ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
When even Tim McCarty calls his incoming class of signees
?unbelievable,? you know it?s got to be good.
The Tabor College head football coach, a fount of optimism even under
dire circumstances, has exceeded his own expectations on the
recruiting trail since the end of last season.
His list of signees for 2000 is 53 names long. He expects to field a
team with between 80 and 90 players this fall. It will be the largest
team fielded in Tabor?s football history.
?I?d be lying if I didn?t say I was surprised at our numbers,? McCarty
admitted.
Consider the context. When he took over the job of head coach in
February 1999, McCarty inherited a ?roster? of 14 viable players.
Thanks to a remarkable recruiting blitzkrieg that spring and summer,
he fielded a team of 47 players for his first season.
That team, though they played gallantly, finished 0-10 with a deficit
scoring margin of 55.6 points a game.
Now players?quality players?are practically lining up to be Bluejays.
What?s McCarty?s secret? Hard work, teamwork and, most of all, making
sure recruits know the direction the program is heading.
First, the hard work.
?We started the recruiting process in August,? McCarty said. ?Since
October, we?ve averaged approximately 2,500 minutes a month on the
phone, not to mention countless hours and miles along the highways and
interstates of Kansas and surrounding states.?
McCarty and his team brought 250 players to Hillsboro for an on-campus
visit. The small-town atmosphere discouraged a few recruits, but
McCarty said overall the local environment was a plus.
?Everybody who comes in is always very impressed with Hillsboro and
with Tabor College,? he said. ?They like it. It?s safe, the academics
are excellent. Tabor and the Hillsboro community have a lot of
strengths. We sell the strengths.?
Teamwork was another crucical factor. In addition to his staff of
assistant coaches, McCarty lauds the support of the entire
administration, from the president, to the student dean, to the
athletic director, to the folks in financial aid and enrollment
management.
?This is not the Tim McCarty show,? he says. ?You have to have a whole
bunch of people who have a mission. Our mission is simply the same as
the school?s. We want to bring kids in who want to be here.?
And McCarty wants them to know which direction the program is heading.
He is intent on turning around what over the years has been a
miserable college football programs in the countr. And he?s determined
to do it with athletes who are good off the field as well as on it.
?We look for three things,? he said. ?We talk about character?that?s
always No. 1. We talk about wanting to graduate, because I want people
to stay in our program. And we want kids who can come in and make a
play.
?The kids heard our message, believed in what we?re trying to
accomplish here, and we were blessed to have the signees that we
have,? he said.
McCarty demonstrated his first two criteria?character and
determination to stay?with last season?s recruits. His outmanned squad
played with class, and, though he lost five players after the fall
semester, every other eligible player will likely be back this fall.
It?s that third criterium?athletic talent?that has McCarty and his
coaches so excited about this year?s signees. McCarty said the
athletes coming in will make an immediate impact not only on his team,
but on the Kansas Conference.
Last season?s recruiting class was significant for its size, but
McCarty said only 40 percent of those recruits were what he would
classify as ?real players.?
He rates this year?s class, as big as it is, as being comprised of 80
to 90 percent ?real players.?
Ask McCarty about his top recruits, and he?ll tick off a long list of
standouts, including a bundle of high school all-state picks and
players with college-quality size and speed.
As much as he likes the character and talent of this year?s class, he
really likes its geography.
?The best thing we accomplished this year is to build up our Kansas
kids,? he said. ?Right now, we?re at 47 kids from Kansas on our team.
I think that speaks to the credibility of our program.?
And he places his signees from Hillsboro among the best. That list
includes Chad Duerksen, Tyson Ratzlaff, C.J. Hill, Justin Friesen and
Lance Unruh. They will join fellow Trojan Nathan Funk, who was an
All-KCAC receiver last season as a sophomore.
McCarty realizes his recruiting success has raised expectations for
the coming season. He?s looking for definite improvement, but he?s
quick to remind people how far the program has to go from last year
just to be competitive in the KCAC.
Still, he likes what he sees down the road.
?We?re going to be a very young football team? he said. ?We?re going
to have some talent, but we?re also going to have very limited
experience. That tells me we?ll have consistency problems, which is
what you usually have with youth.
?Everyone in our program knows where we?re going, and they know we?re
going to win,? he added. ?The question with our youth is, will we
start winning Sept. 9, or will we start winning Nov. 1, or will
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