Imagine being a recruit and, on your official visit, the host coaches decide that their best chances of landing you is to not show you the stadium you would play your home games in. If you did see the stadium at all, it was at night.
This was Baylor football in the not-too-distant past.
On top of playing in the dilapidated Floyd Casey Stadium, Bears coaches also officed out of Floyd Casey, which meant the entire Baylor football program was a 15-minute ride away from campus until the on-campus Simpson Center opened during the 2008 season.
Needless to say, this is no longer the case (no pun intended).
The Bears open McLane Stadium in less than eight weeks. In anticipation of the opening, the Bears invited media on a tour of the locker room and playing surface. Needless to say, the days of shielding recruits away from the stadium are long gone.
In fact, Baylor recruits will have their own room inside McLane Stadium with a field-level view of the game, as well as giant video screens on which they can view classic Bears games or - of course - play XBox.
“We think it’s pretty spectacular,” Baylor associate athletic director Todd Patulski told the Waco Tribune-Herald. “The recruiting game is competitive, and you’re bringing in 17- and 18-year-old kids who want to be impressed. This is certainly going to accomplish that. You basically manage their entire experience.”
(Photos courtesy of ESPN and the Waco Tribune-Herald)