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The myth of Mario the recruiter

So far we are lucky that a bloodbath of recruits leaving did not follow the Syracuse game. I hope we have a big portal class.
 
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True statement with the key word being “hope”. College football has become like that box of chocolates you don’t know what you’re going to get. For fans it’s so tough and very frustrating now.
 
Hurracanes said:
I completely agree. This is the result of poor high school recruiting and glaring portal misses, and it’s finally blowing up in our faces. Enough is enough.

The lack of talent and defensive development is beyond concerning. Mario needs to adapt quickly. He has to overpay for blue-chip players and true difference-makers in the portal if that’s what it takes. On top of that, Dennis Smith has to go, he ******* sucks and his performance isn’t cutting it.

He will go down as Mario’s D’Onofrio. Yes, I said it.

This team is barely a .500 program without Cam. If significant changes aren’t made, 2025 could get ugly—very ugly. Especially if we don’t invest heavily in the portal. The time to act is now.
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We have to go all-in on the best DC we can get, and then get the top DB assistant to pair with him.

We also NEED a QB for next year, and if that requires an OC upgrade, do it as well (even though I think Dawson is above average).

It is a must to maximize staff improvement with the fewest moves possible. We won't survive otherwise. CFB is a perpetual immediate-term arms race now, and you have to do it every year.
 
TrumpyCane said:
TrumpyCan'es biggest issue with coordinator hires is Mario doesn't let them pick their position coaches

Mario forced Jason Taylor, Addea, etc on Guidry

Forced Beard, Mirabel, etc on Dawson (this worked out at least)

Who the **** hires position coaches before the coordinators
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Finally someone says it!
 
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DMoney said:
Those classes were the highest-rated in Oregon history. So he elevated the program's to win battles (which is what I call "recruiting ability."
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On paper. How many more of those recruits did anything? Lanning basically purged that roster. Sure you can point to a few leftovers but I can point to a few Manny leftovers.

Didn't Mario claim that the 2023 class was the best of all time even though Randy Shannon had the number one class in 08?

Why do I bring that up? Because it's on paper. Oregon was winning just fine and even making it to the national championship game. They hit a slump and the bum Taggart turned them around out of that slump. Mario inherited a good situation at Oregon.

Mario did technically elevate things by continuing the upward trend of the program that recently had few years slump.

Why are we desperately pointing to his work at Oregon as if he was a mastermind of success. Especially when most of his coaching career is just .500. So far his recruiting classes are full of duds.
 
Angry Ibis said:
Then the school is not serious about college athletics.
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Yep. That has been said a lot and every time I'm just left thinking "well that's the problem." They want to win their way. They don't want to win at all costs. Personal ties and self pride is prioritized above having a winning football program. Until that changes, I'd keep expectations tempered.
 
TrumpyCane said:
TrumpyCan'es biggest issue with coordinator hires is Mario doesn't let them pick their position coaches

Mario forced Jason Taylor, Addea, etc on Guidry

Forced Beard, Mirabel, etc on Dawson (this worked out at least)

Who the **** hires position coaches before the coordinators
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Same overall operation that hires the football coach before the AD
 
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Brains said:
We have to go all-in on the best DC we can get, and then get the top DB assistant to pair with him.

We also NEED a QB for next year, and if that requires an OC upgrade, do it as well (even though I think Dawson is above average).

It is a must to maximize staff improvement with the fewest moves possible. We won't survive otherwise. CFB is a perpetual immediate-term arms race now, and you have to do it every year.
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Mario needs to fix the Defense and hit on a DC for once. 3 DC’s in 4 years is no bueno. If he doesn’t….

I’m not too worried about our offense. I think we will be pretty good.
 
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skydogcane6 said:
Yep. That has been said a lot and every time I'm just left thinking "well that's the problem." They want to win their way. They don't want to win at all costs. Personal ties and self pride is prioritized above having a winning football program. Until that changes, I'd keep expectations tempered.
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The bold is so on point and is probably one of the best posts typed on this site in a long time.

Miami is still rotten to the core as far as the people pulling the strings and nothing will change much until that is addressed (it won't be).

When is the last time we had a proper hiring process? Sure as **** not the last time when a cadre of alumni from the local high school deemed Mario as the guy. Sure as **** not after Rick resigned and Manny got the job. Sure as **** not after Coker resigned and Randy got the job. Sure as **** not after Butch left when they ******* listened to 18-22 year olds in hiring Coker. Al Golden I guess?

Clown show from the top on down and the Columbus Mafia saying they care about football now doesn't change reality
 
McGahee2TheHouse said:
The bold is so on point and is probably one of the best posts typed on this site in a long time.

Miami is still rotten to the core as far as the people pulling the strings and nothing will change much until that is addressed (it won't be).

When is the last time we had a proper hiring process? Sure as **** not the last time when a cadre of alumni from the local high school deemed Mario as the guy. Sure as **** not after Rick resigned and Manny got the job. Sure as **** not after Coker resigned and Randy got the job. Sure as **** not after Butch left when they ******* listened to 18-22 year olds in hiring Coker. Al Golden I guess?

Clown show from the top on down and the Columbus Mafia saying they care about football now doesn't change reality
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well miami doesnt have the best rep on how to run a proper business. it is a banana republic
 
Everything is subjective. You have to consider the program when it comes to recruiting. Deboer never cracked the top 20 in recruiting class ranking during his entire pre-Alabama career. Now he has the #2 class. Did he just learn how to recruit or does he have the infrastructure and program rep to sign top classes? If Mario was the head coach at Alabama, I’m sure he’d sign better classes than he does here.
 
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DTP said:
Everything is subjective. You have to consider the program when it comes to recruiting. Deboer never cracked the top 20 in recruiting class ranking during his entire pre-Alabama career. Now he has the #2 class. Did he just learn how to recruit or does he have the infrastructure and program rep to sign top classes? If Mario was the head coach at Alabama, I’m sure he’d sign better classes than he does here.
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But that emphasizes why you have to have a real good x's and o's coach in modern CFB. Talent acquisition matters. Always will. But your coach no longer needs to be the main proprietor of that. Deboer didn't all the sudden learn how to be menace on the trail. The boosters, NIL fund, and Bama brand recruits for him. He just needs to develop and scheme em up on gameday.
 
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Rellyrell said:
In advance, I want to apologize for this long reply; but, it behooves me to kill several birds, narratives with one post:

I would challenge the word “great” in regards to Mario’s recruiting prowess. Mario is a good, I would even dare say an above average recruiter, but he’s not great or elite overall. I believe he is great at identifying OLmen, Blocking TEs, RBs, but that’s about the extent of it.

One of my biggest issue w/ this site since I’ve joined is the devaluing of the words elite, & great. In doing so, there’s been this consistent frustration that’s pursued b/c this fan base have convinced themselves that every player that walks on to The Green Tree Practice Field is either elite or great.

Great, elite recruiters tend to recruit not just at a top 7 level every cycle, but more importantly:
-The Blue Chip ratio is at least 60%
-The Composite Class Rating is at a 91.5 or higher.
-They have low attrition rates, allowing for classes to stack upon each other aka stacking chips.

So I’m going to provide substantiated evidence proving Mario is, at best, an above average recruiter, but not great using his tenure at UO, specifically. I’m going to break it down into 4 categories:
-Overall Class Rank
-Overall Class Composite Score
-Blue Chip Ratio
-Production from recruited players, including attrition

2018:
Class rank: 13th in the nation
Composite Score: 89.18 (17th in the nation)
Blue Chip Ratio: 48%
Production:
•3 hits (Sewell, Holland, McKinley III)
•3 contributors (Dye, Stephens, Battles)
•19 transfers or limited PT:
-Crocker (UNV)
-Dye (USC)
-Shough (TT)
-Addison (UCLA)
-Jackson (UNV)
-Jones (JAG)
-Hall (N/A)
-Cunningham (C.C)
-Jaramilo (NCSt.)
-Elliot (N/A)
-Johnson (GA So.)
-Faoliu (stuck in transfer portal)
-Woods (N/A)
-Randazzo (N/A)
-Tucker (C.C)
-Hailasse (C.C)
-Johnson (N/A)
-Kava (N/A)
-Snee (Stuck in transfer portal)

Class of 2018 hit rate: 24%

2019:
Class rank: 7th
Composite Score: 90.85 (11th in nation)
Blue Chip Ratio: 62%
Production:
•4 hits (Dorlus, Thibodeux, Aumavae-Laulu, Hill)
•3 contributors (Herbert, Wright, J. Johnson)
•20 transfers or limited PT:
-Tuaanu’u (C.C)
-Pittman (FSU)
-Funa (JAG)
-Delgado (stuck in the portal)
-Millen (No. AZ)
-Williams (Mizzou)
-Dollars (UNV)
-Eaford (UTenn-Martin)
-Wilson (stuck in the portal)
-Waters (So. Utah)
-Ware-Hudson (JAG)
-James (Auburn)
-Poti (JAG)
-Townsend (Wisconsin)
-Mathis (JAG)
-Wilhoite (Tenn State)
-Ma’ae (Baylor)
-Sagapolu (no comment)
-Bridges (UF)
-Lewis (inaccurate af)

Class of 2019 hit rate 26%

Class of 2020
Class rank: 13th
Composite Score: 90.44 (13th in nation)
Blue Chip Ratio: 57%
Production:
•2 hits (N. Sewell, TJ Bass)
•5 contributors (Manning, Williams, Williams, Brown, Happle)
•19 transfers or limited PT:
-Flowe (Arizona)
-Benson (FSU)
-Butterfield (SJSU)
-Afaese (JAG)
-Hutson (WASU)
-Jeffers (UCLA)
-LaDuke (UNV)
-Denis (No Comment)
-Swinson (LSU)
-Greenfield (JAG)
-Navarette (UNLV)
-Jones (Auburn)
-Ashford (USCe)
-Laloulu (JAG)*
-Harper (JAG)
-Smith (JAG)
-Shipley (North Texas)
-Williams (JAG)
-Hill (N/A)

Class of 2020 hit rate: 27%

Class of 2021:
Class rank: 6th
Composite Score: 92.48 (7th in nation)
Blue Chip Ratio: 79%
Production:
•4 hits (Franklin, Ferguson, Jackson-Powers, Bassa)
•20 transfers or limited PT:
-Suamataia (BYU)
-Walden (ASU)
-Thornton Jr (UTenn)
-Thompson (Tulane)
-Brown (WASU)
-****erson (stuck in transfer portal)
-Matavao (UCLA)
-Cardwell (Cal)
-David (Akron)
-McNeil (Troy)
-Davies (UCLA)
-Miller (UTSA)
-Williams (UCLA)
-Flowe (stuck in portal)
-McGee (Albany)
-Tilmon (TT)
-Barkins (UW)
-Brevard (JAG)
-Buckner (MTSU)
-Reames (stuck in transfer portal)

Class of 2021 hit rate: 17%

In summary, while Mario’s classes look good on paper, the trend is approximately:
Only 1 out of 4 of his recruits will either be great or a contributor to his program, while 3 out of 4 of his recruits will either be JAGs or Transfer Casualties.

Are we seeing a similar trend here? Well, the class of 2022, albeit a transition class, are supposed to be the leaders moving fwd, but where are they? What has happened w/ that class?

The class of 2023 was heralded, but how many hits did we or have we seen from that class, including transfers? 7-9 out of the 43? We may have more attrition from that class this offseason.

There’s a reason digging into the transfer portal for the 2025-6 season is becoming a theme. The way Mario’s recruiting could be likened to a bucket w/ a hole in it; it looks good on paper until u realize he bleeds a lot of recruits either via underperformance or the portal.

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His best year was in 2019. That team was mostly comprised of Helfrich & Taggarts players.

By 2020, many of those same players either got drafted or transferred, & he got bodied. Covid is the only reason why UO made it to the Championship Game, as UW was the actual winner of the North. He then faced a USC team w/ a dead man walking HC.

-In 2021, the team had some portal players at key spots + the remaining of Taggarts players, namely CJ Verdell, Alex Forsyth, & Johnny Johnson. He did recruit well on the defensive side, in fairness; however, once Verdell went down (the hero from the OSU upset), we saw that Top 3 Oregon team lose to a woeful 3-9 Stanford team, struggle against a 5-7 Cal, struggle against an 8-4 UCLA team before eventually getting demolished twice against Utah. Those games were a precursor of what were to come.

This is y I lol at posters on CIS assuming Mario left Lanning the keys to the kingdom when I know fa sho bro had to come in, replace, and clean house from Mario’s era. The few that were good either declared or portal’d out, hence UO’s class of 22, Lanning’s transition class, had 10 transfers, the most in Oregon’s history at that time.

This is not to **** on Mario vs. setting the record straight & admonishing my Canes’ brethren to stop devaluing words like great & elite b/c it sets our expectations too high. All I try to do is provide information w/o the bias, or emotions, but what everyone does w/ it is up to them.
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stop that
we live in a world that acknowledges stupid terms like "my truth"
you know once a narrative has been set
its tough to change even when presented with actual facts

ive consistently been saying this year
mario is having a 2023 norvell level class
and hes also going to get ravaged at the close like norvell last year
im worried well take a huge plunge next year relying on portal

we are following in the FSU footsteps
after laughing at them all year
 
Mario is in the Top 3 best recruiters in the country and might be the best. Give me a even playing field and I am laughing taking Mario. It is by far his best skill as a coach. Its the one thing I don't question him with as a coach. Their are so many coaches built up on this board alone for recruiting who actually can't recruit.
 
skydogcane6 said:
But that emphasizes why you have to have a real good x's and o's coach in modern CFB. Talent acquisition matters. Always will. But your coach no longer needs to be the main proprietor of that. Deboer didn't all the sudden learn how to be menace on the trail. The boosters, NIL fund, and Bama brand recruits for him. He just needs to develop and scheme em up on gameday.
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You’re preaching to the choir. These days, NIL does the recruiting anyway.
 
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