Recently, an Albuquerque, New Mexico 17 year old student athlete declared he was leaving the state and its two major universities to seek a college life (and play football) in Texas. Local media including the fishwraps and sports talk radio seem to find this a deplorable act. What utter nonsense. If great products do indeed win, then this young man who was pursued and wooed because of how he plays football must have chosen the best product for himself. That is not bashing UNM or NMSU. It is simply recognizing that he had choices and he chose what he wanted, based on a multitude of check boxes I suspect.
I think this may be an old Dilbert line: “Most people can’t tell the difference between fine Asian silk and Bounty paper towels. They either can’t tell the difference or do not have access to the alternatives. The job of marketing is to find these groups of people, stick a vacuum pump in their pockets and suck until all you get is lint.” Today’s internet driven, instant news world gives much greater access to alternatives and actually can educate a consumer (or student) past the emotional seduction marketers strive to obtain.
And as to this local story, young people today have zero responsibility to attend a university simply because it is local. The university athletic departments do have a responsibility to create the best athletic programs (products) they can. And BTW, Paul Krebbs is doing just that at UNM.
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