I'm just gonna keep it 100 and tell you like this... (even if it makes me sound like a d!ck)
A lot of y'all don't know WTF you're talking about. Y'all be so deep into your fanhood that you can't see the actual light. Our staff does not recruit well. I just spent all day Saturday at UCF and those coaches can recruit better than ours. I've been to Miami campus several times and never felt the love that UCF showed me on Saturday. That's a problem. And as Miami fans none of y'all are objective. You refuse to believe what I'm telling you because it's not what you want to hear.
All the times I've been to Miami wearing Deerfield gear and not once has a coach walked up to me and introduced himself. Meanwhile I'm at UCF, and I have everybody and their mother coming by my table to say hello. Two of their coaches even sat down and ate wings with us while talking X's and O's. Two of their coaches gave me their cell phone numbers and told me to call them anytime if they had any questions. NEVER happened at Miami. I went to a Miami coaching clinic and during the Lunch Period, all of the Miami coaches sat with each other at a table, secluded from the high school guys. Why wouldn't they sit with the High School coaches?! Clueless as fvck. That's why. Zero clue on how to develop valuable relationships.
That's how good recruiters develop relationships. I might just be a slapd!ck with Deerfield gear on. Who knows? I might be the **** water boy. But I also might have a really good rapport with a future five star that you're recruiting. And you developing a relationship with me might help in that recruitment. That's called having foresight. You want to get as many Deerfield coaches in your good graces as you possibly can.
These dudes at Miami are fvckin' amateurs. Do you know that I have 2 rising sophomores right now who have already been offered by several SEC schools? (including Bama)
Miami doesn't even know about them. We spoke to Hixson on the phone this afternoon and reminded him about these two kids. So we're doing THE OPPOSITE of what y'all say Deerfield does!
I was sitting right next to Coach Glenn with Hixson on speaker phone and he told Hixson "Yall need to come get on these freshman I got blah blah blah."
How the fvck does the SEC know about these kids before Miami?! Our DT was the top ranked 8th grader in the entire country! Bama offered him ON SITE!
By the time Miami talks to him Bama and Auburn will have already developed a relationship. And as usual Miami will be late to the party. And you ****heads will be blaming us for sending the kids to the SEC, claiming it's "bags".
GTFOH with y'all bullsh!t. Y'all have no clue WTF goes on behind the scenes.
Coach, I hear what you're saying, I don't question your impressions, I would like to engage in a civil discussion and ask you a few questions.
1. In relation to some of the early offers (at least in the past), do you think any of this is due to Miami having a lot of coaching turnover in the past decade? Do the SEC schools have that as a current advantage, i.e.,, a longer-term process of scouting, identifying, and offering? Even if not every SEC coach has been at the same school for 5 or 10 years, they tend to be incestuous in the SEC as they keep hiring each other's assistants (even Enos continues to recruit some kids he recruited at Alabama and Arkansas).
2. You mention that this problem has happened over multiple coaching staffs. That seems strange, as we have had 3 different head coaches and numerous guys serving as Recruiting Coordinator and Director of Football Operations. Purely statistically, you would think that EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE we would hire a guy who is more outgoing and with better social skills. Does it seem like this is a "choice" (i.e., all of our coaches have been told to act like the hot girl diva, in order to boost our desirability profile)? I know this is a deep cut, but we heard the stories about Golden doing his outreach events to local assistant coaches, taking them to a basketball game, smoking cigars, etc. Did he just stop doing these things? I can understand how Richt might be more aloof, but Manny seems like a guy who is all about relationships, and you would think it would rub off on his hires (I know that's an assumption, I'm just trying to figure out why this has happened across multiple head coaches).
3. I can understand a hangover effect if Golden and Richt had issues, but Manny has been on the job for 6 months and kept the defensive staff. Do you see some way of being able to communicate these issues, either to an LC/DFO or Manny himself? From the interactions you have had, do you believe that the current staff would be capable of listening with an open mind, or do they seem set in their ways? Does it appear to be social awkwardness, or an intentional arrogance?
4. This is NOT an argument with you, I just want your thoughts. We currently have a Top 10 recruiting class. Yes, it could be better in spots. Do you believe there is anything that could have been done differently in the last 6 months (and arguably, a bit farther back with defensive recruits) that could have addressed these shortcomings with particular recruits? I don't want anyone to name names, I'm just commenting that "relationship building" takes time, and I was wondering if you felt that anything could have been repaired over the past 6 months, or the upcoming 6 months.
I'm not going to get into any discussions about "facilities", or "if you win, they will come", or anything else involved in recruiting. You brought up "relationship building" and "interaction with local coaches", and I am going to stick to that alone.
We have seen, especially in the more recent past, that alums/boosters/season-ticket-holders CAN have an impact on the AD and the coaching staff when we voice our concerns. Clearly, if all of the coaches are making a conscious and intentional decision to act a certain way, it needs to be handled differently than if they are just making an error in judgement. I'm very curious as to your impressions.
Thank you for taking the time to give your opinions, though I hope these types of experiences can get communicated to Manny in a very efficient and professional manner, by you or any of us.