CanesAreAble
All-ACC
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2011
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Posted this about a week ago in the WEZ, but thought I would re-post here in light of the Cristobal talk.
First of all, I think there are three components to recruiting that all get lumped under the "recruiting" umbrella:
1. Philosophy -- What type of player are you after? Do you prioritize measurables or intangibles? What's the sliding scale between the two, etc...?
2. Evaluation -- Can you identify talent based on crappy camcorder footage against crappy competition with crappy coaching?
3. Selling -- Can you convince your targets to come to your school?
When people say recruiting, I think they generally mean selling, but that isn't as important as the other two factors, especially evaluating (the most crucial part, IMO).
How much selling do people think the head coach actually does? Yes, the head coach establishes a brand, and yes the head coach uses his allowable contact to close the deal, but the legwork is done by the position coaches and the administrative staff.
The head coach's main responsibility in recruiting is determining a philosophy and evaluating talent properly. This is where Golden failed. He de-emphasized speed. He wanted big LBs and traditional 3-4 D-linemen. D'Onofrio was cut from the same cloth, and we saw that video footage of the staff recruiting powwow:
[video=youtube;OUNDZkWYqjA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUNDZkWYqjA[/video]
Now supposedly the player in question went to Bucknell or some ****. FOH. And Golden's camp offers were filled with guys that washed out quickly. Terrible philosophy and terrible evaluation.
Now this brings me to Wario Cristobal. He keeps getting mentioned as an ace recruiter. "Miami would clean up in South Florida if they hire him," blah blah blah.
Again, the head coach's main job is evaluating. So what proof is there that Cristobal knows how to evaluate talent? Supposedly he didn't even want T.Y. Hilton when he was at FIU. Someone practically twisted his arm. If true, that certainly doesn't inspire confidence.
He may be a great salesman (which is debatable), but that's irrelevant if he's selling the wrong guys. Let's not forget Al Golden was a master salesman. IIRC Tom Lemming rated him the best recruiter in the country. James Coley is considered a great salesman as well. It doesn't matter if you can't win because of poor evals and poor coaching/development.
Hire a coach who can evaluate talent and use it properly. Hire a coach who's smart enough to have good salesmen on his staff. Win games.
Winning is the best "recruiting" tool.
First of all, I think there are three components to recruiting that all get lumped under the "recruiting" umbrella:
1. Philosophy -- What type of player are you after? Do you prioritize measurables or intangibles? What's the sliding scale between the two, etc...?
2. Evaluation -- Can you identify talent based on crappy camcorder footage against crappy competition with crappy coaching?
3. Selling -- Can you convince your targets to come to your school?
When people say recruiting, I think they generally mean selling, but that isn't as important as the other two factors, especially evaluating (the most crucial part, IMO).
How much selling do people think the head coach actually does? Yes, the head coach establishes a brand, and yes the head coach uses his allowable contact to close the deal, but the legwork is done by the position coaches and the administrative staff.
The head coach's main responsibility in recruiting is determining a philosophy and evaluating talent properly. This is where Golden failed. He de-emphasized speed. He wanted big LBs and traditional 3-4 D-linemen. D'Onofrio was cut from the same cloth, and we saw that video footage of the staff recruiting powwow:
[video=youtube;OUNDZkWYqjA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUNDZkWYqjA[/video]
Now supposedly the player in question went to Bucknell or some ****. FOH. And Golden's camp offers were filled with guys that washed out quickly. Terrible philosophy and terrible evaluation.
Now this brings me to Wario Cristobal. He keeps getting mentioned as an ace recruiter. "Miami would clean up in South Florida if they hire him," blah blah blah.
Again, the head coach's main job is evaluating. So what proof is there that Cristobal knows how to evaluate talent? Supposedly he didn't even want T.Y. Hilton when he was at FIU. Someone practically twisted his arm. If true, that certainly doesn't inspire confidence.
He may be a great salesman (which is debatable), but that's irrelevant if he's selling the wrong guys. Let's not forget Al Golden was a master salesman. IIRC Tom Lemming rated him the best recruiter in the country. James Coley is considered a great salesman as well. It doesn't matter if you can't win because of poor evals and poor coaching/development.
Hire a coach who can evaluate talent and use it properly. Hire a coach who's smart enough to have good salesmen on his staff. Win games.
Winning is the best "recruiting" tool.