–Class of ’78

I bet none of you will own up to that one. Your players get sold the education thing but the smart ones know it is just a shell game.

Read the 2nd sidebar about halfway down…

Thought you might find this article interesting. Klemm poached 2 recruits from uw when he moved to ucla.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/usc/la-sp-0131-ucla-football-20120131,0,3032999.story

Finally, this is – for some, like my SO – an eye-rolling-overstatement for a stupid game played by kids but it seems that a lot of us here have gone through Kubler Ross 5 stages of grief: Depression, anger, bargaining and, finally acceptance.

ie, Whoever we get – kids who really want to be Cal Bears – is fine with me, esp Kline.

Gotta bust my ass today cause tmrw it’s going to be hard to get any work done.

Ge Bears!

Take a look at the January 8 postings, when the first rumors of Tosh going to UW surfaced.

Take a look at the January 7 postings, when Shaq made his announcement and McCarthy made his announcement. All the kudos of how great they were, how great Tosh, etc.

Wisdom Cow – any chance you are the parent of a teenage boy? My son is a junior, starting OL at a football factory high school in Los Angeles. Big time recruits every year to major schools. Kids who are being recruited do not think in terms of “trust.” They think in terms of TV, NFL potential, ability to start quickly, whether they like their coaches (HC and direct coach – OC probably being the least important, since he is up in the box all game), and, importantly, the ability to play with their buddies. Even when they don’t go to the same school, how often do you see after a game guys from rival schools yaking it up – often its because they were (and are) friends.

We’ll see what happens after LOI day. But if we lose more, I like to see some analysis of why. UCLA has been awful, and Mora was not considered to be a greta hire, but he is reeling in a strong recruiting class. Kelley flirted with Tampa Bay, and yet is stealing 5-star recruits away from the California schools. U$C is still bring in great recruits, notwithstanding Kiffin being a poor coach and the crushing sanctions. Washington State hired Leach (brilliant, brilliant choice) and already is making plays for great in-state recruits. Shaq Thompson’s brother went to Cal, was an all-american and was drafted, and yet Shaq is not going to Cal. Ariks goes to Oregon – a backyard recruit if I ever saw one, who could have been Tony Gonzalez volume 2 – and says Kelley recruited straight up without going negative, implying everyone else (us included) did.

Why is this happenining?

I have been told our prior facilities were terrible, and that great recruits stayed away. Well, if the class this year is pretty the same as it has been over the last 4-5 years, there is not great evidence to support that claim.

I have been told Tedford is the reason we get great recruits, notwithstanding the records of the last few years, because a lot of Cal guys go to the NFL. Maybe so, but maybe it had to do with Wilcox when he was here, and then Tosh thereafter.

People have written that Tosh is the worst human being alive (or second worst to Sarkasian) and he should be blamed for everything. Assume that is all true. Doesn’t that speak volumes of the lack of importance of the higher ups?

Again, I have nothing against under the rader recruits. I love them. I love that they have a chip on their shoulder. I love how they want to beat the crap out of the schools that stockpile 5-star recruits. I posted yesterday re Boise State – that kind of model here would be spectacular. Heck, Monty basically does that, and he is generating tangible results.