I feel really good about the convergence of the bowl win, new facility, and favorable schedule next year. The potential for enhancing our recruiting and program vibe is pretty strong IMO. Our recruiting has been solid the last few years but we need a couple of back to back top six (in the B1G) recruiting classes to get out of the middle of the pack. Let's not forget that player development should be enhanced by better access to better facilities but that will take longer to show as players continue to develop over 4 to 5 years. Even a 1% bump in development across the board when you have 100 guys is like having an extra guy on the roster.
If the BB team can break into the NCAA or even have a nice showing in the NIT, the WR renovations will also create buzz. NU athletics should be able to leverage success combined with evidence of commitment and growth of the programs in a number of ways. News feeds on all this stuff needs to be going out as fast that they can think of new ways to spin it.
I loved what one of the announcers said after the bowl. It was something like, Pat Fitzgerald has been involved in 11 of the programs 13 bowl games as a player, assistant, or head coach. That is a really cool sound bit. Much better than, "Only the second bowl win in school history." or "Monkey on your back nonsense." that plays up failure more than success.
If the BB team can break into the NCAA or even have a nice showing in the NIT, the WR renovations will also create buzz. NU athletics should be able to leverage success combined with evidence of commitment and growth of the programs in a number of ways. News feeds on all this stuff needs to be going out as fast that they can think of new ways to spin it.
I loved what one of the announcers said after the bowl. It was something like, Pat Fitzgerald has been involved in 11 of the programs 13 bowl games as a player, assistant, or head coach. That is a really cool sound bit. Much better than, "Only the second bowl win in school history." or "Monkey on your back nonsense." that plays up failure more than success.