Originally Posted by NorthwestFlyer
I think it is interesting that I hear arguments about other A10 schools and how much of a drag they are because of their facilities. It seems like how well a team schedules and performs on the court (consistently) matters more than facilities. I could care less if LaSalle has a tiny gym if they are competitive and bring a solid team to conference play. I can't remember the last time LaSalle had a streak of being one of the bottom 3 teams year after year...
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Northwest, the key point is that how well teams perform depends on the quality of the players they recruit and the coaches they are able to hire. Our AD will tell you that both HS recruits and coaches are enormously impressed by the quality of facilities. Really good facilities are a reflection of a school's commitment to athletics....is the school really a big-time player, etc. And even with our superb facilities we have a tough time recruiting top players.
A10 schools with high-school-like facilities find it almost impossible to bring in really good players...and that affects the way the team performs, of course. Sure, once in a while a
Fordham or
LaSalle will get lucky and land a star that was overlooked. But consistently solid performance from such schools is just about impossible. Coaching candidates and recruits come in and see really sub-standard facilities in comparison to what they see elsewhere....and what do you suppose they think? FU and LU and the likes have to settle for personal that can't do better somewhere else. That's why facilities are so important.
