ISU doesn't want high ranked players they just want a good frame.
Not true. CPR will happily take high ranked players when he can get them...or didn't you notice that Campos and others were highly ranked?
ISU doesn't want high ranked players they just want a good frame.
I'm curious--who was the coach between Ihmels and Bill Bergan? CW mentioned in the article that Ihmels took ISU track "to a new level"...
So, I take it then, he didn't so much take the track program to new levels--but returned them to the old levels? Or close to, anyway?Steve Lynn- Mens
**** Lee- Women's
ISU's recruiting classes have been getting better under CPR. People seemed to have forgotten that ISU was in horrible shape when Chizik left. There was some talent there but not much. There has been a lot of changes and a building up of sorts going on over the last few years. ISU has improved their play on the field with 3 bowl births. CPR has become famous for his post game speeches on Youtube and pulling off an upset each year as well. Then, look at the new facilities ISU has added this past year along with the new video board over the North end zone. Those are big time additions for the program. These are long term investments that will pay off and ISU will start to be able to land 4 star's more often and more high end 3 star's.
Maybe we as ISU fans we have been spoiled by CFH and his high risk high reward recruiting, but that's basketball and a much smaller team. CPR and staff have had a difficult time building depth in some key areas in their time at ISU which have been at QB, WR, and D-line. However, at this point in a couple of years there will be depth in these positions. The D line is young, but sounds promising and who knows that the future holds for our two young QBs. This is also why Lazard is so important to ISU and to keep him as a commit. He represents another step forward for the program. Lazard will help recruit other players (as long as he isn't a bust) and will perk up the ears of other players when considering the program their going to play for.
ISU should be building to attract a few 4 star and high end 3 star recruits. It will always be difficult for ISU to garner major consideration from the elite recruits. That's okay. ISU is a blue collar program, it keeps them hungry.
Agree with a lot of what you say, but not sure you can just say the recruiting has improved that much with PR over Chizik, or that the stars don't correlate to success on-field. Clearly, he's a better coach of the players he gets. Since 2002, our team recruiting rankings on Rivals are:
2002: 30 Mac
2003: 46 Mac
2004: 48 Mac
2005: 58 Mac
2006: 63 Mac
2007: 60 Cheez
2008: 62 Cheez
2009: 73 PR
2010: 60 PR
2011: 51 PR
2012: 87 PR
2013: 58 PR
Average rank is 58. I would ventire to say our national ranking over those years was about the same. And the best of these years were the late (not last) years of Mac, which correlate to the 2002-2004 recruiting years, which were ranked a little higher than most..
They took him begrudginly
the replacement of Ihmels will actually be in charge of 6 sports for Directors Cup. Important hire that can increase visibility of I-State. Excited about it!
Pollard won the NCAA national title in the 5,000m and was a Cross Country All-American back in the day, so I'm sure he's got a special interest in this position.
And the fact JP's son is a top distance runner in the state of Iowa.