TCU doesn’t know how to recruit

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Expectations and the foundation that was laid mattered.

birds of a feather flock together.

Manny is a laxed anything goes, country type coach. And many of the kids he brought in were the same way.

If the thread on the main board about a poster talking to a player is true Mario’s hard-nosed, disciplined and str8 business attitude rubbed a large amount of the kids the wrong way.

I doubt that happened at Duke for example.

And I’m confused how anyone could have watched MTSU WRs out run out defense and Duke DL and OL push us around and still think that we had some type of talent advantage.

Nick Saban was a Corch until he got the best players and wasn’t.

Kirby Smart was Corch until he got 3 top 3 classes.

Elliot was “great” at Clemson and can’t score more than 10 ppgs at UVa.

Jimbo fisher looked great with Jamies and Dalvin now is a Corch.

Sark went from Corch, to awesome to Corch.

Harbaugh was a Corch until he’s not.

Dabo was a Corch until he wasn’t.

Of course coaching matters but there are diminishing returns.

In this era where 4-5 schools are consolidating all the talent their rosters are so flush it’d take a total meltdown for most of these other teams to beat them.

If I had the choice between the most talented roster with average coaches

Vs

Talented coaches with average talent.

I’d take the most talented roster.
 
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Here’s how the P5 coaching changes panned out for 2022 (& if I’m missing someone, pls let me know):

Miami: Diaz (7-5) vs. Cristobal (5-7)

OU: Riley (11-2) vs. Venables (6-7)

UVA: Mendenhall (6-6) vs. Elliot (3-7)

VT: Fuentes (6-7) vs. Pry (3-8)

UO: Cristobal (10-3) vs. Lanning (10-3)

TCU: Patterson (3-5) vs. Dykes (12-1)

UW: Lake (4-5) vs. DeBoer (11-2)

USC: Helton (1-1) vs. Riley (11-2)

TT: Wells (7-6) vs. McGuire (8-5)

UF: Mullen (6-7) vs. Napier (6-7)

Out of all the coaches who had previous coaching experience, Mario was by far the worst, & we played like it, too.

Again, I’ve been very critical of the talent level here, questioned certain offers by the previous regime b/c I don’t go by str8 star rankings (I’ve been around recruiting for far too long to use my eyes vs. some geeks looking at measurable & cut up highlights). Even with that being said, I knew we would struggle yr 1 b/c of it, but not to the tune of 5-7. That staff change needs to happen. If we continue on w/ “innovative” Gattis, then that pitchfork that stays tucked under the seat will be sharpened.
I’d throw out OU. That team got absolutely obliterated from a talent standpoint going into this season. I watched the OU/UT game earlier this year with a Longhorn friend; that Sooners display on offense was worse than anything Miami generated this year. Qualifier was that they essentially did not have a quarterback.
 
Expectations and the foundation that was laid mattered.

birds of a feather flock together.

Manny is a laxed anything goes, country type coach. And many of the kids he brought in were the same way.

If the thread on the main board about a poster talking to a player is true Mario’s hard-nosed, disciplined and str8 business attitude rubbed a large amount of the kids the wrong way.

I doubt that happened at Duke for example.

And I’m confused how anyone could have watched MTSU WRs out run out defense and Duke DL and OL push us around and still think that we had some type of talent advantage.
We did, unless we accept that 247 is just horrendously wrong - consistently - on the talent evaluations for the Miami Hurricanes and tremendously accurate for Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, and others.

Some players were underdeveloped. Some were potentially miscast. And some were talented, but too young (for instance, almost half of our corners this year were true freshmen due to recruiting misses under Manny). And you can have a great overall blue chip ratio, but if you have a couple of positions where you are badly deficient (o line, linebacker) everything else can fall apart.
 
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If Mario runs Gattis out there in 2023 and the offense is the same I’m going to be ready for the Hurricanes to hire a gold football coach. Not someone with local ties or who can recruit, someone who knows the best way to scheme and build a team.
 
We obsess over recruiting rankings and not without reason. But look at these paltry TCU numbers:
Class rankings
2019. 32
2020. 24
2021. 46
2022. 34

Better this year:
2023. 18

Guess coaching can compensate for mediocrity on the recruiting trail…
That QB is willing them to victory. They’ve been close in every game. Playing a bunch of similarly talented big12 teams evenly, but then the QB leads a late comeback and wins them game after game.

I’d have given Duggan the Heisman.
 
For better or worse this situation like the Duke HC is a situation where coaches no they need to win now and start stacking success instead of Mario who has a very lengthy contract who is assured many years of leash time…

“Building it right..” takes time and that’s what Mario wanted and that’s what we gave him..

So what does "building it right" mean these days?
With roster fluidity thanks to NILs-Transport Portal landscape, it may not be worth time and effort in building anything for the long term.
Thinking should be along the lines of "building it now". Specifically, work and win with what you have now.
 
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We obsess over recruiting rankings and not without reason. But look at these paltry TCU numbers:
Class rankings
2019. 32
2020. 24
2021. 46
2022. 34

Better this year:
2023. 18

Guess coaching can compensate for mediocrity on the recruiting trail…

cmt look at it GIF by The Ed Bassmaster Show
 
Yawn, you guys love to point out outliers. Everything fell right for TCU to make the playoffs. They easily could have lost a few more games but they pulled them out. It's not like they dominated everyone. Watch TCU win 7-8 games next year and no one will say a word.
 
So what does "building it right" mean these days?
With roster fluidity thanks to NILs-Transport Portal landscape, it may not be worth time and effort in building anything for the long term.
Thinking should be along the lines of "building it now". Specifically, work and win with what you have now.
I’m 100% with you… the roster turnover is incredible and it’s tough to keep 75% of your roster year over year.

Just reminding folks that this was Mario’s mentality about building it his way
 
So what does "building it right" mean these days?
With roster fluidity thanks to NILs-Transport Portal landscape, it may not be worth time and effort in building anything for the long term.
Thinking should be along the lines of "building it now". Specifically, work and win with what you have now.
For the most part elite kids that contribute aren’t leaving the top schools. Most the kids leaving from UGA, Bama, OSU, Clemson etc. are kids that weren’t factors or we’re about to be passed up by someone else. Building a roster with elite HS talent then grabbing some players from the portal is still the blueprint. If anything outside of 1 player, we haven’t lost anyone significant to the portal. Also NIL will be a factor and we’re paying. Mario’s blueprint is the right way IMO.
 
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We obsess over recruiting rankings and not without reason. But look at these paltry TCU numbers:
Class rankings
2019. 32
2020. 24
2021. 46
2022. 34

Better this year:
2023. 18

Guess coaching can compensate for mediocrity on the recruiting trail…

And they are getting spanked by a Bama team that doesn’t even want to be there.

You need TALENT ANDDDDDD COAChing.
 
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This is Dykes first year there. Patterson left a good culture but had a 5-7 season last year. Lets see if Dykes can maintain success.
 
Yawn, you guys love to point out outliers. Everything fell right for TCU to make the playoffs. They easily could have lost a few more games but they pulled them out. It's not like they dominated everyone. Watch TCU win 7-8 games next year and no one will say a word.
I'm expecting them to get murdered tonight.
 
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