I think what matters most to recruiting, aside from NIL $, is ability to win NOW (especially in the transfer portal era where guys are looking for 1-2 year stints). No one will be looking at results from 8 years ago at Minnesota with a completely different team and program. That won’t even enter into any recruit’s head. They will look at the NIL package, and then they will look at roster construction and their ability to win next year. By the same token, relationships with “insiders” (shoe people, recruiting people) really don’t factor into the equation when you’re recruiting to a new program and nobody cares what level you reached as a player. Unfortunately, it reminds me of the same rationalizations we made when Kenny Payne was hired. Hopefully I’m just scarred and it works out for you. If you are happy about it, who am I to say it won’t work.
If this were the case, why did Steve Pikiell land two top 5 picks in his eighth year after going 15-17? Why did GG Jackson go to South Carolina after UNC lost in the finals? Penny Hardaway, Tommy Lloyd, and Juwan Howard had an immediate impact in recruiting without prior head coaching experience.
Why does ND have a top 5 class despite being below .500; a recruiting class better than both of the HC’s classes at Penn State. A former career assistant at Syracuse has put together a strong class. He landed an alum’s son, Kiyan Anthony, unlike Tommy Lloyd who lost Alijah Arenas to USC due to a number of factors — one being that Musselman coached Gilbert in the NBA i.e. a RELATIONSHIP w/ a father of a recruit. Gee i wonder if any of the blue chip players in the next fifteen years will have relationships with Lucas, his brother or his father …. …. .. .
Why doesn’t Kelvin Sampson have a top five class every year? Why did Leonard Hamilton’s recruiting fall off right after he had ten players drafted in 6 years, including a trio of high lottery picks & 4 strong winning seasons?
I think Wes Miller is also a good Xs and Os coach, but I see no reason why Shon Abaev, a kid in our backyard, would look at Cincinnati’s three, soon to be four, seasons of not making the tournament & think he can win there & get developed better for the league compared to Auburn, Syracuse or USC. Those schools/coaches have put more players in the league than Wes Miller has. Obviously Wes Miller COMMUNICATED something that the other coaches/programs did not. He is the first top 30 recruit Miller has ever landed.
Kentucky presumably didn’t lessen their NIL budget under a new alum coach, but despite Mark Pope’s winning record he’s hasn’t gotten any top ten players like Cal. Additionally, BYU pulled the top prospect in the country after hiring a 1st time head coach. Kevin Young has the four highest bball commits per the 247 database (in BYU’s history) despite Pope finishing top 5 in his conference five years in a row.
Try to reduce it all you want, it’s not as simple as that and every year there are different blue chips in different locations with their own mindsets.
So far the logic for hiring Richard Pitino is that he would recruit well at Miami, despite not recruiting well at Minnesota, he would build a sustainable program at Miami, despite not doing the same at Minnesota, and his hot streak this season is a sign of sustainability to come, despite his up and down tenure at Minnesota. While he is a good Xs and Os coach (like many others), his family pedigree — much like Lucas’ own — is the own reason why we are having this discussion.
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