[EKUAlum05]

64sur..

What I have always wanted to see was a stronger effort by the EKY Programs to give the kids more exposure. For too long EKY teams have basically cannibalized themselves..only playing games within the region. You can't blame them.. lots of pride, rivalry, and it cut down cost on expenses.. but when your area is already isolated, all it does is make you even more isolated.

Would love to see more teams reach out of the area to play non-district games and historically storied programs. For your bell cow programs like Bell, Belfry, Johnson Central, and Harlan County... go out of your way to bring in high quality out of state competition. Bring in a team from Pittsburgh, a team from Georgia, a team from South Carolina. Charge 12.00 a ticket and try to promote it to a Fox Sports to get it on National Television (like what Highlands is doing). These are the teams with fanbases large enough to pony up a little extra to see something unique. These are also the programs with the boosters and sponsors who would find a way to pay for the expenses to cover the travel of the other school.

The other thing I want to see is something Panther Thunder has been exceptional at. There needs to be more education throughout the Mountain Schools at how the college recruitment process works and how to properly promote players. How to do the camp circuit, how to train for the drills at combine settings, how to properly put together a highlight film, when to start this process... all things that is lacking.

As I previously said, it is very apparent that the shear athletic talent is not nearly as concentrated as other areas..but I do feel that every year there are 8-10 guys who settle for NAIA ball that could have potentially had enough talent to play for a low level D-1 school or at the very least FCS level. The success ratio of EKY kids who went to MAC schools is substantially better than those that went to Major D1 schools... with 5-6 MAC and C-USA schools within 6 hours of EKY.. and another 5-6 FCS schools.. this is potentially the quickest way to get these kids to a major college.