What does UNLV

[Rebelious1]

have in common with Texas, Oregon, ASU, Miami, Wisconsin, Ohio State, USC and Florida?

Apparently this writer has them as the top schools he would consider if he was a top football recruit. http://mweb.cbssports.com/ncaaf/eye...top-five-schools-id-consider-as-a-top-recruit

 

[Rebel1986]

That is one reason I can see a major turnaround if UNLV starts to show any decent level of winning. UNLV is a very desirable place because of it being located in Las Vegas. If coach Sanchez can turn the team into a winner we would very quickly pass up programs like Utah St., BSU, and the Community College of Northern Nevada (CCNN) as the place to go in the MWC. Really, with all things being even, who would pick playing at BSU over UNLV. I see plane loads of tourist just waiting to go to the city of Boise or to Reno, or Utah. If not for skiing, none of those would be worth visiting.

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

This has been the theory for a long time. Vegas seems like a much more desirable destination for a kid in his late teens early 20s than somewhere like Boise or Logan.

The problem has been the facilities for football have been below average for a long time. The overall view of the program has been poor. The level of effort put forth by the athletic department to improve football has been limited. It finally appears that there is some booster money coming in, and coach Sanchez seems to be tackling a lot of the small issues that have plagued the program for years (poor facilities) You can't raid other peoples recruits unless you clean up your own mess first. It finally feels like there is a real effort being made to make football at least respectable and competitive. That should make the theory of Las Vegas being a desirable destination for recruits into a reality.

 

[RalphReadout]

Las Vegas is a tough place to recruit to. Imagine having a son that is making solid grades and is just 17-years old. How eager would you be to send him off to Las Vegas, rather than a prototypical college town? Recruiting to Las Vegas is not easy...

 

[Rebel1986]

I really do not believe that Las Vegas is a tough place to recruit players to since coach Rice has shown that the right coaching staff can bring in the top level recruits on a regular basis. What has held UNLV back has been the lack of facilities, lack of good coaching, lake of support from the university, and lack of support for the residents of Las Vegas. Coach Sanchez has already shown that even without having the facilities needed to be on an even footing with programs like BSU and SDSU, that UNLV can already win the recruiting wars, and this will only get better as soon as new training facilities break ground.

 

[RedCannon]

I get what you're saying on the surface Ralph, but I think Sanchez is doing a great job at educating parents on the reality of what Vegas is... starting with his family. I grew up in Vegas since I was 12 - all the way through college and moved when I was in my late 20's. I certainly know ALL of what Vegas is and it's nothing a parent should hesitate to send a well raised young man to. I made some fantastic memories in collage like any young man should and did Vegas have a place in that - heck yeah!, but it was nothing any parent should be afraid of.
If you look at more specifics of the university like the robotics engineering going toe-to-toe with MIT in the DARPA competition... or our Debate team going against Harvard and beating them... or a whole slew of things that show you the high quality of education and students they will be exposed to in such a diverse culture of students. No, I would have no problem at all in sending him off. Again, I do get what you're saying in general, but the staff has to get out there and educate them, which I think they are doing.