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Howard's strategy

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Has anyone given any thought to this…

When Howard made UM successful there weren't as many limits on CFB as there are now.

He was able to find the diamonds in the rough and bring in as many as possible because there were no scholarship limits and could take the chances on more players. We take those chances now with more risk.

With the amount of parity, will this strategy work?

The OOC teams we play have a ton of Florida talent on them and I don't think it's possible for Howard to reinvent "The State of Miami" in Boca Raton.

I'd hate to say this, but could Howard's philosophy be too ancient?
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Howard's strategy

I have a post on one of the threads that discusses this. I posted it about a week ago.

When Howard coached at UM, there were only 4 other teams in the entire state. University of Tampa had just canceled its program. That left UF, FSU, Bethune-Cookman and FAMU as competition for UM. There was no university south of Gainesville with a football team after the demise of University of Tampa other than University of Miami. That was a huge recruiting territory to have to yourself. Academic standards weren't as tough on athletes like they are now either.

At the time, UF was mediocre at best and FSU had just turned their program around from a few horrible seasons. They were 0-11 in 1974, before Bowden got there. So there were plenty of good players to go around.

Now there are eight colleges in the state (Six D1A) competing for the top recruits.

I think the information age is working against us too. With computers, cell phones, player data bases, etc, it is easier for other schools around the country to scout and recruit Florida players then it was 25 years ago.

As far as number of scholarships, Howard was working on a budget at UM also. I don't think they were doing that well with their athletic budget back then. They didn't even have a basketball team at that time. Scholarships are a big expense to the athletic budget.

FAU - THE REAL SLEEPING GIANT
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Howard's strategy

What is FAU's Football budget?
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Howard's strategy

I'm not sure but the whole athletic budget is around 13.5 million this year
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Howard's strategy


footballfan47 said

What is FAU's Football budget?

According to Angelos on "Ask the AD", FAU's football budget is approx 3.9 million.

These OOC games brought in almost half the budget.

FAU - THE REAL SLEEPING GIANT
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Howard's strategy

Howard's strategy

Howards strategic is simple - play the best anywhere.

Yes, we are playing the best to be the best and the reality of that is - playing the best have become the "Money Game" we need to balance the budget :o

It is true that the landscape as chanced since the days he was at UM and even UL for that matter. We have model our program from USF approach which does fall in line with playing a very tough OCC schedule during the puberty stages of our program, which again helps us on both fronts - money for the budget and on the playing field as far as experience.

Everyone is concerned about the psychic of the players and what it may do to the players - Again the coaches have prepared the players and these are the times that the boys are seperated from the men - winners find a way to battle through tough times as long as they stay focus with the common goals, the players will be fine. We will find out who can develop and play at the next level, giving the coaches a better picture as to where we are and areas we need to improve on (including recruiting to fill those holes) to play at the next level.

The experience that the team have gain doesn't always become evident right away and most likely will not become evident till the next couple of years - Yes, patient is key to our development. We are undertaking a major uplifting, not only are we moving from 1-AA to 1-A, but we seek to play at the highest level of 1-A, not the easiest road to take. And yes set back will occur along the way, as good growing spurs as well.
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Howard's strategy

OK, Now that training camp is officialy over, do they look like they have improved any? If someone were to go an watch practice this week, could you see any difference from 4 weeks ago?

I just really hope the team isn't in shock after all those lop-sided scoring games.

FAU - THE REAL SLEEPING GIANT
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Howard's strategy

Don't look for a miracle burst of success - like I mentioned before some of those gains will not be evident this year, but will begin to surface after the season.

We will continue to struggle this season.

This is a team sport - if we can eliminate some mistakes we should be able to compete within our conference games.

One down side to playing these tough opponents it does expose all your weakness. How will the team react on saturday if the mistakes start to turn and work against them? The youth is still their and players still need time to develop. I suppose will will find out on Saturday how the team will respond.
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