Recruiting rankings at NU by coach

[HuskerHacker]

Recruiting "Is Not" overrated. Hedley is right. Today, in the BCS era and limited scholarships it is absolutely correct to say "quote" to win a national championship one needs to have multiple top recruiting classes "unquote".

 

As for coaching the talent once it arrives. This comment is always agreed on so is mostly not relevant to Hedley's original post except in the view that BC could recruit but lacked developmental skills. (at least defensive development but that can't be wholly blamed on him.)

 

What I think is entirely too often overlooked is a coaches ability to develop "the program". Meaning, working with the administrators, the donors, the media, the parents and the fans. This, IMO, is where TO stands out. Not only was he a skilled head coach but he was also a very personable "person" that garnered respect from the first meeting. Anyone whom actually had or will have the pleasure of speaking with TO will undoubtedly admit that he is unbelievable humble and easy to speak with. He has the ability to speak at anyone's level and do so as their equal.

 

As for Bo, I think he's slowly learning this. Yes he's fiery at times. Has in the past been brash but... as evident by his demeanor with the press after the last two games, one can't argue he's grown as a coach. Also, though it appears there are person's within the state (maybe in the media) that would like to see him on the hot seat, there is little truth to this. Bo is becoming more of a coach both with players and with the public image. My hope is that his growth continues and that he chooses to remain the leader of the Husker Nation for many years to come.

 

Lastly, I think it is apparent that TO hopes for the same as proven by the recent pay increases.

[blessed2bahusker]

Some interesting numbers regarding recruiting and win % at NU

 

TO 1990-1997

Avg. 16.97

Win % .883

 

Frankie 1998-03

Avg. 22.21

Win % .756

 

Cally 2004-07

Avg. 16.25

Win % .551

 

Bo

Avg 24.00

Win % .703

 

Hedley you are 100% right that recruiting is the most important factor to success, but you are too caught up in the rankings. How can people fail to see how skewed this process is. It is not that most players Alabama, Florida, LSU, Texas, USC etc offers and gets commitments from are 4* or 5* player according to the services. It is that the players that those schools offer often times get their rankings according to the offers they have.

 

I agree that a lot of kids deserve those rankings but those are the kids that I could watch 2 minutes from their film and tell you they are a 5* player. There are so few of those guys out there. And even those kids won't turn into studs unless the following things fall into place for them. EVERYTHING. Girlfriends, adjusting to college life, grades, health, depth chart, injuries, genetics, drive, motivation, coaches and the list goes on and on and on.

 

I would put our current class up against just about any team in the nation right now. The fact is we don't get the credit right now of the elite teams out there. So many of our players are just plain underrated. Give me Johnny Stanton any day. Give me Adam Taylor any day. Give me Maleik Collins anyday. Our class is filled with guys like that. If we were Alabama and got commitments from these guys they would have gotten their big bump. This happens year after year. Yeah, Alabama, LSU etc are signing better classes than ours the last bunch of years, but they're not as much better as these sites make them out to be. The biggest discrepancy right now is the over signing that is taking place in the SEC. That accounts for most of the descrepancy in the depth of talent we see.

 

To me you can basically take recruiting classes 1-5 and there is really very little difference. Then about 6-15 are all about the same. Then 16-35. And the difference between each level is just a few select guys. And whether you care to admit to it or not our coaches are busing their ass to get those few select guys, but it turns out most of those guys want to stay close to home so their Mom and Dad want to watch them play. I would put up our coaches work ethic on the recruiting trail up against any coaching staff in the nation, but some on here would like our coaches to never have a day off, to never sleep more than 2 hrs a night, to never get a short vacation once a year, to go without seeing their families for a month at a time.

 

Does it occur to those who harp on Bo and Co. that there are diminishing returns in something like this. Take a man away from his wife and children and friends and never give him a moment to cherish that part of his life that is most valuable to him and you will soon see a man who doesn't show any vigor or excitement, or personality on the recruiting trail. Those are the things that win kids to Lincoln and everywhere, and everybody needs to be filled back up before they can pour out to someone else. The problem is out of all major programs we have the toughest sell. Almost every kid we have to sell to leave their family and friends and all that they know. That is scary for an 18 yr old kid. No other major historical program has a tougher hill to climb in recruiting than we do for this reason.

 

We are showing progress every year. Let that be enough. We are Nebraska. We will do it the Nebraska way. Hard work. Patience. Integrity. Family. Passion. And we will get back to the top. We will get there as long as the vocal minority doesn't make our coaches lives so difficult that they re-think the job and go somewhere where they have to spend half as much time recruiting and have that much more time for their families.

[HuskerFowler]

Hedley is like the Joker, he sets up controversial topics and then sits back

 

[dylan]

Great post, blessed. It's important to distinguish between the vital importance of recruiting and the strange world of the recruit ranking industry. We have to land the kids the coaches want and those aren't always the same kids that some web geek says we should want.