Mr. Smart said after his team rassled the Gators,
“Guys, if you don’t recruit, there’s no coach out there who can out-coach recruiting. I don’t care who you are. The best coach to ever play the game better be a good recruiter because no coaching is going to out-coach players. Anyone will tell you our defense is good because we’ve got good players. Spending time on the phone, spending time with people at your house, spending time with people on your campus...I...spend time with other people’s families so that we can have good players. That’s 25% evaluation, 50% recruiting, and the other 25% is coaching. If you don’t recruit, guys, you’ve got no chance.”
Yep. And Smart flipped two four-star commits from Florida to Georgia recently.
Finebaum went on to say that Dan Mullen did an excellent job coaching up three-star players into fours and fives--at Mississippi State. But you cannot coach speed or height and if you rely heavily on player development you're going to miss many more times than you hit and you're not going to have an elite team. Pitt coached up Aaron Donald; coached up Kenny Pickett this year. You can do that here and there but that is no substitute from having your roster glittering with four and five star diamonds.
James Franklin is an excellent recruiter, set down the line in his introductory press conference at PSU. "You have no chance recruiting against us." Scott Frost has recruited well at Nebraska, considering its Nebraska. Frost dipped into his former territory in Florida and brought several players to Lincoln. I think at last count only one of five or six is still with the team. That's a culture shock going from Miami to Lincoln Nebraska hoo doggie. Frost himself, a national championship QB with the "Huskers", initially went to a California school and then transferred back to his native Nebraska. It can be a culture shock going both ways. It is probably a plus if you recruited the same territory in your previous stops but I don't imagine Franklin recruited much in Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland-New York at Vanderbilt. Being a pit bull recruiter is going to translate from school to school, conference to conference, region to region.
Some coaches love recruiting. Franklin seems to be one of them. Others hate it. It's why they go to the NFL if they get the chance. It's why NFL coaches frequently flame out in college. Pete Carroll was the noteworthy exception. Far more often than not they want to coach not schmooze. You gotta schmooze a lotta lot as a college coach.
Here's a name from the past that will bring back nightmares to Florida fans: Ron Zook. The Zooker couldn't coach a flea onto a hound but that motherfucker could recruit! Even after getting fired at FU (for the former) he went to Illinoise and was the same recruiting greyhound he was at FU (got fired there too for coaching inadequacy.). You give me the choice between a vintage Ron Zook and, say, Charlie Weiss, and I'll choose the Zooker every time. An elite program like Florida or Notre Dame or Miami shouldn't have to choose between "a definite schematic advantage" and a recruiting maven, but if it does, recruiting is the sine qua non of college coaching. Ain't no scheme gonna make up for thoroughbreds to run it.
For all the rest recruiting is even more important. Pat Narduzzi was a great x's-and-o's defensive coach at Michigan State. He cannot get Pitt over the hump. You can't with recruiting classes in the 20's, 30's and 40's. Duzz' highest ranked recruiting class was 2021's: 22nd. An AD at an "all others" school has to hire the best recruiter (s)he can to jump the hump. There is no other way.
