of a teenage football recruit.
http://picksixpreviews.com/how_to_win_in_recruiting.html
http://picksixpreviews.com/how_to_win_in_recruiting.html
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Overall, an interesting idea.
Need the detail of the research in order to truly appreciate or comment on the book/article.
Was every recruit surveyed? If not, what determined who was and wasn’t surveyed and does that skew results?
If you filter by variables like HS GPA or admittance scoring qualifiers, do results change some?
Do some schools intentionally avoid certain recruits for those types of reasons?
I think character of recruit is generally undervalued by some programs and it bites them in the end.
Does this research filter that in any way? That’s not possible - but it’s an interesting consideration if it were. Maybe prior arrest?
Northwestern, among others, has done a good job of recruiting character athletes and purposely meeting and recruiting immediate or near immediate family members of the recruit.
If it were possible to filter the survey for above average character and grades, would results differ? Maybe? I don’t know.
How is any of this relevant? IMO, Coach Allen is recruiting for character. It seems to be a major consideration. I believe that, combined with a firm, honest and supportive coaching approach, state of the art strength and conditioning and soon to be best in class rehab facilities will result in more recruits from each class contributing, on average, compared to most programs.
I recall a post, maybe by Mac, suggesting ~ 50% of a typical college recruiting class will truly contribute in meaningful ways. Some wash out, don’t qualify, are suspended or invited to leave due to behavioral issues, etc
So - program X is ranked 15th in recruiting and has several 4 stars, maybe a 5, and high level 3’s across the board to fill out. But several are suspect character and several are borderline on grades.
Let’s suppose Indiana and program X bring in 24 recruits each year. It is my opinion that Indians newer recruiting approach, coaching style, S&C program and soon to be state of the art rehab program will result in 3-5 MORE athletes making meaningful contributions to the team, each year. That compared to a typical “program x”.
So in a class of 24, instead of 12 contributing in meaningful ways, we have 15-17.
That’s 3-5 more per year or 9 on the low end and up to 15 more experienced/veteran players that are RS Jr, Jr and Srs per team per year. That does not factor another 6-10 underclassman per team that may also be able to contribute in meaningful ways.
In 2-3 years, if we have 9-15 MORE veteran/experienced bodies to call on that are seasoned and play as a TEAM compared to the opposite sidelines, I think our potential to win increases.
That’s a winding long way to say - I LOVE what IU Football and Coach Allen have going on right now. Perhaps especially with recruiting. Embrace strengths we have.
I look forward to watching continued improvements and beating the program X’s in the seasons ahead.
I agree with your point and will add that it depends in large part on the support system and environment as to whether or not you should recruit character. If you’re a coach or program that is biased and can’t support a kid with issues (think Northwestern) by all means please do not recruit a kid with character concerns. If you’re on the opposite side of the spectrum (think Baylor) and are negligent, then REALLY DO NOT recruit a kid with character concerns.Overall, an interesting idea.
Need the detail of the research in order to truly appreciate or comment on the book/article.
Was every recruit surveyed? If not, what determined who was and wasn’t surveyed and does that skew results?
If you filter by variables like HS GPA or admittance scoring qualifiers, do results change some?
Do some schools intentionally avoid certain recruits for those types of reasons?
I think character of recruit is generally undervalued by some programs and it bites them in the end.
Does this research filter that in any way? That’s not possible - but it’s an interesting consideration if it were. Maybe prior arrest?
Northwestern, among others, has done a good job of recruiting character athletes and purposely meeting and recruiting immediate or near immediate family members of the recruit.
If it were possible to filter the survey for above average character and grades, would results differ? Maybe? I don’t know.
How is any of this relevant? IMO, Coach Allen is recruiting for character. It seems to be a major consideration. I believe that, combined with a firm, honest and supportive coaching approach, state of the art strength and conditioning and soon to be best in class rehab facilities will result in more recruits from each class contributing, on average, compared to most programs.
I recall a post, maybe by Mac, suggesting ~ 50% of a typical college recruiting class will truly contribute in meaningful ways. Some wash out, don’t qualify, are suspended or invited to leave due to behavioral issues, etc
So - program X is ranked 15th in recruiting and has several 4 stars, maybe a 5, and high level 3’s across the board to fill out. But several are suspect character and several are borderline on grades.
Let’s suppose Indiana and program X bring in 24 recruits each year. It is my opinion that Indians newer recruiting approach, coaching style, S&C program and soon to be state of the art rehab program will result in 3-5 MORE athletes making meaningful contributions to the team, each year. That compared to a typical “program x”.
So in a class of 24, instead of 12 contributing in meaningful ways, we have 15-17.
That’s 3-5 more per year or 9 on the low end and up to 15 more experienced/veteran players that are RS Jr, Jr and Srs per team per year. That does not factor another 6-10 underclassman per team that may also be able to contribute in meaningful ways.
In 2-3 years, if we have 9-15 MORE veteran/experienced bodies to call on that are seasoned and play as a TEAM compared to the opposite sidelines, I think our potential to win increases.
That’s a winding long way to say - I LOVE what IU Football and Coach Allen have going on right now. Perhaps especially with recruiting. Embrace strengths we have.
I look forward to watching continued improvements and beating the program X’s in the seasons ahead.
Agree with this. I really liked the way CTA was talking to the kids about what kind of man and future father they would develop into at IU. That it is more than about football. I can’t remember who it was but one of the new kids mentioned that as why IU stood out. That could be a pretty good branding approach.Branding at IU will be interesting under Allen. I agree with the article in terms of everyone needing a brand. No matter what you’re doing you need a Brand. Allen’s Brand I believe will be brotherhood and connection. He always speaks of love and family, and you don’t see that at every program to the extent that he preaches it. I’d love to see more of the Brand Wilson brought out which was “We are the state school, we need to win the state.” Initially that worked and got guys like Kennedy, Allen, Latham, and Booth in. I really think that’s part of every schools brand (location), and it’s made easy since the name of the school is “Indiana University”. Guys from Florida night call it “The University of Indiana” because part of their evaluation has nothing to do with location. They simply have no emotional connection to the state, so you’ll have to market to them in other ways (which Allen is, and is doing very well), but to get the kids in state, an emphasis on being the state school can go a long way. In my short life I’ve only really seen Wilson do that kind of branding, and it actually made me want to go to Indiana and not Ball State or Purdue or anywhere else if I was going to stay in state.
Academics to me aren’t a strong appeal. You can get a degree anywhere, and the level of academics have generally declined. If a school makes an extreme effort to push academics, then it can go into the branding (Studies show Northwestern kids have better results because they’re surrounded by other kids who push them to higher results, not the resources). If Allen’s things becomes we will surround you with other people who want to be successful, that can go a long way in branding. As I noted, it’s pretty shocking some studies, but they show it’s not the school, but who you’re surrounded with that predicts results. You can definitely push a brand that you’ll surround kids with likeminded kids who will push them academically (positive peer pressure) and tutors (teach kids how to learn) and that alone can help IU compete with Stanford or Northwestern or Harvard.
Lastly, my branding as an IU grad would be competing. A workmans Brand. You’ll come in, improve, achieved excellence, and have the opportunity to win a title and compete on sundays. Harbaugh had a similar brand and Stanford. He even used to wear a factory outfit around with a name tag haha. But the blue colar brand will get you hardworking kids and kids want that in a program. Allen seems to be pushing that with his intensity, and it’s an underrated form of branding. People want to play for that. They want to be pushed. They want to be molded into men. Allen is doing that right now, which confirms to me why he was chosen to take over.