That time Dino Babers made a recruiting pitch for Pitt, Penn State, Army, and other Northeastern programs
Lauren's First and Goal, one of the largest one-day camps in the country, took place with a over 300 college coaches in attendance and the camp raised more than $115,000 for pediatric brain-tumor and cancer research, according to Syracuse.com.
At that camp, Syracuse head coach Dino Babers spoke and shared some interesting advice, which included a recruiting pitch of sorts for some competing northeastern region college programs.
With some of the top players from New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania and other surrounding states, Babers made a pitch for those recruits in attendance to choose a school closer to their homes.
"Go to Penn State. Go to Rutgers. Go to Pitt," Babers shared. "Did he just say that? Yeah. Go to Pitt. I'd rather see one of those schools do it with people at home than to [see players] run down to Clemson, Alabama or Florida State. You can play your ball right here."
Even though Babers knocked off #2 Clemson during his second season with the Orange and led the eventual national champs until the final minute last fall, he wasn't going to make it about Syracuse. He very easily could have, but instead he chose to make it more about the region and believes if enough of the recruits in attendance chose a school in the region, he firmly believes that school would be able to win the national title.
"Why do we have to go down there and give them all the trophies, when we can stay up here and win our own?"
“I’ll tell you what. Whether it’s Penn State, Pitt, Rutgers, you name it, you guys get together, stay together and make the Northeast what it’s always been - the beast.”
