Ash's Recruiting Strategy

[RUhobbit]

I love it. I've seen some pretty inane takes on it, so I wanted to add my two cents:

I'm looking at his strategy from my perspective as a business exec:

1) I believe those who extrapolate the new recruits that Ash has brought in to future years to say that he's not getting B1G-quality recruits (because of their other offers being Temple, UConn, etc, 2/3*'s etc) are missing the big picture.
2) I believe that Ash has picked a strategy (strategies are the art of making choices and what you won't do) of focusing his energies on the kids that have the highest chance of being able to poached. A kid who has been wooed for years and has a secure spot at PSU, Michigan, OSU, etc is a longshot to flip. Instead, Ash appears to be trying to focus his limited resources (namely: time) on picking the best of the bunch that are headed to lower-profile schools.
3) I believe that for the 17 class forward, Ash will be going head to head for kids with offers from the big programs and hopefully snag a handful of them. This is what's he's said (trying to build a program in the frame of Wisconsin, Michigan State, etc).

The sky isn't falling. In fact, I'm so excited to have a system coach, one who appears to be snagging some quality players this late in the game, and am optimistic for what he can do S&C and play-calling wise. As the season goes on we can see how well this plays with the studs of the next class.

Am loving the Ash Era.

 

[jmc11201]

I generally agree that he is trying to use his time as wisely as possible and if you notice that some of the guys he is going after have previous ties to the new staff (Burnham, Busch, Blazek, etc.)...so guys they don't have to totally establish new relationships with.

It is my general belief that once you get past the Top 150 or so kids in the country, it is all very much a crap-shoot. You get most of these guys together and the difference in talent isn't so significant that good coaching and good strength and conditioning can't level out the playing field.

If Ash wants to compete at the upper echelon of our division, he will have to figure out a way to get those top players, but he can put together a class this year that allows the program to not go backwards...and that is what I think he is doing.