky with a luck and they might win 10 games for a year or 2, but ultimately, their ceiling is a regular 5-7 W competitive team with occassional 8-9 W seasons. their floor is vandy prior to franklin/duke.
Being in the SEC means they have the money to compete if they want to.
On the otherhand, the SEC is not like other conferences where you have teams coming in 3rd or 4th that are just pretty good. You have to be really good to get to 3rd or 4th place, and great to be in the top two. The SEC is relatively top-heavy right now, and it should be as easy to finish in the top six as I can remember, but you've still got UAT, LSU that will probably be great, USCe, UGA, and Ark that will range from good to very good. And then you've got teams in Auburn, MSU, UF, and UT that could range from mediocre to pretty good, with one of them at least turning out to be good. And that's ignoring A&M and Mizzou. In normal years where two out of Alabama, Auburn, and LSU are really good, two out of UF, UGA, UT, and USCe are really good, it's too hard for Vandy to climb to the middle of the pile, much less the top.
ETA: All of this applies to MSU and UM almost as much, except we don't have to lower our academic standards to put together a competitive football team and we have a lot more talent in our natural recruiting area, although there's a lot more competition for recruiting.
On the otherhand, the SEC is not like other conferences where you have teams coming in 3rd or 4th that are just pretty good. You have to be really good to get to 3rd or 4th place, and great to be in the top two. The SEC is relatively top-heavy right now, and it should be as easy to finish in the top six as I can remember, but you've still got UAT, LSU that will probably be great, USCe, UGA, and Ark that will range from good to very good. And then you've got teams in Auburn, MSU, UF, and UT that could range from mediocre to pretty good, with one of them at least turning out to be good. And that's ignoring A&M and Mizzou. In normal years where two out of Alabama, Auburn, and LSU are really good, two out of UF, UGA, UT, and USCe are really good, it's too hard for Vandy to climb to the middle of the pile, much less the top.
ETA: All of this applies to MSU and UM almost as much, except we don't have to lower our academic standards to put together a competitive football team and we have a lot more talent in our natural recruiting area, although there's a lot more competition for recruiting.
They've got a long ways to go in terms of game day atmosphere and fan support. That's going to keep them from becoming a "giant" in the SEC for many years to come. But they can legitimately become a consistent bowl team.
A few things that are helping them right now: 1) They have the advantage of playing in the east which is no doubt the easier division right now, plus they have UM as their permanent west opponent. 2) Bama is recruiting on a national level which means they can grab some decent recruits from Alabama. 3) Tennessee has been down. 4) Geographically they don't have a lot of competition for recruits right now --- UM, Kentucky & Tennessee are the worst they have been in years plusLouisville is in the Big East which should work in Vandy's favor.
If they're going to string some winning seasons together, now is the time to do it.
A few things that are helping them right now: 1) They have the advantage of playing in the east which is no doubt the easier division right now, plus they have UM as their permanent west opponent. 2) Bama is recruiting on a national level which means they can grab some decent recruits from Alabama. 3) Tennessee has been down. 4) Geographically they don't have a lot of competition for recruits right now --- UM, Kentucky & Tennessee are the worst they have been in years plusLouisville is in the Big East which should work in Vandy's favor.
If they're going to string some winning seasons together, now is the time to do it.
Think more like Berkley East. Vandy has got to be the most liberal school in the SEC. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
The Business school is tiny, and mainly geared to their MBA and Executive MBA programs. Arch, Industrial Design, Etc... are close enough to Engineering. Sadly the best looking girls on campus are usually in Architecture, which tells you a lot about the talent on North Avenue.
They don't have PE, or Elem Ed, or Sociology etc... Theire curricula is very limited and I believe even the Econ majors still have to take Calculus as Freshman.
They don't have PE, or Elem Ed, or Sociology etc... Theire curricula is very limited and I believe even the Econ majors still have to take Calculus as Freshman.
They toured us through the new facilities on campus, primarily for football and some for other sports. The meeting rooms, hallways, film rooms, etc., are as nice as any SEC program. They are about to break ground on a mini-IPF facility, but mini only because of the space issue on campus.<div>
</div><div>They are pumping money in, at least by previous standards. They'll have new turf, new lights and a new tron for the Thursday night opener.</div><div>
</div><div>PS - as for the most liberal SEC campus, I'd go Florida / Vandy in a tie.</div>
</div><div>They are pumping money in, at least by previous standards. They'll have new turf, new lights and a new tron for the Thursday night opener.</div><div>
</div><div>PS - as for the most liberal SEC campus, I'd go Florida / Vandy in a tie.</div>
And if you arent too busy, make sure you email Richard Cross and let him know that the 33 k (screaming fans chuckle,chuckle) Vandy has at the USC game will be more than UM has for 3 games this season.
Would be 4 more than that, but MSU every team on your schedule that plays in Oxford, will bring enough in November to put you over the 33k mark. </p>
Would be 4 more than that, but MSU every team on your schedule that plays in Oxford, will bring enough in November to put you over the 33k mark. </p>
1. Vandy grads have an empiricle reason for saying they are better than the rest of us
2.They dont get out of a pickup truck and go inside to tell everyone on a message board how redneck their rivals are.
2.They dont get out of a pickup truck and go inside to tell everyone on a message board how redneck their rivals are.
Leave it to a State fan to bring up Ole Miss in a conversation about Vandy. Let's check the list:
<span style="text-decoration:underline">Interests of a State Fan by Rank</span>
1. Hating Ole Miss
2. Hating Oxford
3. Camoflauge
4. Never leaving Mississippi/ OUR State
5. All things Mississippi State
<span style="text-decoration:underline">Interests of a State Fan by Rank</span>
1. Hating Ole Miss
2. Hating Oxford
3. Camoflauge
4. Never leaving Mississippi/ OUR State
5. All things Mississippi State
Richard Cross and Godfrey. Not state fans there.
One was being an arrogant *** about how expecting 6-9 wins is some sort of low standard.
The other was being an arrogant *** about how 33 K fans is some sort of low standard.
Both of which are on the high end of what your fans should expect.
Unless you are counting empty seats and concentrating on what bowl we wont go to this year.
I love you guys. If it werent for your envy, none of this would be any fun at all. Best thing is, it comes from your print and radio media darlings, not just your internet fanbase.
Enjoy convincing everyone your recruiting is what people should focus on.
One was being an arrogant *** about how expecting 6-9 wins is some sort of low standard.
The other was being an arrogant *** about how 33 K fans is some sort of low standard.
Both of which are on the high end of what your fans should expect.
Unless you are counting empty seats and concentrating on what bowl we wont go to this year.
I love you guys. If it werent for your envy, none of this would be any fun at all. Best thing is, it comes from your print and radio media darlings, not just your internet fanbase.
Enjoy convincing everyone your recruiting is what people should focus on.
Vandy is not "Berkeley East" by a long shot. Maybe I'm biased because I'm around the medical side more than the undergrads, but that campus is as conservative as Oxford for the most part. Hell, I wouldn't even call it a terribly liberal place.<div>
</div><div>Any school whose primary clientele are rich southerners is never going to be a 'liberal' campus.</div>
</div><div>Any school whose primary clientele are rich southerners is never going to be a 'liberal' campus.</div>