DO article on NJ recruiting

[money3189]

Losing teams struggle in recruiting. Is that really new information to people? I think the writer is taking advantage of SU's lack of success and making it seem like its due to bad efforts in recruiting NJ. We struggle in recruiting in every state. Its not just in NJ and its not because of lack of effort. There are people that are pissed off every year. Mad because their instate school didnt show enough interest or didnt offer.

 

[Jake]

The kid is supposed to be some smoking gun - had the author done 5-10 minutes of research he would have been able to see that our WR recruiting both timeline wise and based on kids we were still waiting warranted passing on this kid.

I also like the graphic where they home in on landing top 5 NJ prospects as a sign of success in the state - yeah I agree that would be fantastic but they do realize we haven't landed a top 5 NJ prospect in probably 20 years right?

This is our recruiting of the Rivals top 25/30/40 in NJ going back to 2003. Rivals expanded the state rankings at different points over that period of time. Pretty Barren to begin with and the guys we did land before Dino all had their issues. Baskin never enrolled, Bedle lasted a year and was booted/transferred to Delaware St, Mele had his own issues and transferred to UMASS, Mungwa only came to Syracuse because he didn't qualify academically at Stanford and then quit the program. The best year we had recruiting NJ prior to Dino was Shafer's staff in 2015, all 3 of those players could have been 4 year contributors and Strickland was. Pickard was plagued by injuries and Ellison although promising ended up transferring to Duquesne.

2003 - NONE
2004 - 1 (JJ Bedle - #10)
2005 - NONE
2006 - 1 (Andray Baskin #6)
2007 - 1 (Mike Mele #27)
2008 - NONE
2009 - NONE
2010 - NONE
2011 - 1 (Shutang Mungwa #30)
2012 - NONE
2013 - NONE
2014 - NONE
2015 - 3 (Dontae Strickland #13, Daivon Ellison #26, Jake Pickard #33)
2016 - NONE (Dino's first year, 6 week recruiting cycle)
2017 - 1 (Tommy DeVito #11 - being a UA AA, Elite 11, Tommy should have been rated higher IMO)
2018 - 1 (Taj Harris #26)
2019 - 1 (Joe Rondi #23)
2020 - 1 (Leon Lowery #29)
2021 - 1 (Duce Chestnut #7)
2022 - 3 (LeQuint Allen #9, Denis Jaquez #12, Alijah Clark #4 (2021))

I would argue based on the samples that Dino's staff has done a hell of a lot better job recruiting NJ than the 15 years prior of 4 different staffs, one of which was P/D which had a huge presence in NJ and in their waning years mined the state for basically nothing. Dino's actually landed multiple top 15 recruits out of that state that have gone on to be significant contributors in the program. And his best year so far is 2022, where he landed 2 top 15 recruits with one being the Gatorade player of the year, Clark who was #4 last year as a transfer, and would have had 3 top 15 recruits had they hung onto Price.

And this is the difference between doing a thorough analysis and latching on to one data point as if it proves a thesis. Can we do better in NJ? Absolutely, but you have to go back over 20 years to find a top 5 recruit in NJ that this program has landed (Morant). So how is that the measure of success when you're basically starting from nothing?

The irony here is we're trending up, not down, based on 2022's results.

Interesting information. My gut feeling is that Dino has done a better job in Jersey than previous staffs (not including P&D). Glad to see that’s actually true.

 

[RandomGuy]

Same author. Seems like he's done his homework.

The rise and fall of Syracuse’s northeast recruiting base

“(Syracuse) really did well in our area getting recruits, things of that nature, then they had a change. There was just this really big, stark difference.”

dailyorange.com

 

[money3189]

great great article !!! clearly points to babers and his stubbornness . he talks jersey but does not act upon it. i and countless others have been saying for years to RECRUIT NJ!!!! we had good results for years in nj before schiano.
babers has never understood the northeast and metro nyc and tri state area. and it has cost us dearly.
his game day decisions are now understandable in light of the article--fits in with the lack of understanding of what is going on.

you can talk about the perception of hs coaches, and their take on schools that recruit nj and offer???you can talk about process

You can put an army of recruiters in NJ and it wont make kids go to SU. Kids want to go where teams win. Penn st Michigan Ohio st ND will get the top 10 kids from there. The second tier players will be a fight with teams like Pitt rutgers BC Maryland and SU. You make it sound like they dont step into the state at all. lol. We landed the gatorade player of the year, flipped a top DE and got two four star DB's recently.

 

[money3189]

Same author. Seems like he's done his homework.

The rise and fall of Syracuse’s northeast recruiting base

“(Syracuse) really did well in our area getting recruits, things of that nature, then they had a change. There was just this really big, stark difference.”

dailyorange.com

He could have read the content on this board for the last 10 years and got that info. We talk about it constantly lol.

 

[tep624]

Same author. Seems like he's done his homework.

The rise and fall of Syracuse’s northeast recruiting base

“(Syracuse) really did well in our area getting recruits, things of that nature, then they had a change. There was just this really big, stark difference.”

dailyorange.com

“(Syracuse) really did well in our area getting recruits, things of that nature, then they had a change,” West Orange High School (NJ) head coach Darnell Grant said. “And then we didn’t have a lot of interaction with them after that. There was just this really big, stark difference.”

He definitely enjoys going to that well. Darnell Grant must be on his payroll lol.

 

[orangenauburn]

Again for those who don't follow recruiting, we have offers out (known offers may I add) to the following from NJ:

22 kids in class of 2023
12 kids in class of 2024
5 kids in class of 2025

That's a pretty heavy involvement and commitment by the staff to the state.

 

[anomander]

Say what you will about the article being an absolute hatchet piece the only thing I take away from this article is apparently several of the top NJ HC's haven't even met Dino. If that's the case then there is a problem. I could care less about the kid who was sad that he was snubbed. That's sour grapes and the article would have been better off without it. I'm more concerned with the commentary from the coaches. It doesn't matter if they are NJ homers or not. They are still the HC and can influence where kid's go and they need to be won over. One glance at our recruiting results over Baber's tenure and it's easy to tell he's not a special recruiter.

 

[Alsacs]

That article is so bad I hope JB rips the chit out of that writer in a basketball postgame.

My god. What an awful article. Just trying to create fake news narratives.

Holy chit was that bad.
Cry more loser author.

 

[tipphill]

You can put an army of recruiters in NJ and it wont make kids go to SU. Kids want to go where the win. Penn st Michigan Ohio st ND will get the top 10 kids from there. The second tier players will be a fight with teams like Pitt rutgers BC Maryland and SU. You make it sound like they dont step into the state at all. lol. We landed the gatorade player of the year, flipped a top DE and got two four star DB's recently.

you make it sound like WHY BOTHER!!! lets NOTtry to get the second tier guys and maybe get lucky on the other. oh yes, that must be the new recruiting technique???lets recruit elsewhere , thats worked well for us . lets see , what is our national ranking again??? acc ranking again????

 

[money3189]

you make it sound like WHY BOTHER!!! lets NOTtry to get the second tier guys and maybe get lucky on the other. oh yes, that must be the new recruiting technique???lets recruit elsewhere , thats worked well for us . lets see , what is our national ranking again??? acc ranking again????

Im simply telling you the challeges they have. This is from experience. These kids want to go to big time schools that win. Telling you that is not saying they shouldnt try. Not sure why you dont understand the difference. Getting more of the 2nd tier NJ is players is not going to push them to high rankings and it doesnt guarantee success. They are trying. You think every SU coach from the last 20 years is trying to recruit bad? Like they are trying not to get the top players and have high rankings lol

 

[tep624]

Im simply telling you the challeges they have. This is from experience. These kids want to go to big time schools that win. Telling you that is not saying they shouldnt try. Not sure why you dont understand the difference. You just assume they dont try. You think every SU coach from the last 20 years is trying to recruit bad? Like they are trying not to get the top players and have high rankings lol

NIL just makes it worth as far as the bling bling eye catcher mentality. Ever since I read about Ishaq’s dad talking about his “brand” 10 years ago it really changed the way I looked at recruiting. The only way we compete with any regularity for that level of blue chip talent now is to be consistently ranked and relevant on the national stage. The whole atmosphere has changed so dramatically over the past 20 years.

This may not be popular but to put it on paper:

1) Geographically we aren’t special. We’re not So Cal or South Beach.

2) City size we aren’t special, we’re not Chicago, NYC or LA.

3) Natural recruiting territory we aren’t special, we’re not in Texas, Florida, California, Georgia, etc. Hell, the best recruiting grounds in NYS are 4.5 hours away from Syracuse and geographically located closer by car to 3 or 4 other P5 programs.

4) Academically we are special with some programs, but on the whole we are not Duke, Stanford, Northwestern etc

5) Tradition is not existent while our only real tradition is held hostage by a grumpy 80 year old and someone’s grandson who may not even be able to walk on here.

6) The Dome was a novelty for a while, but it really doesn’t compare 3/4 full to a Big 10 or SEC game with 100k in the stands.

I hate saying this because I’m not trying to beat up the program, the school or the area but it’s the truth and that’s why recruiting high level talent is so difficult here especially when we’re a losing program. We have to win and be nationally relevant to attract top 250 national recruits with any regularity.

 

[money3189]

NIL just makes it worth as far as the bling bling eye catcher mentality. Ever since I read about Ishaq’s dad talking about his “brand” 10 years ago it really changed the way I looked at recruiting. The only way we compete with any regularity for that level of blue chip talent now is to be consistently ranked and relevant on the national stage. The whole atmosphere has changed so dramatically over the past 20 years.

This may not be popular but to put it on paper:

1) Geographically we aren’t special. We’re not So Cal or South Beach.

2) City size we aren’t special, we’re not Chicago, NYC or LA.

3) Natural recruiting territory we aren’t special, we’re not in Texas, Florida, California, Georgia, etc. Hell, the best recruiting grounds in NYS are 4.5 hours away from Syracuse and geographically located closer by car to 3 or 4 other P5 programs.

4) Academically we are special with some programs, but on the whole we are not Duke, Stanford, Northwestern etc

5) Tradition is not existent while our only real tradition is held hostage by a grumpy 80 year old and someone’s grandson who may not even be able to walk on here.

6) The Dome was a novelty for a while, but it really doesn’t compare 3/4 full to a Big 10 or SEC game with 100k in the stands.

That’s the reality of it. Syracuse really doesn’t have that one overarching draw in the event the program isn’t winning. It comes down to the coaches and the relationships they develop, but it has to lead to on field results and consistent winning to land top 5 recruits in (pick your state). It’s not happening before that happens because all things equal we don’t have the draws to do that.

I hate saying this because I’m not trying to beat up the program, the school or the area but it’s the truth and that’s why recruiting high level talent is so difficult here especially when we’re a losing program.

Those are all relevant challenges they have. Dont know what else to say to people that dont understand the challenges. They dont want to dive deeper into the issues. "Get top recruits and it all goes well. Well duh. SU is a losing program but its not because Dino didnt show his face at every top school in NJ

 

[cusefan88]

I only want to say considering the amount of NFL draft picks Rutgers had in Schiano's first go, they never contended for anything. 11-2 and the Texas Bowl. Sure, cool. But I still say he's a solid recruiter and horrendous coach.

 

[Cuse#1]

Regardless of the article I think they will continue to do better each year in New Jersey! Elijah Clarke and Deuce Chestnut are making a huge impact and obviously kids in New Jersey say that and we got the New Jersey player of the year so we're going to see what he can do and you know for example that kid that went to Stanford that could we need came here so you know schiano's going to be a s*** in his pants LOL. National Championship my ass lol I can't believe he actually had the audacity to say that

 

[TheCusian]

Consistency is the only way to build a brand where you can recruit consistently.

In the past we’d be hamstrung by the circular nature of that problem. With the portal, NIL, ACC money and a smart AD we can jumpstart things a bit - but it’s going to take some vision and probably a bit of luck.

 

[TexanMark]

This was not about one player, it was about Syracuse having shortcomings in its recruitment of New Jersey players. It was also about the head coach at Syracuse not even meeting many top New Jersey head coaches. Syracuse certainly could have responded to those comments. If they are true though then how could they respond it says a lot that they did not.

I agree somewhat but you only have so many hours in the day. You have to prioritize.

 

[ottodaorange]

I was disappointed in this article, especially since it was written by a Syracuse student, presumably a student in Newhouse. There seems to be an epidemic of corporate journalism these days. How many people know that the news you hear by the talking heads on TV has been laundered by their corporate owners? Who? Well, CBS is owned by Viacom, all of the NBCs are owned by Comcast, all of the Foxes are owned by one man, Rupert Murdock, ABC is owned by Disney, and CNN is owned by AT&T/Warner Media.

Personally, I get my news from investigative reporting without an agenda. I prefer honest reporting without the reporter more interested in their recognition or self-interests. My impression is this was written by a kid that's trying to make a name for himself without concern for the truth or who he may harm. It makes me wonder what is going on in Newhouse these days.

 

[crales44]

Well everyone worked up about this article will be happy to know that Coach Grant finally got to meet Dino. Don't we all love happy endings?

 

[IthacaMatt]

"Syracuse never called."

A couple of these comments toward the end truly surprise me, like the HS coaches of players on our team that apparently have never met Babers.

I have to imagine this is getting buzzed around.

'SYRACUSE NEVER CAME': Inside the Orange’s recruiting missteps in New Jersey

Syracuse hasn’t secured a top-five player in the state of New Jersey since Dino Babers took over as head coach in 2016.

dailyorange.com

 

[orangenauburn]

"Syracuse never called."

A couple of these comments toward the end truly surprise me, like the HS coaches of players on our team that apparently have never met Babers.

I have to imagine this is getting buzzed around.

'SYRACUSE NEVER CAME': Inside the Orange’s recruiting missteps in New Jersey

Syracuse hasn’t secured a top-five player in the state of New Jersey since Dino Babers took over as head coach in 2016.

dailyorange.com

So how did we land the player if we never met the coach?

Doesn't seem plausible

 

[JKinPhilly]

"Syracuse never called."

A couple of these comments toward the end truly surprise me, like the HS coaches of players on our team that apparently have never met Babers.

I have to imagine this is getting buzzed around.

'SYRACUSE NEVER CAME': Inside the Orange’s recruiting missteps in New Jersey

Syracuse hasn’t secured a top-five player in the state of New Jersey since Dino Babers took over as head coach in 2016.

dailyorange.com

or maybe a couple coaches just butt hurt their players made a decision on their own without them being able to steer that player certain directions.

 

[SuFTW]

This was not about one player, it was about Syracuse having shortcomings in its recruitment of New Jersey players. It was also about the head coach at Syracuse not even meeting many top New Jersey head coaches. Syracuse certainly could have responded to those comments. If they are true though then how could they respond it says a lot that they did not.

It says absolutely nothing that they did not respond. It’s not a criminal or federal investigation.

 

[IthacaMatt]

So how did we land the player if we never met the coach?

Doesn't seem plausible

*Two* NJ HS coaches said so in that article. I was similarly flabbergasted.

 

[IthacaMatt]

or maybe a couple coaches just butt hurt their players made a decision on their own without them being able to steer that player certain directions.

Very possible, but giving that kind of interview to the SU student newspaper, I think it was, almost guarantees he won't be coming back anytime soon.