toughest schools to recruit at

[Crusty]

Maybe things would have played out differently if the team continued to win and generate revenue?

Sooner or later the failure to invest in the program would have caught up with us, I think.

 

[Lou_C]

Everybody recruits Florida (and Georgia) and many schools pull great talent out of Florida every year. Clemson is about 8 hours from Tampa and yet, Clemson would not be Clemson without its Florida talent. The same is true for many ACC schools, including North Carolina, Louisville and Duke. - all more distant than even Clemson.

This statement is simply silly. "That's why when anything less than an Ohio State level program pulls a kid out of the south, he might be a nice player, but he's rarely one the local school have made a priority.

While there may be some hyperbole there, but I stand by it generally. All those list of schools you mentioned are all in the South. It's very tough for a northern school, excepting a few helmet programs, to pull a kid out of the South that the local southern schools want.

That's not to say there isn't enough talent even NOT wanted by the Florida or SEC schools to build strong teams. Right now all the Florida schools, UGA, Alabama, LSU are all running pro style offense for example. There are plenty of undersized lineman, speedy but light receivers, etc that don't have very high interest, and are still fantastic talents. But they're still going to travel past a lot of closer programs before they get to Syracuse.

Basically, nothing you are saying does much to say why Syracuse still isn't a very tough place to recruit to compared to other programs. Are there really that many schools ranked ahead of Syracuse for which you would say should be considered tougher to recruit to than Syracuse?

It's not that you can't, it's just that it's just tougher right now compared to most other places. Most of the paths to success, including yours, are good ones.

 

[Crusty]

While there may be some hyperbole there, but I stand by it generally. All those list of schools you mentioned are all in the South. It's very tough for a northern school, excepting a few helmet programs, to pull a kid out of the South that the local southern schools want.

That's not to say there isn't enough talent even NOT wanted by the Florida or SEC schools to build strong teams. Right now all the Florida schools, UGA, Alabama, LSU are all running pro style offense for example. There are plenty of undersized lineman, speedy but light receivers, etc that don't have very high interest, and are still fantastic talents. But they're still going to travel past a lot of closer programs before they get to Syracuse.

Basically, nothing you are saying does much to say why Syracuse still isn't a very tough place to recruit to compared to other programs. Are there really that many schools ranked ahead of Syracuse for which you would say should be considered tougher to recruit to than Syracuse?

It's not that you can't, it's just that it's just tougher right now compared to most other places. Most of the paths to success, including yours, are good ones.

So, now it is no longer a drive time issue, but rather the South.
Winning is the single most important factor in recruiting. Yes, there is a bit of a chicken and egg issue. but good coaching solves that in a big hurry.

Texas is as good a recruiting area as Florida and look what is happening there. Baylor, TCU and Houston are ascending and Texas is mired in mediocrity. Great facilities, great fan base, great tradition, great recruiting, but poor coaching and admin.

Programs tend to be elite because they have elite coaching staffs.