Riley vs. Harbaugh Recruiting: A Parent Chimes In

[BigRedBuster]

I think I am more pissed at the school for letting Harbaugh sit in classes. If I am a parent of a recruited kid, I would be all over the principal, the teacher, and the coaches for allowing a guy to come in and disrupt the day.

I wouldn't as the parent. I would be excited for my kid and the memorable day they're going to have. As the teacher I'd make it a lesson on paying attention even when there are incredibly distracting things going on.

I'd by more pissed as a parent of another kid in the class.

I don't think one day of excitement in high school for my kid would really bother me but I don't have kids. I just know when Osborne came to my school it was amazing. If he would have sat in on a class I would've died of happiness and it would've been a nice break in the day. Honestly I probably would've tried to impress him by looking studious, heh.

Now put that into one of these schools that have multiple highly recruited players. Is it fine now if every P5 coach that wants a player now to go sit in in classes and cause a disturbance?

Fine...TO came to your school once. That's totally different than some of these schools that have coaches visiting constantly.

 

[lo country]

So a guy who does what ever it takes has the #3 recruiting class in the country and thats a bad thing? If a HC at NU did that we'd think it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Parents don't like it? I guarantee if Michicken wants them (their kids) other schools do as well.........

Who cares. Winning is the best thing we can do to help recruiting IMO.

Tell me you forgot the sarcasm emoji. Doing whatever it takes to get a high ranking? Well, hell, just break out the cash and chicks and call us SMU.

Whats he done that's illegal? No different than Franklin and his satellite camps. IIRC, Harbaugh is trying to have part of Michigan's spring camp at IMG academy in Florida.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/1/10/10747118/jim-harbaugh-michigan-spring-practice-img-academy-florida-satellite-camps

No different than "McShane owning twitter". No different than Oregon and their different uniforms each week. In this day and age, coaches are doing everything to bridge the gap with the kids (18 year olds) and connect.

He is doing whatever it takes to relate to the kids. I haven't heard anything illegal, immoral or dishonest.

I stand by my original comments that if NU was doing this, and we had a top 3 class, I can't imagine any complaining.

I never mentioned "illegal" and neither did you in the post I responded to. My concern remains with the concept that Nebraska would stoop to the borderline unethical things Harbaugh has done (spending the night at a kid's home so he can wake up there in the morning. Is that one official visit, or it is two? But in the larger sense I would rather lose than adopt this mentality to recruiting at Nebraska: "...So a guy who does what ever it takes has the #3 recruiting class in the country and thats a bad thing?"

Ya, that's a bad thing.

Not IMO. He doesn't do anything unethical or shady who cares if he looks like an a$$ clown doing it. You can't argue with his results. He is going toe to toe with Urban for the #1 recruit class in the B1G. Think things are hard to recruit now? Wait until it becomes a 3 horse race year in and year at with MSU, OSU and Michigan.

We complain about lack of talent. About getting the pipe line back. About depth. Getting the difference makers. Guess what. JH is. In year 2. After going 10-3 without his guys, with a Iowa transfer at QB and like NU and its last 2nd miscues, was a fluke play away from being 11-2 (MSU).

We want to win. We need to get more stars. Thats plain and simple. The coach em up philosophy is great. If you have some elite talent around them. We have had 1 OL all conference in like the past 10 years IIRC. Thats not getting it done. TO's class ranking. Who cares. We had partial qualifiers, much larger schoolies available. Oh and we were in the hunt year in and year out for the conference at a minimum. And the MNC every few years.... AND THE GREATEST COACH TO EVER COACH THE GAME. Not to mention, elite S&C program, all world facilities and an offensive and defensive identity. Not to mention a staff that was as adapt at in game transitions as they were to whole scale schematic changes.

To add, look at Dabo at Clemson. He whips, he dabs, he has a pizza party for the whole university. The kids and parents seem to love "it" and him. They seem to be doing pretty well on the recruiting trail as well. Oh, and they are also winning. A lot.

Bottom line, we can agree to disagree.

 

[Spooky Tooth]

So a guy who does what ever it takes has the #3 recruiting class in the country and thats a bad thing? If a HC at NU did that we'd think it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Parents don't like it? I guarantee if Michicken wants them (their kids) other schools do as well.........

Who cares. Winning is the best thing we can do to help recruiting IMO.

Tell me you forgot the sarcasm emoji. Doing whatever it takes to get a high ranking? Well, hell, just break out the cash and chicks and call us SMU.

Whats he done that's illegal? No different than Franklin and his satellite camps. IIRC, Harbaugh is trying to have part of Michigan's spring camp at IMG academy in Florida.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/1/10/10747118/jim-harbaugh-michigan-spring-practice-img-academy-florida-satellite-camps

No different than "McShane owning twitter". No different than Oregon and their different uniforms each week. In this day and age, coaches are doing everything to bridge the gap with the kids (18 year olds) and connect.

He is doing whatever it takes to relate to the kids. I haven't heard anything illegal, immoral or dishonest.

I stand by my original comments that if NU was doing this, and we had a top 3 class, I can't imagine any complaining.

I never mentioned "illegal" and neither did you in the post I responded to. My concern remains with the concept that Nebraska would stoop to the borderline unethical things Harbaugh has done (spending the night at a kid's home so he can wake up there in the morning. Is that one official visit, or it is two? But in the larger sense I would rather lose than adopt this mentality to recruiting at Nebraska: "...So a guy who does what ever it takes has the #3 recruiting class in the country and thats a bad thing?"

Ya, that's a bad thing.

Not IMO. He doesn't do anything unethical or shady who cares if he looks like an a$$ clown doing it. You can't argue with his results. He is going toe to toe with Urban for the #1 recruit class in the B1G. Think things are hard to recruit now? Wait until it becomes a 3 horse race year in and year at with MSU, OSU and Michigan.

We complain about lack of talent. About getting the pipe line back. About depth. Getting the difference makers. Guess what. JH is. In year 2. After going 10-3 without his guys, with a Iowa transfer at QB and like NU and its last 2nd miscues, was a fluke play away from being 11-2 (MSU).

We want to win. We need to get more stars. Thats plain and simple. The coach em up philosophy is great. If you have some elite talent around them. We have had 1 OL all conference in like the past 10 years IIRC. Thats not getting it done. TO's class ranking. Who cares. We had partial qualifiers, much larger schoolies available. Oh and we were in the hunt year in and year out for the conference at a minimum. And the MNC every few years.... AND THE GREATEST COACH TO EVER COACH THE GAME. Not to mention, elite S&C program, all world facilities and an offensive and defensive identity. Not to mention a staff that was as adapt at in game transitions as they were to whole scale schematic changes.

To add, look at Dabo at Clemson. He whips, he dabs, he has a pizza party for the whole university. The kids and parents seem to love "it" and him. They seem to be doing pretty well on the recruiting trail as well. Oh, and they are also winning. A lot.

Bottom line, we can agree to disagree.

The number of articles pounding Harbaugh's recruiting tactics increase daily and now include some writers who cover MU. I really can't understand why you can't see the guy is a ticking time bomb. He craps himself most places he goes. Can I argue with his results? Yah, but that's just me. How about the kids who have been committed to MU for a long time who have been cut loose two weeks before NSD? Yeah, sign good old NU up for that.

And as for Harbaugh going 10-3 with kids he didn't recruit? How about apples to apples?

(SOURCE: Rivals) https://rivals.yahoo.com/michigan/football/recruiting/teamrank/2013/all/all

Team Recruiting Rankings MU NU

2011 21 15

2012 7 25

2013 5 17

2014 31 32

MU beat NU every year that Hoke recruited and that is what Harbaugh and Riley inherited. If you go back to2011 it's the same thing. How in the hell anyone can lay this at Riley's doorstep is beyond me other than a pathological hatred of Riley and his staff. And as for Sweeny, he and Pelini were hired the same years. Look what Sweeny did with recruits and look what Pelini left Riley. And I don't think Sweeny had to deal with a poisoned atmosphere when he showed up......Riley did.

My bottom line is I do not want to win at any cost. Anyone who does sure does not NU tradition.

 

[Saunders]

MU is Missouri. Michigan is UM.

 

[skersfan]

We got rid of the largest cost we have ever had. More destruction to this program on the National scene than anything Harbaugh or Riley could do wrong Riley inherited a festering, hating program. Harbaugh came home. Really no comparing the two at this point.

To me Harbaugh is just another Pelini with a better personality. I would never want him on Nebraska's sideline for any reason. A giant Ahole at best.

 

[lo country]

So a guy who does what ever it takes has the #3 recruiting class in the country and thats a bad thing? If a HC at NU did that we'd think it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Parents don't like it? I guarantee if Michicken wants them (their kids) other schools do as well.........

Who cares. Winning is the best thing we can do to help recruiting IMO.

Tell me you forgot the sarcasm emoji. Doing whatever it takes to get a high ranking? Well, hell, just break out the cash and chicks and call us SMU.

Whats he done that's illegal? No different than Franklin and his satellite camps. IIRC, Harbaugh is trying to have part of Michigan's spring camp at IMG academy in Florida.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/1/10/10747118/jim-harbaugh-michigan-spring-practice-img-academy-florida-satellite-camps

No different than "McShane owning twitter". No different than Oregon and their different uniforms each week. In this day and age, coaches are doing everything to bridge the gap with the kids (18 year olds) and connect.

He is doing whatever it takes to relate to the kids. I haven't heard anything illegal, immoral or dishonest.

I stand by my original comments that if NU was doing this, and we had a top 3 class, I can't imagine any complaining.

I never mentioned "illegal" and neither did you in the post I responded to. My concern remains with the concept that Nebraska would stoop to the borderline unethical things Harbaugh has done (spending the night at a kid's home so he can wake up there in the morning. Is that one official visit, or it is two? But in the larger sense I would rather lose than adopt this mentality to recruiting at Nebraska: "...So a guy who does what ever it takes has the #3 recruiting class in the country and thats a bad thing?"

Ya, that's a bad thing.

Not IMO. He doesn't do anything unethical or shady who cares if he looks like an a$$ clown doing it. You can't argue with his results. He is going toe to toe with Urban for the #1 recruit class in the B1G. Think things are hard to recruit now? Wait until it becomes a 3 horse race year in and year at with MSU, OSU and Michigan.

We complain about lack of talent. About getting the pipe line back. About depth. Getting the difference makers. Guess what. JH is. In year 2. After going 10-3 without his guys, with a Iowa transfer at QB and like NU and its last 2nd miscues, was a fluke play away from being 11-2 (MSU).

We want to win. We need to get more stars. Thats plain and simple. The coach em up philosophy is great. If you have some elite talent around them. We have had 1 OL all conference in like the past 10 years IIRC. Thats not getting it done. TO's class ranking. Who cares. We had partial qualifiers, much larger schoolies available. Oh and we were in the hunt year in and year out for the conference at a minimum. And the MNC every few years.... AND THE GREATEST COACH TO EVER COACH THE GAME. Not to mention, elite S&C program, all world facilities and an offensive and defensive identity. Not to mention a staff that was as adapt at in game transitions as they were to whole scale schematic changes.

To add, look at Dabo at Clemson. He whips, he dabs, he has a pizza party for the whole university. The kids and parents seem to love "it" and him. They seem to be doing pretty well on the recruiting trail as well. Oh, and they are also winning. A lot.

Bottom line, we can agree to disagree.

The number of articles pounding Harbaugh's recruiting tactics increase daily and now include some writers who cover MU. I really can't understand why you can't see the guy is a ticking time bomb. He craps himself most places he goes. Can I argue with his results? Yah, but that's just me. How about the kids who have been committed to MU for a long time who have been cut loose two weeks before NSD? Yeah, sign good old NU up for that.

And as for Harbaugh going 10-3 with kids he didn't recruit? How about apples to apples?

(SOURCE: Rivals) https://rivals.yahoo.com/michigan/football/recruiting/teamrank/2013/all/all

Team Recruiting Rankings MU NU

2011 21 15

2012 7 25

2013 5 17

2014 31 32

MU beat NU every year that Hoke recruited and that is what Harbaugh and Riley inherited. If you go back to2011 it's the same thing. How in the hell anyone can lay this at Riley's doorstep is beyond me other than a pathological hatred of Riley and his staff. And as for Sweeny, he and Pelini were hired the same years. Look what Sweeny did with recruits and look what Pelini left Riley. And I don't think Sweeny had to deal with a poisoned atmosphere when he showed up......Riley did.

My bottom line is I do not want to win at any cost. Anyone who does sure does not NU tradition.

I have never said "win at any cost". I have been a NU fan for about 40 years. I know the Husker tradition. In a word. Winning. The whole "not a fan", "doesn't know the NU way" etc grows tired because of disagreements.

My posts aren't Reilly bashing. Just comparing what was in the OP. Simply stating what every poster on this board has said. To win, we need to get better recruiting classes. JH to date, is recruiting better than Reilly. Is it tradition, facilities, name cache or his crazy antics? Who knows. Maybe he is relational, relentless and motivates the kids?

I never said JH isn't a ticking time bomb. Never said he wasn't an a$$ clown. Never said he wasn't run out of San Fran. Worked with a UM grad. He said JH was rat sh!t crazy. Said he comes off really "weird", but again, for today today its working. As far as offering kids and then taking back the offer, I disagree with that. BUT thats the college way now. No different than a kid getting a better offer and bolting. How many decimates has NU had? The cold hard reality is college football is a multi million dollar industry. Coaches are paid millions to win. Not keep non binding contracts.. I don't believe in over signing. I believe that if you offer a kid, barring his decommit he gets a schollie. Here is a good article about our misses and finding the diamonds in the rough.

http://www.omaha.com/huskers/blogs/recruiting-five-hearts-two-stars-do-sleepers-and-rough-diamonds/article_cc1351c0-c3f4-11e5-a208-ef379a01dc39.html

"The four and five-star guys, you just expect some of them to leave or get fed up with the depth chart or whatever. A guy like Aaron Green, who had a great career at TCU after he transferred? Not a surprise. Because Green doesn't leave unless Ameer Abdullah's just that good, which he was. But when sleepers leave — and then don't transfer to better programs, or just don't play anywhere at all, it kind of confirms that you missed on the evaluation to such an extent that not only could you not develop them, but others couldn't either. And Nebraska clearly began to fall into that pattern."

NU has missed on too many "projects" We can ill afford to continue this trend.

Not defending Bo either. Dabo and him came in the same time. Dabo has coached rings around and out recruited the crap out of Bo.

 

[Enhance]

Did Tom ever have a recruiting class ranked what Riley's is?

His 1990 class, averaged out across the ranking services as that time, was a 28.33. The only data I'm aware of goes back to 1987, but I also haven't searched that hard for years prior to that.

I don't think OZ ever got very highly ranked recruiting classes. ~20th range on average. Rozier was a community college transfer. We were always 2nd fiddle to Barry in the conference in terms of talent and speed. And then it was The U, and FSU, yada yada. NE is a "coach 'em up" school, always has been, always will be. Of course, if we start winning the division on a regular basis and, heaven forbid, the conference every now and then, well, recruiting can't help but get better.

I agree Nebraska needs to put a heavy emphasis on it's coaching because of the lacking recruiting base.

Even at Osborne's height of his dominance, recruiting wasn't consistently ranking in the Top 10. After the '93 season and the loss to FSU, he had a 21st ranked class. He followed that up with two 7th ranked classes in '95 and '96. He then had a 15th ranked class in '97. I mean, that's still incredibly good, but it just goes to show that it's not the same as recruiting in Georgia or Florida.

Nebraska's success has, historically, been based on classes that were not ranked in the Top 10. Pretty much just like you said, floating around the 20 range.

 

[cornographic]

Did Tom ever have a recruiting class ranked what Riley's is?

His 1990 class, averaged out across the ranking services as that time, was a 28.33. The only data I'm aware of goes back to 1987, but I also haven't searched that hard for years prior to that.

I don't think OZ ever got very highly ranked recruiting classes. ~20th range on average. Rozier was a community college transfer. We were always 2nd fiddle to Barry in the conference in terms of talent and speed. And then it was The U, and FSU, yada yada. NE is a "coach 'em up" school, always has been, always will be. Of course, if we start winning the division on a regular basis and, heaven forbid, the conference every now and then, well, recruiting can't help but get better.

I agree Nebraska needs to put a heavy emphasis on it's coaching because of the lacking recruiting base.

Even at Osborne's height of his dominance, recruiting wasn't consistently ranking in the Top 10. After the '93 season and the loss to FSU, he had a 21st ranked class. He followed that up with two 7th ranked classes in '95 and '96. He then had a 15th ranked class in '97. I mean, that's still incredibly good, but it just goes to show that it's not the same as recruiting in Georgia or Florida.

Nebraska's success has, historically, been based on classes that were not ranked in the Top 10. Pretty much just like you said, floating around the 20 range.

These days, the talent concentration in the southern states just seems to be getting more and more, and those players are tending to stay down there. Even OU(currently 30th) is falling behind significantly. Look at how Clemson made them look like slow chumps.

 

[Hammerhead]

Just wanted to chime in and find out if this is a thread for bashing Riley, bashing another Brandon Cavanaugh article, or if you guys want me to change direction and talk about what a terrible person Dirk Chatelain is. I'm sure at least one poster on this board thinks we're long overdue for something like that.

I don't necessarily think it's strictly Harbaugh's recruiting methods doing the trick for Michigan. I think it's as much the fact that A) it's Michigan, which is the winningest college football program there is, and B) they're coached by a guy who did great things at Stanford and took the San Francisco 49ers to three straight NFC Championship games and one Super Bowl. It's probably not too difficult to look past any bizarre behavior on Harbaugh's part when you consider what he's done and who he's coaching for.

 

[RunMickeyRun02]

Just wanted to chime in and find out if this is a thread for bashing Riley, bashing another Brandon Cavanaugh article, or if you guys want me to change direction and talk about what a terrible person Dirk Chatelain is. I'm sure at least one poster on this board thinks we're long overdue for something like that.

I don't necessarily think it's strictly Harbaugh's recruiting methods doing the trick for Michigan. I think it's as much the fact that A) it's Michigan, which is the winningest college football program there is, and B) they're coached by a guy who did great things at Stanford and took the San Francisco 49ers to three straight NFC Championship games and one Super Bowl. It's probably not too difficult to look past any bizarre behavior on Harbaugh's part when you consider what he's done and who he's coaching for.

+1 on the second paragraph.

I was surprised on the Harbaugh side, I was expecting angry, bullying, lock the doors behind you and force you to buy a time share approach or a Callahan style "We're not recruiting anyone from there anymore" after a de-commit. Not climbing trees and selfies. I guess my view of him was a bit askew.

Hammerhead is dead on, a lot more factors involved in recruiting success than just acting silly.

 

[BlueInTheFace]

Look, the bottom line with these de-commit stories is that you get one side of the story. The staff is not allowed to discuss recruits and they probably wouldn't even if they could. Each of these kids are given strict guidelines when they commit about what work they need to put in and what goals they need to accomplish in order to stay committed. The one de-commit who has had negative things to say (Swenson) was a Hoke recruit who the Harbaugh staff never saw in person. They asked him to camp over the summer and he refused. His play over his senior season regressed and he did not meet the goals given to him by the staff. I do wish that instead of dropping hints like the staff was supposedly doing, they would have been a little bit more upfront in the fall. Swenson is going to have plenty of great options to land, but I'd still like to see that communication happen earlier.

I will say this. In the first full recruiting cycle for this staff they did a lot of crazy things (coaching clinics, satellite camps) that caused a lot of splash at first. However, I think the staff was disorganized in its approach and communication with some of these kids. Hopefully that improves going forward.

Also, all of you who think Harbaugh is gone after 2-4 years are delusional. It's wishful thinking and he's not leaving (if he ever does) until he's built something great.

 

[BigRedBuster]

Wouldn't expect anything else from a Michigan fan.

 

[Comish]

Look, the bottom line with these de-commit stories is that you get one side of the story. The staff is not allowed to discuss recruits and they probably wouldn't even if they could. Each of these kids are given strict guidelines when they commit about what work they need to put in and what goals they need to accomplish in order to stay committed. The one de-commit who has had negative things to say (Swenson) was a Hoke recruit who the Harbaugh staff never saw in person. They asked him to camp over the summer and he refused. His play over his senior season regressed and he did not meet the goals given to him by the staff. I do wish that instead of dropping hints like the staff was supposedly doing, they would have been a little bit more upfront in the fall. Swenson is going to have plenty of great options to land, but I'd still like to see that communication happen earlier.

I will say this. In the first full recruiting cycle for this staff they did a lot of crazy things (coaching clinics, satellite camps) that caused a lot of splash at first. However, I think the staff was disorganized in its approach and communication with some of these kids. Hopefully that improves going forward.

Also, all of you who think Harbaugh is gone after 2-4 years are delusional. It's wishful thinking and he's not leaving (if he ever does) until he's built something great.

I think this is a very reasonable post and you articulated it well.

How do you respond to those who believe that Harbaugh will move on.........simply because he wears out his welcome................??

(I have no opinion on this, but would like you to respond with more than... those who think this are........."delusional"...)

 

[cornographic]

 

[Saunders]

Wouldn't expect anything else from a Michigan fan.

What he said isn't really wrong. Mandel and Feldman talked about it on one of the Fox Sports podcasts.