What sparked this discussion this morning was the Miami hire of Josh Gattis. Every fan base always spins every hire to be a Home Run hire. Every new coach is always better than the last coach etc.. We definitely have been there as well as a fan base. So my question to you this morning is, I will give you my answer as well, what truly makes a recruiter a "Recruiter?" And this is more than just looking at the 247 "commit list" because we all know that coaches get credit for kids they didn't recruit all the time. Is what makes the recruiter more of what the school has to offer or "process" itself what makes the recruiter or is it just the characteristics of the person who make the recruiter (personality etc..)?
You look at Josh Gattis' career as a coach and the stops that he has made. He was at Penn State, with a coach that is known as a recruiter. In a location where Penn State is a big name and has a big pull in the states that produce talent around there (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware & the DMV). Then he ends up at Alabama for 1 year and I think anyone on this board can recruit at Alabama and land on a top recruiter list. As we have seen, it doesn't matter what coach goes through Alabama, their recruiting never skips a beat. From Billy Napier to Josh Gattis and now Holmon Wiggins, their recruiting has not seen any speed bumps. Michigan is another place where kids of the region grow up dreaming about attending. They also have a big pull in those Northeastern states as well as in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio etc..
Now Gattis goes to Miami. Will he recruit decent? Sure because he has learned the time and effort it takes to recruit. But will he recruit at the same level he did at Penn State, Michigan or Bama. Probably not. The reason being is Miami is not set up to recruit at the same levels as the previous schools he was at. Recruits in Florida are the least loyal to the instate schools, as we all know. Florida is one of, if not the heaviest recruited state in the country. All the top recruiting schools spend much more time in our state than they do up in the states near Penn State & Michigan. The biggest thing that will continue to hurt Miami is their lack of facilities. The same thing that has continued to plague us here at Florida. Schools like Bama, TAMU, Georgia etc have these crazy 100+ million dollar football facilities for these kids to tour and Miami has none of that. Finally in 2022, Florida is getting that football facility. Good luck recruiting against Florida for in state kids once that facility is open. Our UOV lists when the facility opens will be loaded this fall.
This is no slight to Josh Gattis either. I think Miami lucked out with a good up and coming coach who will end up getting his shot as a HC soon. I think Gattis looked for an opportunity to bounce with the uncertainty of Harbaugh looking at the NFL every year (just like Brian Johnson bounced on Mullen).
Long story short, I believe the infrastructure in place (process) and what the school has to offer (resources) are what put the strength behind the recruiter as oppose to just the recruiter as themselves. This is why I'm excited with the Billy hire. We got the HC who has finally got the infrastructure in place to run the process here at Florida. You combine this with the timing of the new Football facility being built and the 2023/2024 classes can be special.
Interested to hear what everyone else thinks. Go Gators!
You look at Josh Gattis' career as a coach and the stops that he has made. He was at Penn State, with a coach that is known as a recruiter. In a location where Penn State is a big name and has a big pull in the states that produce talent around there (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware & the DMV). Then he ends up at Alabama for 1 year and I think anyone on this board can recruit at Alabama and land on a top recruiter list. As we have seen, it doesn't matter what coach goes through Alabama, their recruiting never skips a beat. From Billy Napier to Josh Gattis and now Holmon Wiggins, their recruiting has not seen any speed bumps. Michigan is another place where kids of the region grow up dreaming about attending. They also have a big pull in those Northeastern states as well as in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio etc..
Now Gattis goes to Miami. Will he recruit decent? Sure because he has learned the time and effort it takes to recruit. But will he recruit at the same level he did at Penn State, Michigan or Bama. Probably not. The reason being is Miami is not set up to recruit at the same levels as the previous schools he was at. Recruits in Florida are the least loyal to the instate schools, as we all know. Florida is one of, if not the heaviest recruited state in the country. All the top recruiting schools spend much more time in our state than they do up in the states near Penn State & Michigan. The biggest thing that will continue to hurt Miami is their lack of facilities. The same thing that has continued to plague us here at Florida. Schools like Bama, TAMU, Georgia etc have these crazy 100+ million dollar football facilities for these kids to tour and Miami has none of that. Finally in 2022, Florida is getting that football facility. Good luck recruiting against Florida for in state kids once that facility is open. Our UOV lists when the facility opens will be loaded this fall.
This is no slight to Josh Gattis either. I think Miami lucked out with a good up and coming coach who will end up getting his shot as a HC soon. I think Gattis looked for an opportunity to bounce with the uncertainty of Harbaugh looking at the NFL every year (just like Brian Johnson bounced on Mullen).
Long story short, I believe the infrastructure in place (process) and what the school has to offer (resources) are what put the strength behind the recruiter as oppose to just the recruiter as themselves. This is why I'm excited with the Billy hire. We got the HC who has finally got the infrastructure in place to run the process here at Florida. You combine this with the timing of the new Football facility being built and the 2023/2024 classes can be special.
Interested to hear what everyone else thinks. Go Gators!
