Newberg: Sony, Yearby, Cook article

[RiDLer80]

I understand that you can't force a kid to sign. And I'm pretty sure that fsu (if that's where Cook winds up) won't have a gun to his head when he signs with them and neither will UGA with Michel. Recruiting is sales.

Sometimes, a salesman gets outsold by another salesman. Urb did it with Johnnie ****face. Walked into Al's backyard and took a guy who practically lived on UM's campus he was here so often. And it seems like others might do it with Cook and Michel. Key is not allowing that to happen too often with too many of the super blue-chip guys in your backyard, or else you wind up with UM fans claiming that Duke is more talented than we are.

I'm going to stand by my belief that recruiting is a results game, not a "try hard" game. You can try day and night, but if you're not pushing the right buttons or the recruit is turned off to you and turned on by something something else is pitching, then you lose. There are no merit badges for trying hard.

I agree that recruiting is a results game, and we have a consensus top 5 class that's addressed all of our needs. I don't think it's a failure if we "only" get 1 of 3 elite South Florida RBs.

This is the stupid **** that the sunshine gang says. The entire class is not a fail for losing 1 or two guys like Dixon and Cook. Nobody will say the class is a failure if we lose Michel and Cook along with losing Dixon. However, losing Cook and Michel will be a failure. Losing Dixon was a failure. That doesn't make our RB recruiting or WR recruiting or the entire class a failure. It makes those individual recruiting jobs a failure.

This class doesn't hinge on 1 or 2 players.

 

[Peachycarnahan]

Let me ask a question. You're a big timer like Cook or Dixon and Urb or Nick or Jimbo shows up at your house and pops in a DVD of a comparison of the game day experience at their school versus our normal 30,000 fans with a lot of orange seats. "Son, they just don't care about football in Miami like we do here.". That's not a hard sell. And I've been a season ticket holder since I graduated in 1992.

 

[OldhamA]

Let me ask a question. You're a big timer like Cook or Dixon and Urb or Nick or Jimbo shows up at your house and pops in a DVD of a comparison of the game day experience at their school versus our normal 30,000 fans with a lot of orange seats. "Son, they just don't care about football in Miami like we do here.". That's not a hard sell. And I've been a season ticket holder since I graduated in 1992.

That's an easy sell if the kid does zero research.

Who wants to go live in Alabama or in the freezing cold?

 

[RiDLer80]

Let me ask a question. You're a big timer like Cook or Dixon and Urb or Nick or Jimbo shows up at your house and pops in a DVD of a comparison of the game day experience at their school versus our normal 30,000 fans with a lot of orange seats. "Son, they just don't care about football in Miami like we do here.". That's not a hard sell. And I've been a season ticket holder since I graduated in 1992.

There's more to sell than attendance only. History, legacy, name brand, proximity to home (family and friends), weather, academics, family environment with teammates that's already established from previous visits.

If we lose because of an attendance argument then our coaches are bad at their jobs.

 

[Bird4um]

Gotta win and play in BCS bowls!!
Then you get any if them!!!

 

[CanesAreAble]

I understand that you can't force a kid to sign. And I'm pretty sure that fsu (if that's where Cook winds up) won't have a gun to his head when he signs with them and neither will UGA with Michel. Recruiting is sales.

Sometimes, a salesman gets outsold by another salesman. Urb did it with Johnnie ****face. Walked into Al's backyard and took a guy who practically lived on UM's campus he was here so often. And it seems like others might do it with Cook and Michel. Key is not allowing that to happen too often with too many of the super blue-chip guys in your backyard, or else you wind up with UM fans claiming that Duke is more talented than we are.

I'm going to stand by my belief that recruiting is a results game, not a "try hard" game. You can try day and night, but if you're not pushing the right buttons or the recruit is turned off to you and turned on by something something else is pitching, then you lose. There are no merit badges for trying hard.

I agree that recruiting is a results game, and we have a consensus top 5 class that's addressed all of our needs. I don't think it's a failure if we "only" get 1 of 3 elite South Florida RBs.

This is the stupid **** that the sunshine gang says. The entire class is not a fail for losing 1 or two guys like Dixon and Cook. Nobody will say the class is a failure if we lose Michel and Cook along with losing Dixon. However, losing Cook and Michel will be a failure. Losing Dixon was a failure. That doesn't make our RB recruiting or WR recruiting or the entire class a failure. It makes those individual recruiting jobs a failure.

This class doesn't hinge on 1 or 2 players.

Bull****.

People have already said this class will be a failure if we don't get Cook, Rudolph, etc...

 

[losdogcane]

Let me ask a question. You're a big timer like Cook or Dixon and Urb or Nick or Jimbo shows up at your house and pops in a DVD of a comparison of the game day experience at their school versus our normal 30,000 fans with a lot of orange seats. "Son, they just don't care about football in Miami like we do here.". That's not a hard sell. And I've been a season ticket holder since I graduated in 1992.

There's more to sell than attendance only. History, legacy, name brand, proximity to home (family and friends), weather, academics, family environment with teammates that's already established from previous visits.

If we lose because of an attendance argument then our coaches are bad at their jobs.

BULL****!!!! Our fans are bad at theirs!!!

 

[RiDLer80]

Well those people need to get some perspective.

Losing Cook would be a failure by itself. I guess the same can be said for Rudolph (especially if he goes to FSU), but that doesn't make the entire class a failure.

 

[bobbydigius]

Let me ask a question. You're a big timer like Cook or Dixon and Urb or Nick or Jimbo shows up at your house and pops in a DVD of a comparison of the game day experience at their school versus our normal 30,000 fans with a lot of orange seats. "Son, they just don't care about football in Miami like we do here.". That's not a hard sell. And I've been a season ticket holder since I graduated in 1992.

There's more to sell than attendance only. History, legacy, name brand, proximity to home (family and friends), weather, academics, family environment with teammates that's already established from previous visits.

If we lose because of an attendance argument then our coaches are bad at their jobs.

Exactly........
Im sorry but can Urban sell weather? Can he sell playing in front of friends and family every Saturday? How about becoming a hometown legend, not of a podunk college or a midwest city like Columbus, but a world class city like Miami? What about the music scene, the culture, the WOMEN? As far as Im concerned these things are a much bigger deal to 18 year old kids than attendance....

 

[CANE4LIFE]

The problem with the "Failure" business, as I have said now repeatedly, is that the final outcome here, is out of our hands. There is only so much the staff can do to land a kid. The "Failure" in recruiting, is when the staff drops the ball. They dont recruit a kid, dont offer him, offer him too late, dont evaluate him properly, etc..

When a staff does all it can to get a kid, well, in the end, they have done their job, but the final outcome is out of their hands. People seem to think that a kid deciding to go elsewhere is somehow the result of something we didnt do right, and thats just plain stupid. Kids decide on schools for a ton of different variables, MANY of which, are totally out of the staff's control. We can sit there and sell the kid paradise on Earth, but if they are intent on leaving the state, or playing for the "hot" team right now, or their family or coaches are selling them on going somewhere else, or if they are being offered $$$, or if they dont like the depth chart, or yes, even something as stupid as "I want to play in front of 80K every Saturday, instead of 45K, what is the staff supposed to do?

Im not exactly an "optimist". I tend to be a pessimist in most things. But I also like to think Im a realist. Being objective, and realistic, I look at it this way. We are currently competing against a program that is very likely to win the MNC this year. They are a big state school, with a ton of resources and boosters that UM simply doesnt have. OUR program, has been mostly irrelevant for a decade, has not been to a bowl game in the last 2 years, and hasnt won a bowlgame in half a decade. If ANYTHING, I think its pretty **** IMPRESSIVE, what our staff has been able to do. They have worked their @sses off to put together a phenomenal class with some amazing talent. This notion that people have that all these kids should just come here because they grew up around here is silly. That has NEVER happened. Even in our best years, we lost some top kids who just wanted to leave for whatever reason.

We can lament that some kids, for whatever reason decided to go elsewhere, but to say that its because the staff somehow "failed" to convince them, is unfair. I mean there is only so much any staff can do. If anything, what this class shows is that Golden is a BEAST of a recruiter. The guy has gone head to head against some of the best program for top players, and has landed a decent share of them, despite the fact that FSU, Bama, OSU have been at the top of the College Football world the last few years, and we've been in the dumps.

 

[CANE4LIFE]

Let me ask a question. You're a big timer like Cook or Dixon and Urb or Nick or Jimbo shows up at your house and pops in a DVD of a comparison of the game day experience at their school versus our normal 30,000 fans with a lot of orange seats. "Son, they just don't care about football in Miami like we do here.". That's not a hard sell. And I've been a season ticket holder since I graduated in 1992.

There's more to sell than attendance only. History, legacy, name brand, proximity to home (family and friends), weather, academics, family environment with teammates that's already established from previous visits.

If we lose because of an attendance argument then our coaches are bad at their jobs.

Exactly........
Im sorry but can Urban sell weather? Can he sell playing in front of friends and family every Saturday? How about becoming a hometown legend, not of a podunk college or a midwest city like Columbus, but a world class city like Miami? What about the music scene, the culture, the WOMEN? As far as Im concerned these things are a much bigger deal to 18 year old kids than attendance....

Well gee, maybe you should send Golden an email and remind him to mention those things. Do you really think the staff hasnt pointed out EVERY possible thing you can think of to try to convince a kid to come here? In the end, the decision is OUT of our hands!!! You dont know what Urban told this kid. He might have told him he will be the centerpiece of the offense. Urban is KNOWN for bullsh*tting kids and telling them anything they want to hear to land them. The bottom line is all you can do is make your best pitch, and the kid has to decide what he wants to do for his own reasons. And frankly, none of us have a f*cking clue what those reasons are.

 

[bobbydigius]

The problem with the "Failure" business, as I have said now repeatedly, is that the final outcome here, is out of our hands. There is only so much the staff can do to land a kid. The "Failure" in recruiting, is when the staff drops the ball. They dont recruit a kid, dont offer him, offer him too late, dont evaluate him properly, etc..

When a staff does all it can to get a kid, well, in the end, they have done their job, but the final outcome is out of their hands. People seem to think that a kid deciding to go elsewhere is somehow the result of something we didnt do right, and thats just plain stupid. Kids decide on schools for a ton of different variables, MANY of which, are totally out of the staff's control. We can sit there and sell the kid paradise on Earth, but if they are intent on leaving the state, or playing for the "hot" team right now, or their family or coaches are selling them on going somewhere else, or if they are being offered $$$, or if they dont like the depth chart, or yes, even something as stupid as "I want to play in front of 80K every Saturday, instead of 45K, what is the staff supposed to do?

Im not exactly an "optimist". I tend to be a pessimist in most things. But I also like to think Im a realist. Being objective, and realistic, I look at it this way. We are currently competing against a program that is very likely to win the MNC this year. They are a big state school, with a ton of resources and boosters that UM simply doesnt have. OUR program, has been mostly irrelevant for a decade, has not been to a bowl game in the last 2 years, and hasnt won a bowlgame in half a decade. If ANYTHING, I think its pretty **** IMPRESSIVE, what our staff has been able to do. They have worked their @sses off to put together a phenomenal class with some amazing talent. This notion that people have that all these kids should just come here because they grew up around here is silly. That has NEVER happened. Even in our best years, we lost some top kids who just wanted to leave for whatever reason.

We can lament that some kids, for whatever reason decided to go elsewhere, but to say that its because the staff somehow "failed" to convince them, is unfair. I mean there is only so much any staff can do. If anything, what this class shows is that Golden is a BEAST of a recruiter. The guy has gone head to head against some of the best program for top players, and has landed a decent share of them, despite the fact that FSU, Bama, OSU have been at the top of the College Football world the last few years, and we've been in the dumps.

Recruiting isnt about whether you did something right or you did something wrong. Its about convincing kids that this is the place you want to be and when a majority of these kids are from 50-100 mile radius of campus, you have certain advantages. Obviously your competition will also have theirs, but in the end its about results. Look at Sony himself, the kid was a huge Miami fan, but UGA convinced the kid that Athens was a better place than here. When you lose the big battles, its a fail in that instance, just as much as its a success when our HC pulled Howard, even locks like Duke. At the end of the day you either get them or you dont.

 

[bobbydigius]

Let me ask a question. You're a big timer like Cook or Dixon and Urb or Nick or Jimbo shows up at your house and pops in a DVD of a comparison of the game day experience at their school versus our normal 30,000 fans with a lot of orange seats. "Son, they just don't care about football in Miami like we do here.". That's not a hard sell. And I've been a season ticket holder since I graduated in 1992.

There's more to sell than attendance only. History, legacy, name brand, proximity to home (family and friends), weather, academics, family environment with teammates that's already established from previous visits.

If we lose because of an attendance argument then our coaches are bad at their jobs.

Exactly........
Im sorry but can Urban sell weather? Can he sell playing in front of friends and family every Saturday? How about becoming a hometown legend, not of a podunk college or a midwest city like Columbus, but a world class city like Miami? What about the music scene, the culture, the WOMEN? As far as Im concerned these things are a much bigger deal to 18 year old kids than attendance....

Well gee, maybe you should send Golden an email and remind him to mention those things. Do you really think the staff hasnt pointed out EVERY possible thing you can think of to try to convince a kid to come here? In the end, the decision is OUT of our hands!!! You dont know what Urban told this kid. He might have told him he will be the centerpiece of the offense. Urban is KNOWN for bullsh*tting kids and telling them anything they want to hear to land them. The bottom line is all you can do is make your best pitch, and the kid has to decide what he wants to do for his own reasons. And frankly, none of us have a f*cking clue what those reasons are.

Did I say that? There you go again on a tangent that has nothing to do with anything. Im pointing out that just as we have disadvantages we also have many advantages. Of course the decision is out of our hands, but hey last time I checked this is a Miami football message board where we talk about the different things going on with the program, one of them being recruiting. You are right you make the best pitch you can and the kid has to decide, but you are judged on the results. You dont prep for a football game, and then let the game play out, and not get judged by results, do you?

 

[Peachycarnahan]

Let me ask a question. You're a big timer like Cook or Dixon and Urb or Nick or Jimbo shows up at your house and pops in a DVD of a comparison of the game day experience at their school versus our normal 30,000 fans with a lot of orange seats. "Son, they just don't care about football in Miami like we do here.". That's not a hard sell. And I've been a season ticket holder since I graduated in 1992.

There's more to sell than attendance only. History, legacy, name brand, proximity to home (family and friends), weather, academics, family environment with teammates that's already established from previous visits.

If we lose because of an attendance argument then our coaches are bad at their jobs.

You are living in yesterday if you think we have a legacy or history important to an 18 year old in 2013. We are Microsoft worse yet we are blackberry or the british that onwed the 7 seas in the late 19th century. No matter how much of a superfan you are or internet jockey we aint won ish in 10 years.

 

[RiDLer80]

The problem with the "Failure" business, as I have said now repeatedly, is that the final outcome here, is out of our hands. There is only so much the staff can do to land a kid. The "Failure" in recruiting, is when the staff drops the ball. They dont recruit a kid, dont offer him, offer him too late, dont evaluate him properly, etc..

YOUR definition of dropping the ball is when the don't offer or evaluate properly (a Jayron Hosely, Skai Moore etc.). Well mine is when a kid who should be a Cane or needs to be a Cane doesn't end up a Cane. I guess we just have different opinions on what's a recruiting failure. I feel that if a kid is from your backyard, is an elite talent, at a position of need or not, if you offer and pursue, he should be playing at Miami.

When a staff does all it can to get a kid, well, in the end, they have done their job, but the final outcome is out of their hands. People seem to think that a kid deciding to go elsewhere is somehow the result of something we didnt do right, and thats just plain stupid. Kids decide on schools for a ton of different variables, MANY of which, are totally out of the staff's control. We can sit there and sell the kid paradise on Earth, but if they are intent on leaving the state, or playing for the "hot" team right now, or their family or coaches are selling them on going somewhere else, or if they are being offered $$$, or if they dont like the depth chart, or yes, even something as stupid as "I want to play in front of 80K every Saturday, instead of 45K, what is the staff supposed to do?

So because our staff tried really hard to get a recruit, but he went somewhere else that's OK? Sounds like a loser attitude to me. "Well, you tried really hard, but he didn't come here. Oh well!" **** that ****. Our coaches get paid to coach and recruit. It's in their job description to get talent here. Not to try to. Find the right pitch and make it. If we're not the hot team maybe we shouldn't lose to VT and ******* Duke. If they want to play in front of bigger crowds maybe we should win some games and stop getting noon games on Saturdays.

Im not exactly an "optimist". I tend to be a pessimist in most things. But I also like to think Im a realist. Being objective, and realistic, I look at it this way. We are currently competing against a program that is very likely to win the MNC this year. They are a big state school, with a ton of resources and boosters that UM simply doesnt have. OUR program, has been mostly irrelevant for a decade, has not been to a bowl game in the last 2 years, and hasnt won a bowlgame in half a decade. If ANYTHING, I think its pretty **** IMPRESSIVE, what our staff has been able to do. They have worked their @sses off to put together a phenomenal class with some amazing talent. This notion that people have that all these kids should just come here because they grew up around here is silly. That has NEVER happened. Even in our best years, we lost some top kids who just wanted to leave for whatever reason.

Again, let's pat our coaches on the back for doing their jobs but not succeeding. There are no participation ribbons in recruiting. Who gives a **** if FSU is a big state school with a ****load of boosters? They're not out there recruiting. And who cares what happened in the past. I'm dealing with reality right now. And the reality of the present is we're not gonna out X-and-O other teams so we **** sure better out-talent them.

We can lament that some kids, for whatever reason decided to go elsewhere, but to say that its because the staff somehow "failed" to convince them, is unfair. I mean there is only so much any staff can do. If anything, what this class shows is that Golden is a BEAST of a recruiter. The guy has gone head to head against some of the best program for top players, and has landed a decent share of them, despite the fact that FSU, Bama, OSU have been at the top of the College Football world the last few years, and we've been in the dumps.

Again, if a kid goes elsewhere then our staff did fail in convincing them to come here. It's as simple as that. So what if the staff is calling non-stop if they're saying all the wrong things. Sure, a kid and his family may get something extra, but we have no way of knowing if that is the case. And yes, Golden and co. have done an excellent job putting together this class now close with the couple elite guys that are left. Is that too much to ask for? So we can get Yearby and Darling, but not Cook?

.

 

[RiDLer80]

Let me ask a question. You're a big timer like Cook or Dixon and Urb or Nick or Jimbo shows up at your house and pops in a DVD of a comparison of the game day experience at their school versus our normal 30,000 fans with a lot of orange seats. "Son, they just don't care about football in Miami like we do here.". That's not a hard sell. And I've been a season ticket holder since I graduated in 1992.

There's more to sell than attendance only. History, legacy, name brand, proximity to home (family and friends), weather, academics, family environment with teammates that's already established from previous visits.

If we lose because of an attendance argument then our coaches are bad at their jobs.

You are living in yesterday if you think we have a legacy or history important to an 18 year old in 2013. We are Microsoft worse yet we are blackberry or the british that onwed the 7 seas in the late 19th century. No matter how much of a superfan you are or internet jockey we aint won ish in 10 years.

Thank you for picking out only one of the several things in my post. You proved my point. There are multiple pitches that can be made to a recruit.

 

[Peachycarnahan]

Let me ask a question. You're a big timer like Cook or Dixon and Urb or Nick or Jimbo shows up at your house and pops in a DVD of a comparison of the game day experience at their school versus our normal 30,000 fans with a lot of orange seats. "Son, they just don't care about football in Miami like we do here.". That's not a hard sell. And I've been a season ticket holder since I graduated in 1992.

There's more to sell than attendance only. History, legacy, name brand, proximity to home (family and friends), weather, academics, family environment with teammates that's already established from previous visits.

If we lose because of an attendance argument then our coaches are bad at their jobs.

You are living in yesterday if you think we have a legacy or history important to an 18 year old in 2013. We are Microsoft worse yet we are blackberry or the british that onwed the 7 seas in the late 19th century. No matter how much of a superfan you are or internet jockey we aint won ish in 10 years.

Thank you for picking out only one of the several things in my post. You proved my point. There are multiple pitches that can be made to a recruit.

Im sorry I did not intend to make an ad hominen attack on you. I just picked the first 3 things you pointed out. Of the last 4, 3 the hypothetical recruit can get at FIU or FAU. Thanks to Donna we can always pitch best school in Florida.

 

[The Franchise]

Let me ask a question. You're a big timer like Cook or Dixon and Urb or Nick or Jimbo shows up at your house and pops in a DVD of a comparison of the game day experience at their school versus our normal 30,000 fans with a lot of orange seats. "Son, they just don't care about football in Miami like we do here.". That's not a hard sell. And I've been a season ticket holder since I graduated in 1992.

You can also pop in a DVD of Columbus, OH in November through April and stank *** Tuscaloser, AL and then show them the palm trees and people walking around in shorts and tshirts in Miami in December and sell that to the recruit too.

 

[CANE4LIFE]

Let me ask a question. You're a big timer like Cook or Dixon and Urb or Nick or Jimbo shows up at your house and pops in a DVD of a comparison of the game day experience at their school versus our normal 30,000 fans with a lot of orange seats. "Son, they just don't care about football in Miami like we do here.". That's not a hard sell. And I've been a season ticket holder since I graduated in 1992.

There's more to sell than attendance only. History, legacy, name brand, proximity to home (family and friends), weather, academics, family environment with teammates that's already established from previous visits.

If we lose because of an attendance argument then our coaches are bad at their jobs.

Exactly........
Im sorry but can Urban sell weather? Can he sell playing in front of friends and family every Saturday? How about becoming a hometown legend, not of a podunk college or a midwest city like Columbus, but a world class city like Miami? What about the music scene, the culture, the WOMEN? As far as Im concerned these things are a much bigger deal to 18 year old kids than attendance....

Well gee, maybe you should send Golden an email and remind him to mention those things. Do you really think the staff hasnt pointed out EVERY possible thing you can think of to try to convince a kid to come here? In the end, the decision is OUT of our hands!!! You dont know what Urban told this kid. He might have told him he will be the centerpiece of the offense. Urban is KNOWN for bullsh*tting kids and telling them anything they want to hear to land them. The bottom line is all you can do is make your best pitch, and the kid has to decide what he wants to do for his own reasons. And frankly, none of us have a f*cking clue what those reasons are.

Did I say that? There you go again on a tangent that has nothing to do with anything. Im pointing out that just as we have disadvantages we also have many advantages. Of course the decision is out of our hands, but hey last time I checked this is a Miami football message board where we talk about the different things going on with the program, one of them being recruiting. You are right you make the best pitch you can and the kid has to decide, but you are judged on the results. You dont prep for a football game, and then let the game play out, and not get judged by results, do you?

Come on man, a coach very much has a hand in the outcome of a football team. He calls the plays, scouts the other team, prepares the gameplan, makes in-game decisions, so yes, he has much more accountability to how his team performs on the football field. Granted there is only so much he can do, he's not on the field actually executing the gameplan, in college, he's the primary individual that can be held accountable for the team's performance. In recruiting, a coach can offer a kid a scholarship, invite him for a visit, call him on the phone, send assistant coaches to meet with him, and then have one in home visit with the kid and his family. That's it. All he can do is make a pitch. Just like any other coach. He really has no control or hand on the eventual outcome.

The best you can do to evaluate a coach's recruiting is how his players pan out, and how he does overall in recruiting talent, and for the needs of his team. If you have a coach in a talent rich area, at a pretty good program with good resources, who cant land anyone, then I think its indicative that you may have a problem. Conversely, if you have a coach, who's program is struggling, and yet is managing to bring in talent that is out of proportion with what one would expect given the program's success and resources, then you might have a pretty **** good recruiter on your hands. But to judge a coach by individual kids, is silly. Individual kids make their own decisions, and for a multitude of reasons.

If you told me Golden hadnt landed ONE top South Florida athlete, I would say, we may have a problem. But he got the best DTs in South Florida, the best DEs in South Florida. Two of the best RBs in South Florida(and nation). One of the best pure athletes in South Florida. The BEST Offensive Linemen in all of South Florida.. Two of the best LBs in South Florida. One of the best DBs in South Florida, and we are hot on the trail of another. We also got two of the top WRs in South Florida, who some of our rivals were also hot after.

This while being unranked, and going head to head against the team playing for the MNC.

 

[The Franchise]

The problem with the "Failure" business, as I have said now repeatedly, is that the final outcome here, is out of our hands. There is only so much the staff can do to land a kid. The "Failure" in recruiting, is when the staff drops the ball. They dont recruit a kid, dont offer him, offer him too late, dont evaluate him properly, etc..

YOUR definition of dropping the ball is when the don't offer or evaluate properly (a Jayron Hosely, Skai Moore etc.). Well mine is when a kid who should be a Cane or needs to be a Cane doesn't end up a Cane. I guess we just have different opinions on what's a recruiting failure. I feel that if a kid is from your backyard, is an elite talent, at a position of need or not, if you offer and pursue, he should be playing at Miami.

When a staff does all it can to get a kid, well, in the end, they have done their job, but the final outcome is out of their hands. People seem to think that a kid deciding to go elsewhere is somehow the result of something we didnt do right, and thats just plain stupid. Kids decide on schools for a ton of different variables, MANY of which, are totally out of the staff's control. We can sit there and sell the kid paradise on Earth, but if they are intent on leaving the state, or playing for the "hot" team right now, or their family or coaches are selling them on going somewhere else, or if they are being offered $$$, or if they dont like the depth chart, or yes, even something as stupid as "I want to play in front of 80K every Saturday, instead of 45K, what is the staff supposed to do?

So because our staff tried really hard to get a recruit, but he went somewhere else that's OK? Sounds like a loser attitude to me. "Well, you tried really hard, but he didn't come here. Oh well!" **** that ****. Our coaches get paid to coach and recruit. It's in their job description to get talent here. Not to try to. Find the right pitch and make it. If we're not the hot team maybe we shouldn't lose to VT and ****ing Duke. If they want to play in front of bigger crowds maybe we should win some games and stop getting noon games on Saturdays.

Im not exactly an "optimist". I tend to be a pessimist in most things. But I also like to think Im a realist. Being objective, and realistic, I look at it this way. We are currently competing against a program that is very likely to win the MNC this year. They are a big state school, with a ton of resources and boosters that UM simply doesnt have. OUR program, has been mostly irrelevant for a decade, has not been to a bowl game in the last 2 years, and hasnt won a bowlgame in half a decade. If ANYTHING, I think its pretty **** IMPRESSIVE, what our staff has been able to do. They have worked their @sses off to put together a phenomenal class with some amazing talent. This notion that people have that all these kids should just come here because they grew up around here is silly. That has NEVER happened. Even in our best years, we lost some top kids who just wanted to leave for whatever reason.

Again, let's pat our coaches on the back for doing their jobs but not succeeding. There are no participation ribbons in recruiting. Who gives a **** if FSU is a big state school with a ****load of boosters? They're not out there recruiting. And who cares what happened in the past. I'm dealing with reality right now. And the reality of the present is we're not gonna out X-and-O other teams so we **** sure better out-talent them.

We can lament that some kids, for whatever reason decided to go elsewhere, but to say that its because the staff somehow "failed" to convince them, is unfair. I mean there is only so much any staff can do. If anything, what this class shows is that Golden is a BEAST of a recruiter. The guy has gone head to head against some of the best program for top players, and has landed a decent share of them, despite the fact that FSU, Bama, OSU have been at the top of the College Football world the last few years, and we've been in the dumps.

Again, if a kid goes elsewhere then our staff did fail in convincing them to come here. It's as simple as that. So what if the staff is calling non-stop if they're saying all the wrong things. Sure, a kid and his family may get something extra, but we have no way of knowing if that is the case. And yes, Golden and co. have done an excellent job putting together this class now close with the couple elite guys that are left. Is that too much to ask for? So we can get Yearby and Darling, but not Cook?

.

Boom.

I love when that blowhard tries to frame HIS definition of **** to be THE definition of ****. Just because he only sees it a failure in recruiting when we don't recruit someone doesn't mean that that is the reasonable definition of failure. Failure is when you have a guy in your backyard with all the advantages in your favor, and you lose him.