>>As far as the Athletic recruiting goes
Service academies should not be competitive in high level NCAA sports. The missing links that colleges recruit to play sports have no place in a service academy.
Times have changed. Army Football was very competitive under Coach Young and Coach Sutton. Coach Monken is headed in the right direction. But other sports are different. Army Hockey and Lacrosse have a huge winning tradition and make the NCAA tournament in Lacrosse on the regular. Women’s basketball has done well and the men are getting better. It’s interesting to go to AAA meetings and events and listen to the Old Grads bitch about the “old days”. The Academies are not getting 5 star athletes anymore, unless the kids really want an Academy education, but suggest to that same crowd to drop down to Div II or affiliate with the Ivy League and they rebel. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t.