brocal

Just wanted to follow up on this thread. Because the coaching staff has only been able to recruit for a couple of weeks, TAMC only signed 7 kids today, but will obviously be adding alot more soon. My main reason for posting was to let you know that every single one of them are high school kids. I know there was some discussion earlier about TAMC historically going to the JUCO transfer route, but I think this sends a clear message things are changing.

I'm not sure of that. But with the Athletic Referendum coming up, and those additional funds coming in, it will definitely speed up that process. I'm right there with you on the gym. DEFINITE need for a new one. The problem with funding athletic facilities is that the state will not give you a single penny for them. They have to come 100% from athletic fees and fundraising. Coming up with a spare $3-5 million is really tough in today's economy. TAMC has already had to get alot of extra $$$ to pay for this coaching staff coming in. They are all making about 25% more than the previous staff. But they are definitely worth it. Win, and people will start coming back, regardless of whether or not they get in for free ;) The big question I see in Commere is whether or not the community will finally start supporting the school when they start winning again. The East Texas area has given them pathetic support over the years compared to other LSC schools. For example, West Texas A&M - without a "Dallas" within an hour of them - pulls in 20,000+ for their homecoming/Wagon Wheel games. Will Commerce ever get that kind of support from East Texas? I seriously doubt it. Which is sad.

Just thought I'd throw out some thoughts on the original point of this post. Yes, Coach Morriss is very determined to get back to recruiting East Texas again. The prior coach felt the heat the last couple of seasons and was WAY too dependent on transfers trying to get a quick fix and save his job. The day after his hiring, Morriss and Athletic Director Carlton Cooper were in Sulphur Springs shaking hands with the coaches/alumni there, and travelled to many other cities in the East Texas region trying to make a point that they were coming back and recruiting from their home area. Just look at the interviews Morriss has done with Smoaky, on the Dallas TV stations, etc. The main thing he points out is recruiting high school kids from the East Texas area, and that is their main priority. As more proof of this, I was at the A&M-Commerce basketball games today and saw Morriss and the new coaching staff at the game with around 15 high school recruits, most of which were from the area and were all being offered. The schools I heard mentioned were Paris, Kennedale, Lake Highlands, Sulphur Springs, etc. One other thing to those who stated they were not getting any returned info from anyone at Commerce. Please realize that the new coaching staff has not been in the office for a week yet. Most of them came in this week, and the new offensive coordinator is coming in tomorrow. This is without a doubt the most distinguished coaching staff I've ever seen in Commerce. Most of them have been coordinators/assistant head coaches at either D1 or D1AA in the past and bring a ton of experience. They are probably keeping everything they are receiving and waiting for the coaches to all get in town and in their offices before they start calling people back. You can't expect them to start offering scholarships to kids without the offensive coordinator/defensive coordinator ever even seeing their film. Just give them some time. You also have to remember that Commerce hasn't had the facilites/campus to pull in kids that some of the other schools in the LSC have had. But that is changing. TAMC has spent almost $100 million in new buildings in the last 6 years. A brand new: Rec Center, Science Building, Alumni Center, Student Center, and a new $30 million Music building is going up as we speak. They have torn down something like 8 old buildings that were eye-sores on campus and turned them into parks/built on them. The campus has been through a COMPLETE overhaul in the last year or so, and as a 2001 graduate, I don't even recognize the campus. It is GORGEOUS. I went through the new Student Center today and it was nicer than the student centers at A&M, UT, and Baylor. Those are the only D1 SC's I've been in, but Commerce beats them all. It is incredible. $25 million and 100,000 square feet. With the new Music Building going up at the main entrance to the campus, they are having to tear down the old football field house there, and will be building a brand new state of the art facility ready for this fall's football season. In addition to that will be new visitors bleachers soon. Add to this that we have a new president, Dr Jones, who is EXTREMELY pro-athletics and has done more for athletics in his first 6 months in office than the last 20 years combined. A new athletic referendum will pass in a couple of months that will bring in $1+ million alone, and will fully fund the athletic scholarships of every sport TAMC plays (we have never been fully funded like most of the other LSC schools because of $$$), and they have discussed adding baseball, softball, and either equestrian or tennis with the new $$$. The new president, unlike the presidents of the past, see how important athletics are to building school spirit, retaining younger students, and getting kids to really enjoy their time in Commerce. So please understand that yes, Commerce in the past has had a bad reputation because of the people in charge, the facilities, and the campus. But everything is completely turning around, and we will be back in the playoffs and a perennial powerhouse in a couple of years. Mark it down.

LOL Thanks so much for clearing up all the misinformation on this thread. As a A&M-Commerce alum and someone very interested in the athletics there, my eyes were about to pop out with all the "getting rid of the football program" and "lowest level of college football" talk....sheesh. Nothing further from the truth. In fact, athletics are getting a MAJOR boost from the new president there, as shown in the big $$$ they are paying Morriss. Commerce is about to become a serious D2 powerhouse with the recent changes and attention it is being given from the new President.

I would have never guessed! :rolleyes:

I already tried clutchon...they're not lisening :sleeping: And for the ironic note of the day, check THIS out. LOL Hopefully that strain of A&M-Commerce "liberal" isn't contagious ;)

Just noticed this thread and thought I would chime in. As for going to the campus and not finding any coaches, there are probably 2 reasons for that. #1 - This is the middle of recruiting season, and every coach from every team in the Lone Star Conference is out busting their butts on the recruiting trails. I'm assuming you had just set up a normal campus visit, and not an actual athletics visit that was scheduled with the coaches. They wouldn't just not show up for a scheduled athletics visit. If its just a campus visit you signed up for, there is no way for them to know you were coming, and would have all been out recruiting. #2 - At the time you visited, that was merely days before the head coach was fired at Commerce, so there was probably alot of things going on behind the scenes with the coaching staff there at that point. As for Commerce being a liberal school, I can't tell you how far off you are on that assumption. My wife and I both graduated from Commerce, are VERY conservative people, and we LOVED it. I'm not sure that going to a school for a couple of hours and coming back with an opinion as the one you've been giving is really that good of an idea. You can't just walk onto a college campus and see Obama signs and peg it as a "liberal" school. That is probably a liberal kid that stuck a sign on the grass somewhere. Simple as that. Taking anything more than that from it is just a knee jerk reaction. The church groups on campus have a BIG following there on campus (Lions for Christ, etc). As for the campus itself, if you were expecting to see College Station when you went there....well, I dont know what to tell you. There are about 3 campuses in the state of Texas that are that nice. Going to Commerce expecting to see College Station just because they have the same name is just....I dont know. You might wanna go to some of these schools websites before you visit them. Sounds like you guys weren't real aware of what you were doing before you went. While it's obviously not on College Station's level just yet, you have to understand the history of what has happened at ETSU/Commerce. Back in the 80's/90's, the school was losing VAST amounts of money every year. There wasnt a new building built on campus for something like 40 years. Then A&M took it over and there have been MASSIVE improvements. I believe in the last 6 years they have spent somewhere in the range of $120 million on new buildings there. They now have the most advanced planetarium/Science building in North Texas, they just finished a 100,000 sf Student Center that is opening in the next month, a brand new alumni building, $12 million Rec center, and are about to start on a $30 million music building at the end of this month. So give it a couple of years and this will be one of the nicest campuses in North Texas. They just have alot of "catching up" to do. So I guess what I'm saying is just don't develop a knee jerk reaction because of some signs you saw stuck in the grass somewhere, and understand the coaching issues that were taking place at that time. If you guys want a much more developed/inside look at the athletics side of things there, I'd suggest going to LscScoop.com and asking the guys that run the website. They are VERY involved and knowledgeable of everything Lone Star Conference athletics and I'm sure they would help you guys out. As for your son playing there, I'm not sure of what his frame looks like, but he will need to be able to put on probably 60 pounds minimum if he wants to play Division 2. I'm not sure Commerce had an OL under 300 pounds this year, and most of the other LSC schools are the same way. Best of luck to you guys though...and I'd strongly recommend going back to Commerce on a scheduled athletics visit once they get their new coach hired. I know they are going to be biulding a new field house this year for football too.

That new turf they have at A&M-Commerce is INCREDIBLE. That place looks REALLY good now.