College football: Coaching vs. Recruiting

Rivals.com named Alabama’s recruiting class number one followed by Florida State, Ohio State, Michigan and Clemson rounding out the top five. These schools are no stranger in the recruiting world. All of the schools are in great locations for in-state talent, each school has a rich history and tradition of college football (with the exception being Clemson)

, but I am here to tell you that signing day is overhyped and over glorified and that signing day in College football is overrated. Yes, I said it….overrated. Yes getting the top high school talent to come to your school helps you win games, yes you can win conference championships on sheer talent, and yes maybe if everything breaks right you may be fortunate enough to win a National Championship, but recruiting alone does not build programs into sustained success. Coaching and player development builds programs.
Nick Saban is recruiting on an elite level, but how many of the freshman that come into the Alabama program immediately start? Maybe one or two. Amari cooper was not a starter until late in the National Championship run in 2012, Calvin Ridley is in the same boat for the 2015 squad. Keep in mind that the Wide Receiver on a Nick Saban team is not featured like some of the spread teams. Amari Cooper had an excellent season two years ago but I would call that a one year wonder in terms of a wide receiver putting up that caliper of numbers. It was also very short lived as Alabama featured the running game with Derrick Henry (who by the way was an upperclassman). Saban wins because he can take an 18-year-old kid and turn him into a star at 21/22 years old. Greg McCoy was an afterthought in the recruiting process but won a national championship; same with AJ McCarron. Saban “process” wins games, Sabin’s coaching wins games, the Alabama strength and conditioning program wins games

Mack Brown could recruit, but did Mack Brown win on a consistent basis? Some would argue yes that winning ten/nine games a year counts, but I say no. Given the resources that you have at the University of Texas, you should win at least multiple National Championship’s and be in the running nearly every year. An unlimited budget, state of the art facilities, beautiful campus, Austin a respectable city in terms of attraction and probably the best city during that time in the Big 12 (could you sell a kid on Lubbock? College Station? Lincoln? Texas is also a gold mine for high school talent,

the Big 12 was also a weak conference during the Mack Brown era (Beat Oklahoma and you have practically won the conference.), should equal championship-caliber teams year in and year out. Mack Brown won two Big 12 titles and one National Championship and had a winning percentage of 77% (Not exactly dominating college football) in sixteen years at Texas. Take Tom Osbourne who had talent but faced a more uphill battle building sustained success. Nebraska is not Texas in terms of high school talent, Lincoln is a tough sell, the budget is pretty limited, but Osbourne won multiple national championships and put his team in position to play in the National Championship several more times, Osbourne also won thirteen conference championships at Nebraska. In a thirteen year run (1984-1997) similar to Mack Brown tenure at Texas. Osborne won nine conference championships and three national championships. Coaching and player development is the key to sustained success.

I more contemporary example is Mark Dantonio at Michigan State.

Dantonio has never lit up signing day in terms of signing four and five-star talent, only until recently has Michigan State had first and second round picks in the NFL draft. Dantonio has built a sustained successful program at Michigan State winning 87 games in nine years with three Big Ten titles (all since 2010). Yes, Dantonio has never won a National Champion (or played for one), but Michigan State is always in the running for at least a share of the Big 10 title. His defenses typically are very good without five/four-star talent. Michigan State has only had one defensive player drafted in the first round during his tenure (Darqueze Dennard was drafted 24th overall by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2014.). Dantonio wins because he can coach and he can develop a 2/3 star player into a solid collegiate football player. Les Miles can recruit, but can he coach? Can he develop players? LSU churns out players for the NFL draft year in and year out (Eleven first and second round picks since 2010) and quite possibly has the best player in college football with Leonard Fournette, but Miles was pretty close to getting fired at the end of the season. Miles has gone 112-32 at LSU with two conference championships and one national championship during that span. One could argue that the 2007 team was a fluke with LSU winning so many close games that year and one of the weaker years in college football with the National Champion losing two games during the year. LSU is a football factory producing solid pro’s at each position, so why hasn’t Les Miles won more? Has he developed a quarterback? Can he build a defense without John Chavis?

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