Binturong05
02-23-2012, 07:53 PM
I just finished watching Bearcats Sports Weekly with Mick Cronin and his answer to one of the fan mail bag questions caught my attention. One of the fans asked Mick to comment on how he sells a Midwestern program in his heavy recruitment of the New York area. I won't go in to detail about what he specifically said but what caught my ear was when he said he primarily recruits east of Cincinnati because those kids grow up wanting to play in the Big East and in Mick's words it's just a matter of which school they choose. Even more thought provoking was when he said west of Cincinnati the Big East is the second conference in most kids minds behind the Big Ten.
I found this to be rather surprising. I would think there's sufficient media exposure for Louisville, Cincinnati, and Notre Dame to the east of UC that those kids might see the Big East as an equal, but I trust Mick is making this declaration based on experience which I, as a spectator, do not have.
Mick also said there are a couple stations in the New York area that carry the Bearcats games that are on Fox Sports and don't make ESPN - I think one was WSNY. Mick made the case that the East is where his best chances at recruiting talent lie. I guess I never thought of it this way but it makes sense. I suppose I'm conditioned to think UC had more of reach than simply Ohio and East due to the football program regularly bringing in talent from the South particularly Florida.
Wondering how any of you see it.
I found this to be rather surprising. I would think there's sufficient media exposure for Louisville, Cincinnati, and Notre Dame to the east of UC that those kids might see the Big East as an equal, but I trust Mick is making this declaration based on experience which I, as a spectator, do not have.
Mick also said there are a couple stations in the New York area that carry the Bearcats games that are on Fox Sports and don't make ESPN - I think one was WSNY. Mick made the case that the East is where his best chances at recruiting talent lie. I guess I never thought of it this way but it makes sense. I suppose I'm conditioned to think UC had more of reach than simply Ohio and East due to the football program regularly bringing in talent from the South particularly Florida.
Wondering how any of you see it.