SubGod22 wrote:DUBulldog wrote:Wufan wrote:Never been to Des Moines. What's special about it?
Thriving economy, rapidly growing (both downtown and suburbia). It seems like very time Forbes or somebody puts out a list of Top 10 cities for whatever, Des Moines makes the list. Here's a link with some of those top 10 lists https://www.catchdesmoines.com/media/des-moines-rankings/
Wichita has looked a lot at Des Moines, as well as Omaha and OKC, with their recent movements the past few years with investing in downtown and trying to attract more business and the massive efforts to push entrepreneurship and the mentorships and capital investments. There was actually an article in the past couple months talking about the Silicon Valley of the Plains or whatever they call the area, and it talked about Wichita starting to make an impact in that with all the tech startups and investments.
I have never been to Des Moines either, but I've been following the actions of the City of Wichita the past few years and Des Moines has been mentioned a lot. And the cities can definitely work together to boost the region over time.
Now, how that impacts recruiting I have no idea. But it certainly can't hurt.
I've seen at least one article talking about how the city of Wichita wants to emulate Des Moines and Omaha.
I think Des Moines has a lot going for it that helps with recruitment of students to Drake, but I'm not sure how much it helps with regards to recruiting basketball players. If you're program isn't winning, not a lot else matters to most players.