As I watched the NC tonight, I could not help but wonder what it would be like if the Beavs were to ever to get to NC contender status. It's hard not to think that pretty much every star would need to align for it to happen, but I'm curious what y'all think? Is it even realistic to think a Beaver football team could actually make it to the NC? Watching those 2 team tonight, you see the ingredients needed to be a NC caliber team, "big, strong and fast". In my humble opinion, I think the University has finally taken the proper steps to build our case towards that type of program, how many years it takes, I am not sure. Here are some bullet points that give me hope: (in no particular order)
What do you think? What did I miss? Realistically, how far away are we? Am I dreaming?
- Branding - you saw this start to happen after Gary Andersen was hired, with the cool recruiting mock ups and such. Also, now that all of our sport teams have the same "OSU", same logo etc, on all the uniforms, and it being Nike, we should start being more recognized outside of the Pac-12 states. And specifically with the hiring of Russell Houghtaling, Associate Athletic Director, Ideation.
- Nike/Uniforms - We need to do something about the Orange color helmets/uniforms, it just doesn't look right. This is the Orange color we need to bring back: "Beaver Orange" The Beaver logo needs to be on all the helmets going forward (whether we as fans like the new logo or not). We saw this change to the Orange helmets. We need to wear better uni color combos during ESPN/FOX games (Pac-12 doesn't matter as much) and maybe even a "special" uni. The best example of what we should "look like" for our uniforms is Oklahoma State. Sorry folks, but this stuff matters to the 17-21 year olds!!
- Hiring of Coach Andersen - plain and simple, in today's college football, you need a Coach like GA (the "CEO" type) to get you to the next level. Someone that displays energy, passion and excitement that resonates with recruits (and fans). Question is, can we keep him long enough and can he turn the program around fast enough before he leaves and put the Beavs back on the map.
- West Side of Stadium/Facilities - bottom line, it needs to get done. After the new Valley Center is done, recruits are gonna see that and the new side, then look at the old side and be like..."that thing might fall down on us in the middle of a game!"
- Recruiting - Assume we are top 40 recruiting class this coming February. Each year we need to move improve the ranking for the next 4 years. Captain obvious right!? If we can get to a bowl game (6 wins) for the 2016-17 season, get a top 30 class for 2017, contend for the Pac-12 North for 2017-18 season, 8-9 wins, better bowl game, win the bowl game, get a top 20-25 class for 2018, go to Ohio State for the 2018-19 opener, beat them, get to 9-10 wins, almost make it to Pac-12 title game (2nd place Pac-12 North), top-tier bowl game, win it, get a top 20 recruiting class for 2019, home opener for 2019-2020 Oklahoma State, beat them, on our way to Pac-12 championship game, we lose it, 10 wins though, top-tier bowl game again, win it...get another top 20 class in 2020 and then i think we are in the mix/talk for the top 4. WOW that is A LOT of 'what ifs". I only have this hope because I think Coach Andersen and crew could potentially pull that off. Call me crazy!
- Coaching/Stability - If we can keep Coach A for about 4-5 more years, get back to winning consistently, winning bowl games, top 30-40 recruiting classes, regain respectability, I think if Coach A was to move on and start another rebuild somewhere else that the Beavs would be able to find another solid coach, especially with Dr. Ray stepping up his game. Hopefully we don't have to go through too many more DC/OC replacements at the end of the season if only for the sake of recruiting and how wicked fast the hiring process is (lol).
What do you think? What did I miss? Realistically, how far away are we? Am I dreaming?
