New football facility
- Thread starter superhawk
- Start date
By the way, it's called Ryan Fieldhouse, but the regulars here only know it as TFBTL.
The Fake by the Lake.
If it's been mentioned here I didn't see it, but do you know there's a big non-athletic event to be held in April at the Fake by the Lake?
NU's School of Communication plans a big gala fund-raising show there, as described in a recent alum publication. It's called CommFest, and ambitiously priced tickets are now being sold.
But the facility is still not to be used for spring football activities, is that right?
NU's School of Communication plans a big gala fund-raising show there, as described in a recent alum publication. It's called CommFest, and ambitiously priced tickets are now being sold.
But the facility is still not to be used for spring football activities, is that right?
Wow! That's excellent news. We'll be able to recruit with it this Spring and Summer. I can't believe it's even happening. NU has come a LONG way from the facilities in the '70's.
When the facility was first announced and funding established, Turk claimed it was all a farce and that it would never be built. He infamously dubbed it the fake by the lake.
But, then Turk also claims the Earth is flat and that the moon landing as fake too, so it really just meant it was definitely happening.
Thanks E-Cat. Sheez...that part of the lakefill sure has changed since I was a student. Back then, the rocks around the since-removed observatory were a great place to smoke a bowl with your buddies, because there was no one else around and it was all a big open field just to the immediate south. I suppose it's a better use of the space now.
It must be larger than it appears in the pictures because the domed part covers a complete football field that includes End Zones and sidelines.
Will they be giving tours to alums? Especially ones that made donations to make it happen?
Not true !! In anticipation of playing future games at Wrigley Field, there is a brick wall diagonally across the north endzone
It'll be a game changer over a number of years. I'd say only around 10-20% of the recruiting impact has played out so far from the new facility. As others have said, there's no substitute for walking through the actual facility. Pictures are nice, but nowhere near the same for a recruit. Even the most jaded recruit (a heavily recruited 4-5 star) will be blown away by this place.
If you use 247 rankings, we've been on an upwards recruiting track for around 5 years now and for the past 3 years each incoming class has been better than the previous one.
At this point, almost all of our recruits are high quality 3 stars with a few that have 4 star comparable raw talent.
To get to "another level" would require us to win recruiting battles for multiple of the actual 4 star recruits annually. That will likely take another 2-3 years with the new facility open, but it should start happening by the 2019 class.
We are, I just mean to those who look at star/quality rankings purely; our classes will likely outwardly feature more 4 stars.
I think anybody should agree that the past 2 classes have been the best of Fitz's tenure from top-to-bottom in aggregate. So that shows that the winning (the 10 win seasons in particular which featured plenty of weeks ranked as well as winning bowls and getting that negative recruiting tool used against us off our back) is working.
I just mean, if you supplement that with the full impact of the facility in the coming years (going from bottom of the Power 5 in facilities to the best in the nation level), you're talking about an even higher ceiling. I don't think we're anywhere near the ceiling of where recruiting can go.
I think within a few years, our team recruiting rankings (in terms of average quality) should only be behind Nebraska in the Big Ten West.
I would much rarer continue winning games on the field rather than recruiting rankings on paper.
There is another level than where we are at right now. I love our recruits and think we are doing well. I'm looking for us to land a few more top offers - kids like Cody White, DJ Moore, Kasim Hill, Chris Hinton jr, Walker Little, etc. - and hoping that the new facility will be a swing factor in some of these cases, that will take us to the next level.
I agree. Star rankings aside, we've missed on several kids that could definitely help us. If we can successfully recruit the top kids on our list, the rankings will take of themselves. Hoping that the facility will make a significant difference. Don't know if it will, why wouldn't it.
"Another level" means getting better players than the "good players" NU currently is getting.
It is the most broadly used metric in recruiting. It is the same reason we still use feet, pounds , and Fahrenheit. The US has been trying to switch to the metric system as long as I can remember (the mid 60s at least) but we cling to a standard that we best understand.
Yeah, the other half of the equation is player development, but there the facility will be much slower to deliver returns.
For recruiting, 10-20% impact before opening, 30-40% in year 1, 100% by year 2 (recruiting class of 2020).
For development, I think by year 3 or 4 we should see the difference in facilities (around 2021). Of course, some players are already studs when they come here, but others need the development more (like any program in the middle of a major conference).
But naturally, all these things go hand-in-hand with winning. If we have another good year next year (7+ wins and a bowl win with a national statement victory or two), there's no reason why the returns can't come in faster.
Unclear to me why the new facility could/would meaningfully improve player development. The strength and conditioning, nutrition, and other development programs will not change with the location but will be slightly more convenient for players.
Maybe the players will get an extra 15 minutes of sleep since it's on campus. Growing boys need their sleep.
The WLAX schedule announcement said there are 12 home games with 7 at Martin Stadium. So it appears 5 games, including all in February, will be indoors.
It's fair to question that, and it's a nebulous assertion. I do think that the convenience is a major factor, but there should be an upgrade in terms of S&C in the general sense of how much more equipment/real estate it's getting.
It'll probably actually be of more help to our olympic teams and the rest which are really the ones who will have more usage in months that normally it's harder to train in or for whom there's been less space/time for S&C as compared to their current situation.
Maybe the players will get an extra 15 minutes of sleep since it's on campus. Growing boys need their sleep.
I know you're just kidding, but... NU has had all their players on a regimented sleep program for a couple years now.
This is a 2013 article specific to NU: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/s...stern-catching-naps-along-with-footballs.html
This is a 2017 article on the topic generally, with a mention of Hooten identifying sleep issues (presumably Lancaster from other reports): https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/sports/ncaafootball/clemson-alabama-wearable-technology.html
