Kruger says, "Jenni's message is right on."

[Bk2X]

Don't like how she calls him Coach K.

 

[soonernutt]

I may be in the minority here, but I'm not really impressed with her thesis here. It's an article about nothing, with no point really being made. In fact, if the article makes a point, it's not the one she intended. That is, when the state produces great players, OU is more likely to be successful.

There isn't a coach in OU's history who wouldn't have gone after the local guys she listed, plus a few more. When the state produces quality D1 talent, OU is hot after it. Always. We may not always get the player, but we will try. LK doesn't need a DO writer to guide him on this.

But her point that we should have recruited local marginal D1 talent over TMG, Tiny, and WW is silly. In hindsight, it almost makes sense, but nobody is ever going to turn down McDAA's in favor of local "projects". I'm not saying we should never sign a David Godbold, just that we should recruit smartly enough to have room for a guy like that. Your roster isn't going to be full of elite recruits, so if you recruit smartly, there should usually be room for a local project with some upside. There shouldn't be an argument of elite out-of-state talent vs. marginal in-state talent. Any coach is going to take the better player.

Plus, Capel didn't do a good job mentoring his elite players, but he didn't ignore in-state talent either. He signed Blake Griffin, Cade Davis, Tyler Neal, and CJ Washington. Not to mention Hardrick, when he could have easily not honored the earlier scholarship offer, but chose to take the honorable path. His problem was that too many of his guys left the program before they really contributed anything. He recruited bad character guys, and he failed to instill any values into them. That isn't an indictment of every out-of-state player. It's an indictment of Capel's skill as a judge and molder of young men.

I don't think LK suffers from those deficiencies, or he would have flamed out long ago. This guy knows how to build a team. Where he gets the players is up to him, IMO. Just get the guys you think you can make into a great team. Period.

 

[soonertravis]

I may be in the minority here, but I'm not really impressed with her thesis here. It's an article about nothing, with no point really being made. In fact, if the article makes a point, it's not the one she intended. That is, when the state produces great players, OU is more likely to be successful.

There isn't a coach in OU's history who wouldn't have gone after the local guys she listed, plus a few more. When the state produces quality D1 talent, OU is hot after it. Always. We may not always get the player, but we will try. LK doesn't need a DO writer to guide him on this.

But her point that we should have recruited local marginal D1 talent over TMG, Tiny, and WW is silly. In hindsight, it almost makes sense, but nobody is ever going to turn down McDAA's in favor of local "projects". I'm not saying we should never sign a David Godbold, just that we should recruit smartly enough to have room for a guy like that. Your roster isn't going to be full of elite recruits, so if you recruit smartly, there should usually be room for a local project with some upside. There shouldn't be an argument of elite out-of-state talent vs. marginal in-state talent. Any coach is going to take the better player.

Plus, Capel didn't do a good job mentoring his elite players, but he didn't ignore in-state talent either. He signed Blake Griffin, Cade Davis, Tyler Neal, and CJ Washington. Not to mention Hardrick, when he could have easily not honored the earlier scholarship offer, but chose to take the honorable path. His problem was that too many of his guys left the program before they really contributed anything. He recruited bad character guys, and he failed to instill any values into them. That isn't an indictment of every out-of-state player. It's an indictment of Capel's skill as a judge and molder of young men.

I don't think LK suffers from those deficiencies, or he would have flamed out long ago. This guy knows how to build a team. Where he gets the players is up to him, IMO. Just get the guys you think you can make into a great team. Period.

I agree with you. If she wants to prove that we should recruit kids from Oklahoma that have been neglected, then point to players who weren't recruited by OU that have had major D-1 success. Was Udoh from Baylor an example of that?

For the most part OU recruits Oklahoma well. We just cannot sustain an elite level program by either relying heavily on Oklahoma kids or from ignoring them too much. Look at the 88 team. yes we had King, but we also had Blaylock, Grace, Seiger, and Grant. How many of those kids were local vs. national. In 2002 we had White, Price, McGee who were not Oklahoma kids.

And I don't think you can have a top 5 players at OU without including Price and Blaylock. Just my opinion.

 

[MsProudSooner]

I agree with you. If she wants to prove that we should recruit kids from Oklahoma that have been neglected, then point to players who weren't recruited by OU that have had major D-1 success. Was Udoh from Baylor an example of that?

For the most part OU recruits Oklahoma well. We just cannot sustain an elite level program by either relying heavily on Oklahoma kids or from ignoring them too much. Look at the 88 team. yes we had King, but we also had Blaylock, Grace, Seiger, and Grant. How many of those kids were local vs. national. In 2002 we had White, Price, McGee who were not Oklahoma kids.

And I don't think you can have a top 5 players at OU without including Price and Blaylock. Just my opinion.

She gave examples of Oklahoma kids that we neglected to recruit. I copied from her article below.

And frankly, Coach Kruger, I have the feeling that your coaching predecessors might've forgotten those roots these past couple of years. How else to explain how a player as stellar as Bridge Creek swingman and Super 5 player of the year Ryan Spangler ends up going 1,800 miles away to Gonzaga even though he lives less than half an hour from the Lloyd Noble Center?

Or how Amric Fields, a Putnam City West teammate of Sooner forward Tyler Neal, leaves OKC for DFW where he averages a solid 6.8 points as a freshman for TCU?

Read more: http://newsok.com/a-suggestion-for-...t-oklahoma-hard/article/3557159#ixzz1JRCmDlqn

Tyler Neal wouldn't be at OU if 2009/10 hadn't been such a disaster. She has a good point. We do need superstars and it doesn't matter where they are from. But, we also need glue guys who bleed Crimson and Cream.

This paragraph might be an explanation of why Capel had a hard time motivating his Micky D's AA players:

At the powerhouse programs, the passion is almost built in. Players go to Duke and Kentucky and UConn and North Carolina, and there's an expectation of greatness that comes with decades of success.

Read more: http://newsok.com/a-suggestion-for-...t-oklahoma-hard/article/3557159#ixzz1JRE2ZshT

 

[DenverSooner]

I have read somewhere that Tyler Neal would not be at OU if Sheri Coale had not begged/pestered (or whatever you want to call it) to sign him.

 

[SoonerNorm]

I have read somewhere that Tyler Neal would not be at OU if Sheri Coale had not begged/pestered (or whatever you want to call it) to sign him.

Doesn't sound like Sherri...why would she care?

 

[sanguinetti]

choo kennedy was an OK kid. one of the OKC high schools, star spencer maybe.

edit: i think it was either Classen or Grant.

 

[rocjunkie]

Doesn't sound like Sherri...why would she care?

I agree, Sherri has enough on her plate to worry about the men's recruiting problems. The only link to Putnam City West is Jan Ross, where she graduated from, but still I don't see it.

 

[DenverSooner]

Doesn't sound like Sherri...why would she care?

because she liked Capel, because she likes OU, because she saw him play and thought he was a good player. I am positive I read it on this board and think it was from a legitimate source like a newspaper but I can't swear to the second part.

 

[DenverSooner]

choo kennedy was an OK kid. one of the OKC high schools, star spencer maybe.

edit: i think it was either Classen or Grant.

Kennedy played at Northwest Classen in the early to mid 80s. He was probably a senior in 1983 or 1982.

 

[DenverSooner]

I agree, Sherri has enough on her plate to worry about the men's recruiting problems. The only link to Putnam City West is Jan Ross, where she graduated from, but still I don't see it.

What I read did not remotely suggest Sherri was bossing Capel around or doing anything other than convincing him to take a look at the kid. I most certainly did not mean it as a negative to really either of them.