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Post by BearDownMU on Jul 8, 2015 16:17:00 GMT -5
One thing that I don't think was mentioned was Mercer's academic reputation. The trick for Mercer to expand, I always said, was to get the rep it has in GA and make it filter out to other areas. The University's academic reputation, especially locally, is stellar. Still, to this day, when people ask me where I went to school and I tell them Mercer, I get some variation of the same response. "Wow. Really good school." or "Great academic school."
I was an admissions officer at Mercer for almost 4 years and was out selling it to prospective students and their parents daily. I can tell you my experience was that it was never an overly hard "sell" because of things like Macon and the crime. Not that it wouldn't come up, but it wasn't ever a major obstacle.
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Post by jackal on Jul 9, 2015 7:48:27 GMT -5
One thing that I don't think was mentioned was Mercer's academic reputation. The trick for Mercer to expand, I always said, was to get the rep it has in GA and make it filter out to other areas. The University's academic reputation, especially locally, is stellar. Still, to this day, when people ask me where I went to school and I tell them Mercer, I get some variation of the same response. "Wow. Really good school." or "Great academic school." I was an admissions officer at Mercer for almost 4 years and was out selling it to prospective students and their parents daily. I can tell you my experience was that it was never an overly hard "sell" because of things like Macon and the crime. Not that it wouldn't come up, but it wasn't ever a major obstacle. I don't get the impression most average college students care terribly much about the city as opposed to the University, especially in the small-college setting. Granted, I think Mercer has to do a little more to sell Macon than Furman would to sell Greenville or Samford would to sell Birmingham, but I really don't think things like crime statistics come into play into the average-students decision. Mercer has an overwhelming number of Georgians, so location is probably a huge factor for many. I have long held the opinion that most everyone loves their college town. The same is true for Mercer students, most of whom really enjoy Macon. I think Macon has an unbelievable amount of potential. It has a massive and historic downtown area and is 12 miles from the geographical center of the state. What they have lacked to this point is leadership, both in the government and the community. |
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Post by Clueless Fan on Jul 9, 2015 8:49:27 GMT -5
Parents probably care more about crime statistics than students. Who makes the decision?
Most don't realize that Vanderbilt is one of the most dangerous campuses in America and Vandy turns away students in droves. Perception is more important than reality sometimes. Mercer is a very safe campus. Macon has some areas where no student should ever visit . . . and most don't. Macon also has some of the most beautiful areas anywhere.
I believe that once parents and students spend some time at Mercer and in Macon, their charm becomes evident.
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Post by jackal on Jul 9, 2015 9:24:51 GMT -5
Parents probably care more about crime statistics than students. Who makes the decision? Most don't realize that Vanderbilt is one of the most dangerous campuses in America and Vandy turns away students in droves. Perception is more important than reality sometimes. Mercer is a very safe campus. Macon has some areas where no student should ever visit . . . and most don't. Macon also has some of the most beautiful areas anywhere. I believe that once parents and students spend some time at Mercer and in Macon, their charm becomes evident. Perhaps. Mercer has every incentive in the world to ensure that the campus is safe. Mercer is flanked by some of the roughest neighborhoods in Georgia. The University has done a great service to its community by taking back the surrounding area to the East of I-75. I have heard stories from those that attended Mercer in the 70s and 80s that it was risky even to walk around Tattnall Square Park alone. |
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Post by BearDownMU on Jul 9, 2015 9:31:06 GMT -5
Parents probably care more about crime statistics than students. Who makes the decision? Most don't realize that Vanderbilt is one of the most dangerous campuses in America and Vandy turns away students in droves. Perception is more important than reality sometimes. Mercer is a very safe campus. Macon has some areas where no student should ever visit . . . and most don't. Macon also has some of the most beautiful areas anywhere. I believe that once parents and students spend some time at Mercer and in Macon, their charm becomes evident. Perhaps. Mercer has every incentive in the world to ensure that the campus is safe. Mercer is flanked by some of the roughest neighborhoods in Georgia. The University has done a great service to its community by taking back the surrounding area to the East of I-75. I have heard stories from those that attended Mercer in the 70s and 80s that it was risky even to walk around Tattnall Square Park alone. That was even true about Tattnall when I was there, 93-97. We had a couple of people get mugged trying to walk back to campus from a bar on the other side of Tattnall Square Park. It is infinitely better even since then. |
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Post by bear38 on Jul 9, 2015 12:39:34 GMT -5
One thing that I don't think was mentioned was Mercer's academic reputation. The trick for Mercer to expand, I always said, was to get the rep it has in GA and make it filter out to other areas. The University's academic reputation, especially locally, is stellar. Still, to this day, when people ask me where I went to school and I tell them Mercer, I get some variation of the same response. "Wow. Really good school." or "Great academic school." I was an admissions officer at Mercer for almost 4 years and was out selling it to prospective students and their parents daily. I can tell you my experience was that it was never an overly hard "sell" because of things like Macon and the crime. Not that it wouldn't come up, but it wasn't ever a major obstacle. Bobby Lamb has been successful recruiting Middle TN in football with 9 Middle TN football players coming to Mercer in the last 3 years and at least 2 more from the Chattanooga area. As announced last week on Twitter, the first Mercer football commit of the class of 2016 is from Nashville (turned down several D-1 FBS offers to commit to Mercer). When you consider the type of Universities like Furman, Samford and Mercer, Tennessee just does not have a University in this category. Lipscomb, Belmont, Vanderbilt and Rhodes are just really different "products", especially as it relates to football. Bobby Lamb's success in Tennessee may be one of the reasons that he has scheduled Austin Peay (Clarksville) and Tennessee Tech (Cookeville). Most of Middle and East TN are just 3-5 hours away via I-24 and I-75. I think the Admissions Department could be just as successful in recruiting other students to Mercer from this area if they choose to spend the investment in promoting and recruiting. However, maybe the pool of potential students in GA is just so big that they don't need to focus outside the state? |
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Post by jackal on Jul 9, 2015 14:15:16 GMT -5
One thing that I don't think was mentioned was Mercer's academic reputation. The trick for Mercer to expand, I always said, was to get the rep it has in GA and make it filter out to other areas. The University's academic reputation, especially locally, is stellar. Still, to this day, when people ask me where I went to school and I tell them Mercer, I get some variation of the same response. "Wow. Really good school." or "Great academic school." I was an admissions officer at Mercer for almost 4 years and was out selling it to prospective students and their parents daily. I can tell you my experience was that it was never an overly hard "sell" because of things like Macon and the crime. Not that it wouldn't come up, but it wasn't ever a major obstacle. Bobby Lamb has been successful recruiting Middle TN in football with 9 Middle TN football players coming to Mercer in the last 3 years and at least 2 more from the Chattanooga area. As announced last week on Twitter, the first Mercer football commit of the class of 2016 is from Nashville (turned down several D-1 FBS offers to commit to Mercer). When you consider the type of Universities like Furman, Samford and Mercer, Tennessee just does not have a University in this category. Lipscomb, Belmont, Vanderbilt and Rhodes are just really different "products", especially as it relates to football. Bobby Lamb's success in Tennessee may be one of the reasons that he has scheduled Austin Peay (Clarksville) and Tennessee Tech (Cookeville). Most of Middle and East TN are just 3-5 hours away via I-24 and I-75. I think the Admissions Department could be just as successful in recruiting other students to Mercer from this area if they choose to spend the investment in promoting and recruiting. However, maybe the pool of potential students in GA is just so big that they don't need to focus outside the state? Lamb will stick to what he's always done. He will recruit Atlanta, Nashville, Birmingham, and Jacksonville heavily. One thing I found interesting is that Mercer just signed their first player from South Carolina. You would think that after nearly 30 years coaching and playing in S.C. there'd be more than one. |
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Post by FUBeAR on Jul 9, 2015 15:08:04 GMT -5
Bobby Lamb has been successful recruiting Middle TN in football with 9 Middle TN football players coming to Mercer in the last 3 years and at least 2 more from the Chattanooga area. As announced last week on Twitter, the first Mercer football commit of the class of 2016 is from Nashville (turned down several D-1 FBS offers to commit to Mercer). When you consider the type of Universities like Furman, Samford and Mercer, Tennessee just does not have a University in this category. Lipscomb, Belmont, Vanderbilt and Rhodes are just really different "products", especially as it relates to football. Bobby Lamb's success in Tennessee may be one of the reasons that he has scheduled Austin Peay (Clarksville) and Tennessee Tech (Cookeville). Most of Middle and East TN are just 3-5 hours away via I-24 and I-75. I think the Admissions Department could be just as successful in recruiting other students to Mercer from this area if they choose to spend the investment in promoting and recruiting. However, maybe the pool of potential students in GA is just so big that they don't need to focus outside the state? You would think that after nearly 30 years coaching and playing in S.C. there'd be more than one. You would think after being an Institution of Higher Learning in SC for 189 years and playing football in SC for 126 years that FU's roster would have more than 16% (15 out of 91) of their players from SC, wouldn't you? You would also think that FU wouldn't have almost twice as many players from GA as they do from SC (27 from GA vs. 15 from SC) on their roster, wouldn't you? Maybe the truth of the matter, as opposed to the 'red herring' conclusion you have implied, has a lot more to do with the overall quality (and quantity) of prospective student athletes/football players in SC (particularly relative to those in Mercer's home state of GA) than it does to Coach Lamb's contacts/relationships/ability to recruit in SC. Why go out of your way to pick weeds from your neighbor's garden when the fruit in your own yard is abundant? Now, the 'neighbors' in FL & TN...well, they seem to have some pretty nice fruit in their yards and that 1 SC signee you mentioned; well, he is a big ol' tall oak tree that was growing outside of FU's back gate before the Bears transplanted him to GA. In case it matters to anyone, here is Mercer's roster breakdown by State: | State | Number | % of Total | | GA | 76 | 70.37% | | FL | 15 | 13.89% | | TN | 7 | 6.48% | | AL | 4 | 3.70% | | NC | 2 | 1.85% | | MI | 1 | 0.93% | | PA | 1 | 0.93% | | SC | 1 | 0.93% | | INTL | 1 | 0.93% | | TOTAL | 108 | 100.00% |
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Post by bear38 on Jul 9, 2015 19:24:33 GMT -5
You would think that after nearly 30 years coaching and playing in S.C. there'd be more than one. You would think after being an Institution of Higher Learning in SC for 189 years and playing football in SC for 126 years that FU's roster would have more than 16% (15 out of 91) of their players from SC, wouldn't you? You would also think that FU wouldn't have almost twice as many players from GA as they do from SC (27 from GA vs. 15 from SC) on their roster, wouldn't you? Maybe the truth of the matter, as opposed to the 'red herring' conclusion you have implied, has a lot more to do with the overall quality (and quantity) of prospective student athletes/football players in SC (particularly relative to those in Mercer's home state of GA) than it does to Coach Lamb's contacts/relationships/ability to recruit in SC. Why go out of your way to pick weeds from your neighbor's garden when the fruit in your own yard is abundant? Now, the 'neighbors' in FL & TN...well, they seem to have some pretty nice fruit in their yards and that 1 SC signee you mentioned; well, he is a big ol' tall oak tree that was growing outside of FU's back gate before the Bears transplanted him to GA. In case it matters to anyone, here is Mercer's roster breakdown by State: | State | Number | % of Total | | GA | 76 | 70.37% | | FL | 15 | 13.89% | | TN | 7 | 6.48% | | AL | 4 | 3.70% | | NC | 2 | 1.85% | | MI | 1 | 0.93% | | PA | 1 | 0.93% | | SC | 1 | 0.93% | | INTL | 1 | 0.93% | | TOTAL | 108 | 100.00% |
Insert that inferno graphic here..... |
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Post by FUBeAR on Jul 9, 2015 19:59:32 GMT -5
You would think after being an Institution of Higher Learning in SC for 189 years and playing football in SC for 126 years that FU's roster would have more than 16% (15 out of 91) of their players from SC, wouldn't you? You would also think that FU wouldn't have almost twice as many players from GA as they do from SC (27 from GA vs. 15 from SC) on their roster, wouldn't you? Maybe the truth of the matter, as opposed to the 'red herring' conclusion you have implied, has a lot more to do with the overall quality (and quantity) of prospective student athletes/football players in SC (particularly relative to those in Mercer's home state of GA) than it does to Coach Lamb's contacts/relationships/ability to recruit in SC. Why go out of your way to pick weeds from your neighbor's garden when the fruit in your own yard is abundant? Now, the 'neighbors' in FL & TN...well, they seem to have some pretty nice fruit in their yards and that 1 SC signee you mentioned; well, he is a big ol' tall oak tree that was growing outside of FU's back gate before the Bears transplanted him to GA. In case it matters to anyone, here is Mercer's roster breakdown by State: | State | Number | % of Total | | GA | 76 | 70.37% | | FL | 15 | 13.89% | | TN | 7 | 6.48% | | AL | 4 | 3.70% | | NC | 2 | 1.85% | | MI | 1 | 0.93% | | PA | 1 | 0.93% | | SC | 1 | 0.93% | | INTL | 1 | 0.93% | | TOTAL | 108 | 100.00% |
Insert that inferno graphic here..... LOL - Just feel the need to add something about that post...If one reads this carefully, they will see the 'flaming' I did there is NOT of FU. It may seem that way when you 1st start to read it, but it's not. I don't or at least I try very hard not to speak any ill of the old Alma Mater. In fact, I hope they only lose 2 games this season. The first on 11/14 in GVL and the other on 1/9/16...as long as Mercer is the team on the other sidelines in Frisco, TX that day. |
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Post by jackal on Jul 9, 2015 21:35:24 GMT -5
I didn't imply a red herring conclusion (not even sure what that is). Whether Mercer has 1 player from SC or fifteen, it does not really matter. I find it interesting that there is only one such player on Mercer's roster despite some on the coaching staff having deep connections in that state.
Furman has a lot of players from Georgia. Furman has always had a lot of players from Georgia. Georgia has twice the population of South Carolina and has close to half as many D1 football schools. Put another way, more supply and less demand. Mercer's roster mirrors their student body generally - heavily Georgian.
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Post by FUBeAR on Jul 9, 2015 22:14:05 GMT -5
I didn't imply a red herring conclusion (not even sure what that is). If you don't know what it is, then how can you KNOW that you didn't do it? Short answer: DID & FAILED |
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Post by jackal on Jul 10, 2015 5:31:28 GMT -5
I didn't imply a red herring conclusion (not even sure what that is). If you don't know what it is, then how can you KNOW that you didn't do it? Short answer: DID & FAILED Because I know what an implication is, a red herring is, and a conclusion is. I've never known those three things to be combined together in one sentence. Besides, I'm not even making an argument. I'm stating a fact. |
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Post by bear38 on Jul 10, 2015 10:59:57 GMT -5
I'm going to go with FUbEAR on this one.
Starting your sentence off with , "You would think..." is a clear reference to an implication. You were doing more than stating a fact. Yes you stated a fact, but you also clearly implied that you had an opinion of what that fact meant. Thus you also had an implied conclusion to that opinion. Thus FUbEAR is clearly right on these two points. Now the only thing left to decided is the "red herring"
A Red Herring is a something (especially a clue or a fact) that is intended to be misleading or distracting. To able to say your comment is a "red herring", we have to know what your intention was. On this item, I'm not sure we can with 100% certainty know. Maybe FUbEAR has other previous information to make this determination. I say this is more 50-50 and that is giving the benefit of the doubt.
So, in conclusion, FUbEAR gets 2.5 out of 3 points and wins with a TKO.
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Post by FUBeAR on Jul 10, 2015 11:52:30 GMT -5
I'm going to go with FUbEAR on this one. Starting your sentence off with , "You would think..." is a clear reference to an implication. You were doing more than stating a fact. Yes you stated a fact, but you also clearly implied that you had an opinion of what that fact meant. Thus you also had an implied conclusion to that opinion. Thus FUbEAR is clearly right on these two points. Now the only thing left to decided is the "red herring" A Red Herring is a something (especially a clue or a fact) that is intended to be misleading or distracting. To able to say your comment is a "red herring", we have to know what your intention was. On this item, I'm not sure we can with 100% certainty know. Maybe FUbEAR has other previous information to make this determination. I say this is more 50-50 and that is giving the benefit of the doubt. So, in conclusion, FUbEAR gets 2.5 out of 3 points and wins with a TKO. I would like to introduce this post made by Jackal, under another alias, on a different message board, just a few days earlier, as evidence of his state of mind or "intention" when he made his 'red herring' post here: July 6th, 2015, 08:27 AM - "2006 CCU won [over a Furman team coached by Coach Lamb] on a botched extra point attempt (a Bobby Lamb special)" [emphasis added by FUBeAR] I want the FULL 3 points! |
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