If anyone is looking for a good team in a great conference, I hope you will take my former team, St. Louis in the A-10. Over the last few years we have built the A-10 into a powerhouse, and St. Louis has been one of the best teams, finishing ranked again last year, with a B+ prestige. It is a great place to recruit from because it is not right by any powerhouse schools, and has a better prestige than Missouri. It has an extremely solid group of returning players, including the former Mr. Missouri George Winer. It is not near any other A-10 schools so there is no competing against conference mates.
The A-10 sent 3 teams to the NT last year, and has a great group of coaches that are committed to making the -10 as strong as the Big 6. Last year it was #7 in conference RPI. In the previous year, we finished #6, ahead of the Big 12. The coaches are some of the best in the game and have done an amazing job of bringing a number of teams up to very strong programs. They are great guys and the conference board is active with a great "spirit".
The ONLY reason I left is that my "dream job" at Georgia came open, and it is a job I have wanted ever since I started in HD, since I live in Georgia. Even then, I REALLY struggled about leaving, and I still have great sadness in doing so, which is why I am posting this, hoping that someone else will pick up the torch at St. Louis and join the conference and help the conference mission to become a dominant conference in Knight.
As I said, St. Louis is poised to remain very strong for the future. There are 4 open spots this year, then there are no juniors this year, so next year all recruiting monies will roll over. The current sophomore class is awesome, with one player at 839, one at 789 and one at 765.
10/14/2012 11:06 AM (edited)