Marshall: Unicorns & Uniforms – The Recruitment Fallacy (VIDEO)

Uniforms and Unicorns: The Recruiting Fallacy

Much has been made recently of the role uniforms play in OUA football recruitment. We are a materialistic civilization. From the youngest of ages we begin to understand our place in society based on what brand we are wearing in comparison to our friends. More importantly we begin to assign value to individuals based on the social hierarchy that is consumerism. To many people, OUA athletics are no different.

Early last week news broke through the Guelph Mercury newspaper that the Guelph Gryphons football program was upset because the OUA’s member institutions represented by athletic directors had legislated a limit on the number of uniforms and helmets that could be worn during a given OUA season.

The vote truly affects Guelph the most as they possess four more sets of helmets and six more sets of uniforms than the nearest competitor being the Carleton Ravens reborn football program.

Recruiting is all about a school being able to exploit their individual advantages to separate themselves from other schools who are doing the same with different strengths.

Schools that have been around and won on a national stage recently are painted with the brush of tradition. Western and Queens both placed on a canvas and illustrated in black and white with a hint of gold.

Meanwhile Guelph, a school with relatively minimal national exposure and tradition of excellence relies on flash and dazzle to grab the attention of possible recruits, transfers and headline makers around the country. In the summer of 2012 Gryphon Head Coach Stu Lang stated, “sometimes you have to create the sizzle before the steak, the jerseys and helmets are a bit of that sizzle and hopefully the steak will follow with championships”. There is nothing wrong with that. Everyone takes a different philosophical approach.

 

In my opinion when it comes to recruiting the best athletes, uniforms simply do not matter. They never have and they never will.

We have been socialized to believe that uniforms drive interest and gain the extra inch required to secure a key commit in the game of inches that is recruiting. This is the recruitment fallacy we all accept despite its fundamental inaccuracies.

Uniforms are a toy which serves a purpose as the cherry on top of a solid recruiting pitch sundae, yet have absolutely nothing to do with the main course that keeps any good football program relevant.

Incoming recruits have many factors to weigh in their decision making process including distance from home, friendships, ties to alumni, ability to win right away and much more. I believe these factors ALL play a much larger role in a school improving its talent pool than a new uniform or jersey ever will.

There is one word that defines recruiting success. Coaching.

As a former recruit (three or four star at best) I can attest to the fact that the coach plays the largest role in the commitment decision. Athletes are constantly asking themselves questions in hopes the answers will point their educational and athletic compass in the right direction. What coach has the greatest connection with me? What coach will help me become the best player I can be? Which coach truly cares for me as a person? All pertinent inquiries.

Coaching is so important in the recruiting process because the aura of a coaches mission encapsulates all the aspects of a winning team. Communication, friendship and collective hard work to name a few. No athlete will go to a school with a coach they dislike for a set of five new uniforms.

Uniforms do not matter.

While I understand and respect the idea that uniforms create conversations which might lead to an athlete discovering positive aspects of a school they otherwise would never have researched, I do not believe this happens nearly as often as others believe.

If uniform selection was such a priority in athlete recruitment then why do the athletes never talk about it when they commit? I would like for you to raise your hand if you remember the last time a commit of any sport openly stated to media that they were attending a university primarily because they love the uniforms. Bueller? Bueller?

The answer is never. No athlete wants to be viewed as selfish and materialistic when entering their OUA career. Athletes would be embarrassed to give uniforms primary credit as a pull in recruiting. Besides, if a school were actively trying to recruit shallow jersey obsessed athletes, it would say far more about the program than the incoming commits.

I spoke with a variety of OUA football stars to get their take on the topic of what role if any do uniforms play in a recruits decision making.

Nate Behar of 2014 Panda Bowl fame committed to the Carleton Ravens before their 2013 rebirth season. Carleton announced their return to OUA football with dynamic winged helmets and bold red accents to accompany their black, grey and white overtones, but did all the flashiness play a role in securing Nate?

Regarding his recruitment from London to Carleton’s new team Behar told me, “it was the coaching staff’s commitment. Having seven full time coaches is the thing that has us most primed for long term success”. He also stated that, “getting to build a culture and build our own tradition was cool, I don’t know that I’ll ever see another OUA team start anew and it was too intriguing to deny”.

After talking to Nate it was very clear that a highly talented skill position player left the home of an established OUA powerhouse in London to join a team with next to no history, pedigree or promise of achievement, and the decision had absolutely nothing to do with uniforms.

Uniforms do not matter.

I also spoke to Will Finch of the Western Mustangs. Will is widely regarded as the best Canadian quarterback to stay domestic in possibly a decade or more and could have likely enrolled and started at any and all of the twenty seven CIS football member schools.

Will chose to wear purple, “because of the knowledgable coaching staff, the close proximity to home and ultimately the tradition”. Like many Mustangs he was drawn by the programs history, not a new uniform combination.

Lastly I spoke to James Roberts. James was another highly recruited quarterback with several options. James selected Guelph, he dressed in his first year and played the vast majority of the 107th Yates cup at quarterback for the Gryphons against yours truly.

Did the Gryphon pivot make his decision based on uniforms? James decided to attend Guelph based on, “the family atmosphere and the relationships the coaches build with players. It was different and a home atmosphere for me every single time I came on campus, it was the right choice for me in all aspects of life not just football”.

Coaching, life, atmosphere, campus, not uniforms.

This highly talented recruit who should be immature and wowed by the selection of fabrics and colours was not. He chose Guelph without being pulled by uniforms. Instead he was drawn by atmosphere.

Atmosphere is difficult to define but any athlete that finds the right home knows exactly what it means. It is the camaraderie with team mates, the instant connections felt with your surroundings and the general vibe that “I belong here”.

Being a talented varsity athlete in high school with a variety of postsecondary options is a privilege that few athletes will ever get to experience. The recruiting experience teaches an athlete as much about themselves as it does about the schools they visit. When you find your home you just know. Nate, Will, James and myself all experienced this feeling.

An emotion that no uniform can recreate.

In a London Free Press article this week Morris Della Costa wrote ”It’s obvious the organization (OUA) has decided that instead of encouraging all universities to attain excellence, they would seek through (uniform) legislation to encourage all universities to settle for being average at best”. What Mr. Dalla Costa fails to recognize is that the OUA’s ‘mediocrity’ as he sees it is actually among the best quality of football in the country. We are not average. We are all highly competitive. There are arguably five to seven OUA schools that I could see competing with and beating both Mt.Allison and Montreal.

I would know. I played them all.

The scope of these competitive OUA teams spreads from Guelph’s numerous uniforms to OttawaU who have played with one helmet, one home jersey, and one road jersey for decades.

Uniforms do not affect success.

As Carleton’s Nate Behar told me, “If you’re a kid who is enamoured by jerseys there’s a good chance you’re going to leave school about the same level of football player as you arrived”.

Uniforms do not matter.

While they might entice the odd athlete to research the school but they do not solely create commitments and they do not win games or championships. Communication, respect, hard work and team cohesion do.

I believe a vast majority of OUA athletes would attest to that, but what do I know. I’m just a guy who put on the same basic maroon uniform 56 times and never felt the need for anything else.

Video of Marshall Ferguson’s interview with Sportsnet’s Donnovan Bennet from “OUA Today” on the question of uniforms place in OUA sport can be found HERE.