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I remember having a conversation with the athletic director @ BYU in my younger years. I naively asked why the football team had 92 full scholarships when only

I remember having a conversation with the athletic director @ BYU in my younger years. I naively asked why the football team had 92 full scholarships when only a fraction of that was required to field a team. He told me flat out, "because those 2nd & 3rd string players might make something of themselves if they played for another team." So, there you go. A rock-star programmer can be a dangerous thing in the hands of the competition.

neilk 16y ago
I don't see how this could be good strategy. 1) Can BYU seriously hire enough of the football talent out there as to reduce the chances that other teams will succeed? 2) Is BYU so prized a destination among football players that they would be willing to sit on the sidelines at BYU rather than get more time playing, at another team? Consider that they also want to attract the attention of NFL scouts. Google doesn't have any of these problems -- for many candidates, it is the NFL, and there's no real limit on how many people can "play".
- dbrannan 16y ago
  1. Elite players within the state of Utah (U of U being their main rivalry), yes. 2. Nobody wants to sit on the sidelines, but if you can work your way up to first string at a top 20 University then yes, the scouts are more likely to take notice. Why do you think the NFL pays millions and millions of dollars recruiting the best of the best? It's because talent at that level is rare, hard to find, and even harder to hold on to. In my experience, a rock star programmer can be worth more to an organization than 100 of your common CS grads.
CamperBob 16y ago
This is basically the whole raison d'etre of Microsoft Research.
jadence 16y ago
I'm an avid college football fan and the BYU athletic director's response doesn't seem right. Roster depth is very important to a team for various reasons such as having players who can step in for injured players (important given the nature of football), allowing players to learn the system/schemes before playing (despite what many think of football it is complex and being able to "reload" rather than "rebuild" is key to the perennial powerhouses), giving players time to develop and grow before seeing game time (most are a mere 18 years old when starting college), being able to field scout teams for the starters to practice against, etc. USC football is currently facing sanctions and lost 10 football scholarships per year for three years. Read any sports analyses on the sanctions and they'll tell you that the scholarship loss hurts USC not because so much because top recruits will be making something of themselves elsewhere but because it hurts USC's roster depth.

neilk 16y ago

I don't see how this could be good strategy. 1) Can BYU seriously hire enough of the football talent out there as to reduce the chances that other teams will succeed? 2) Is BYU so prized a destination among football players that they would be willing to sit on the sidelines at BYU rather than get more time playing, at another team? Consider that they also want to attract the attention of NFL scouts. Google doesn't have any of these problems -- for many candidates, it is the NFL, and there's no real limit on how many people can "play".

dbrannan 16y ago
1. Elite players within the state of Utah (U of U being their main rivalry), yes. 2. Nobody wants to sit on the sidelines, but if you can work your way up to first string at a top 20 University then yes, the scouts are more likely to take notice. Why do you think the NFL pays millions and millions of dollars recruiting the best of the best? It's because talent at that level is rare, hard to find, and even harder to hold on to. In my experience, a rock star programmer can be worth more to an organization than 100 of your common CS grads.

CamperBob 16y ago

This is basically the whole raison d'etre of Microsoft Research.

jadence 16y ago

I'm an avid college football fan and the BYU athletic director's response doesn't seem right. Roster depth is very important to a team for various reasons such as having players who can step in for injured players (important given the nature of football), allowing players to learn the system/schemes before playing (despite what many think of football it is complex and being able to "reload" rather than "rebuild" is key to the perennial powerhouses), giving players time to develop and grow before seeing game time (most are a mere 18 years old when starting college), being able to field scout teams for the starters to practice against, etc. USC football is currently facing sanctions and lost 10 football scholarships per year for three years. Read any sports analyses on the sanctions and they'll tell you that the scholarship loss hurts USC not because so much because top recruits will be making something of themselves elsewhere but because it hurts USC's roster depth.