I'm sorry but I'm just not keen on devoting a lot of time and resources to recruiting Memphis proper. West Tennessee? sure...but it's a roll of the dice as a general rule recruiting the City of Memphis...,
What's so dicey about an entire city? Memphis has had more success in hoops since the 80s than we have I believe. And they are heavily loaded from their hometown. Exactly what do you mean? That's an awful big city.
I'm sorry but I'm just not keen on devoting a lot of time and resources to recruiting Memphis proper. West Tennessee? sure...but it's a roll of the dice as a general rule recruiting the City of Memphis...,
I wish that more of our former players from Memphis were better ambassadors for UTBB. Harris and Brooks especially are a couple of really good former players that were somewhat volatile while in Knoxville. Were Weezy, Dane, Lang, and JP all from the Memphis area? I know that Michael Brooks went to Memphis Melrose. I don't recall Tony Harris' HS.
Is Mark Griffin from the Memphis area?
Memphis is almost like a different country. I'm okay taking sloppy seconds from North Carolina and focusing on ATL instead. I wish that all UT sports had a branch recruiting office in Nashville.
What's so dicey about an entire city? Memphis has had more success in hoops since the 80s than we have I believe. And they are heavily loaded from their hometown. Exactly what do you mean? That's an awful big city.
Most people's thinking has always involved counting the number of recruiting hot spots closer to Knoxville than Memphis, and also listing the number of programs closer to Memphis than UT. I don't know if Shelby county has ever done a study, but I have heard plenty of people assert there are more college educated people living there with diplomas from Ole Miss than Tennessee.
I don't know if it is logical reasoning or other motivations, but most feel Memphis is an area we should only go into if there is a 5 star prospect. If you don't establish a recruiting presence there, you won't get them.
Back a few years ago, I believe the Vols played one home football game every year in the Liberty Bowl. And I am sure they had a reasonable explanation for why that stopped. However, I believe that is a big reason why Memphis seems more difficult to recruit. Restoring the basketball series seems a step in the right direction though.
Most people's thinking has always involved counting the number of recruiting hot spots closer to Knoxville than Memphis, and also listing the number of programs closer to Memphis than UT. I don't know if Shelby county has ever done a study, but I have heard plenty of people assert there are more college educated people living there with diplomas from Ole Miss than Tennessee.
I don't know if it is logical reasoning or other motivations, but most feel Memphis is an area we should only go into if there is a 5 star prospect. If you don't establish a recruiting presence there, you won't get them.
Back a few years ago, I believe the Vols played one home football game every year in the Liberty Bowl. And I am sure they had a reasonable explanation for why that stopped. However, I believe that is a big reason why Memphis seems more difficult to recruit. Restoring the basketball series seems a step in the right direction though.
What's so dicey about an entire city? Memphis has had more success in hoops since the 80s than we have I believe. And they are heavily loaded from their hometown. Exactly what do you mean? That's an awful big city.
As long as Tubby is at Memphis, we should recruit Memphis like crazy. Tubby lost out on a recruit to a D-2 school (Ouachita Baptist)and he's barely even recruiting the city of Memphis at all. We have no excuses.
There's some posters who are critical of Coach Barnes at times but it could be worse. We could be giving away as many free lower level tickets as possible so the Grizzlies don't kick us out for failing to maintain attendance levels...that may be as bad as losing out on a recruit to a D2 school.
If you consider Tiger High "college educated", theres more U of M graduates in Shelby than any other school...
Calipari wanted to cancel the basketball series due to "recruiting advantages" for UT. UT decided to cancel FB then. Short sighted decision by Calipari since UT hasnt got a HS recruit out of Memphis that Memphis wanted and could offer since Tony Harris (note, Memphis couldnt offer Jarnell Stokes since he was mid year enrollee and they had no schollys).