The myth of Mario the recruiter

[Alex_Dynamix]

I can't. I just can't with this. You're all over the place in the the third paragraph - OJ and Pruitt are true freshmen; Popo is a 2nd year guy. So are they great evals or great development?

People cling on to certain buzzwords. In CiSLand, it's evals and player development. It's word soup. It's talk radio crap. It's let's argue about things that can't be proven or disproven. I don't feel like picking apart what you said because I have end-of-season-fatigue and quite honestly, you don't deserve the wrath I feel. All the doomsday trolls are doing their unhappy dances throughout the posts as they claim "TOLD YA SO" and they hyperbolicly point to things and say eval or development even though they attended zero practices, zero film sessions, zero walk throughs, zero coaches meetings, and zero weight sessions. So they claim poor eval and lack of player development as they sip a ****tail they didn't pay for with their pinky finger sticking out to come off as smart as they think they are, all the while thinking that the next coach is the answer and savior. The next coach never comes.

They think Lane Kiffin is the savior of Miami football

 

[BigDikDaddyFromCincinnati]

They think Lane Kiffin is the savior of Miami football

I don't know if this guy does or doesn't. I know this though - when it's coaching search time, some people pick their guy, then actively root against the hire that is made if it's different than their guy. Why? So that they can do the I told ya so thing. I will never get it. Ever.

One thing I've learned as I've gotten older is there are a lot of stupid people in the world. I've also learned there are a lot of miserable people out there who take joy in bringing others down. Again, I don't know Rascon so I don't want to point my wrath at him. Honestly, I don't feel like pointing it at anyone really, because, what's the point?

 

[Alex_Dynamix]

I don't know if this guy does or doesn't. I know this though - when it's coaching search time, some people pick their guy, then actively root against the hire that is made if it's different than their guy. Why? So that they can do the I told ya so thing. I will never get it. Ever.

One thing I've learned as I've gotten older is there are a lot of stupid people in the world. I've also learned there are a lot of miserable people out there who take joy in bringing others down. Again, I don't know Rascon so I don't want to point my wrath at him. Honestly, I don't feel like pointing it at anyone really, because, what's the point?

Yea its as if their rooting for the team to fail so can continue to **** on the HC and say they were right after we just finished 10-2 in year 3 lol, I even see ppl claiming he cant recruit now lol its crazy how emotional this fanbase is.

 

[BigDikDaddyFromCincinnati]

Yea its as if their rooting for the team to fail so can continue to **** on the HC and say they were right after we just finished 10-2 in year 3 lol, I even see ppl claiming he cant recruit now lol its crazy how emotional this fanbase is.

In fairness, it's all fanbases. Some of the crap that I've seen from Alabama fans during the Saban era made what we are seeing now as tame. Ryan Day is likely going to get canned even though he's won 10+ games every season he's been there (Covid year excluded). OSU fans and alums want him gone.

 

[88]

We got a recruiter in a world where NIL/$ has taken over the need for it and you more importantly need someone who can x and o, develop and discipline.

Not really convinced he does any of those. I do love the dynamic of having strong offensive lines year in year out. So that's the main thing he brings imo.

 

[ristwasdown]

We got a recruiter in a world where NIL/$ has taken over the need for it and you more importantly need someone who can x and o, develop and discipline.

Not really convinced he does any of those. I do love the dynamic of having strong offensive lines year in year out. So that's the main thing he brings imo.

The NIL$ will stabilize over time. It already has a bit. It'll become the case where you have to match/be at a number to even start a convo. Then....that is where recruiting will come into play.

Not sure I agree with your statement. Maybe it's right. Maybe not.

 

[flips]

Mario is a great recruiter. Head coach being a great recruiter much less important now with NiL than before. For the program to take the next step Mario has to get better at stuff that has nothing to do with recruiting. If we stagnate as program or go backwards it's not going to be because Mario's recruiting got worse.

 

[TemplarCane]

What Metric are you using for Alabama to determine their recruiting is the same? I hope you're using that same metric to determine if Miami's recruiting has improved or been the same since Mario has been here.

My point really is Alabama was recruiting at high-level before Mario with Mario and after Mario. This is not a slam on Mario. I shouldn’t use the term ‘overrated’. Alabama wasn’t a hard sell, and especially so during Saban’s six national titles run. Still, Mario coordinated the identification and recruitment with the remainder of Saban’s staff. And of course, we all know the ‘added incentives’ Alabama provided to prospective recruits.

Miami recruiting without a doubt improved since Mario has been here. No chance Diaz would’ve landed many or any of the big fish Mario reeled in.

What’s yet to be seen is the fruit of the labor. The offensive line is night and day better than Manny’s. Other rooms are still working in progress as Mario tries to patch with portal transfers. Some successful, some not so much. Nobody bats 1.000.

Thanks for questioning my statement!

 

[Rellyrell]

Mario is a great recruiter. Head coach being a great recruiter much less important now with NiL than before. For the program to take the next step Mario has to get better at stuff that has nothing to do with recruiting. If we stagnate as program or go backwards it's not going to be because Mario's recruiting got worse.

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 recruits 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.

Follow Me-
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.

 

[Calinative]

A recruiter in the NIL era. Our recruiting this year is very indicative of such. Any "flip" we get can most likely be attributed to NIL rather than recruiting prowess. Even then, at this point, I find it hard this coach could out athlete teams. We lost to GT with no qb, and Cuse who has a ****** D and little run game. No one here is going to accuse any of those teams of having better athletes than Miami.

Leaves only one box to be checked off....

So let’s apply this logic to Deboer and Bama who was entering in a program that didn’t suck the last 20 years, was left more talent by Saban, and lost 3 games including two to far inferior opponents lol.

But I’m sure yall will say Deboer is a bad coach like you’re saying Mario is given the context, right?

Or how bout y’all’s boy Kiffin? Lol

 

[Calinative]

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.

It’s almost like when you add 25+ guy out of HS yearly and add another 5-10 out of the portal (going forward) - so adding about 90 payers/3yrs - and only have 22 starting spots, at best you’re gunna have a 25% hit rate over a 3 year period! Crazy how math works…

Wonder how many NFL teams have a 25% hit rate in the draft over multiple years…

 

[DMoney]

Ninety percent of recruiting is the logo on the Polo. Ryan Day is not an elite recruiter but has elite classes every year.

In terms of individual recruiting, Mario is a monster. Saban said Mario was the best recruiter he's ever been around. When Feldman did that anonymous coaches story, the entire Pac-12 said Mario was in his own league. He gives us a chance to punch above our weight because he's relentless.

But in order to stack Top 5 classes, he needs to build up the brand. And that means consistent on-field performance. If we take another step back, it won't matter how good he is at recruiting.

 

[nvlahos]

Ninety percent of recruiting is the logo on the Polo.

In terms of individual recruiting, Mario is elite. Saban said Mario was the best recruiter he's ever been around. When Feldman did that anonymous coaches story, the entire Pac-12 said Mario was in his own league.

But in order to stack Top 5 classes, he needs to build up the brand. And that means consistent on-field performance. If we take another step back, it won't matter how good he is at recruiting.

Recruits and fans know this year was somewhat of a facade. Without Cam we’re 7-5 or worse.

Mario needs to show that he’s building a team at all level that can compete year over year

 

[DMoney]

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.

Follow Me-
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.

This post conflates recruiting with evaluation.

Whether or not Mario is a good enough evaluator is a fair topic worthy of further analysis, such as a comparison of hit rates with peer schools. But if you're talking about the ability to acquire targets, the fact is that Mario signed the best classes in Oregon's history to that point.

Dan Lanning took it to another level for three reasons: (1) he himself is a beast and maybe the best recruiter in America; (2) the program was at a higher level when he inherited it; and (3) Phil Knight NIL money.

 

[RVACane]

So let’s apply this logic to Deboer and Bama who was entering in a program that didn’t suck the last 20 years, was left more talent by Saban, and lost 3 games including two to far inferior opponents lol.

But I’m sure yall will say Deboer is a bad coach like you’re saying Mario is given the context, right?

Or how bout y’all’s boy Kiffin? Lol

lol Mario isn’t 10.37542% of the coach Kalen DeBoer is.

Mario took Manny’s 7-5 team, with the added benefit of an “all-star, no money held back coRching staff” and went 5-7.

Dan Mullen’s highest and best use is as an OC under a HC like Saban or Urban. Mario’s highest and best use is as a recruiting coordinator and OL coach under a Saban or Urban level coach. He’s not even a coordinator.

And I don’t think he’s a great evaluator and developer of talent beyond his area but God bless the man for getting to where he has notwithstanding his coaching limitations.

 

[PlanoCane]

The heavy at a position or 2 thing is him trying to flip rooms. The first class it was OL and LB. Last year class was DL & WR. This year it’s DB. Not saying it’s a good strategy but that’s what he has been doing

Are you serious Cam isn't coming back. He's going to back the truck for a Tx Qb. With Miami speed is the ultimate combo. Watch what SMU do or the other TX QB Klubnik

 

[RVACane]

Ninety percent of recruiting is the logo on the Polo. Ryan Day is not an elite recruiter but has elite classes every year.

In terms of individual recruiting, Mario is a monster. Saban said Mario was the best recruiter he's ever been around. When Feldman did that anonymous coaches story, the entire Pac-12 said Mario was in his own league. He gives us a chance to punch above our weight because he's relentless.

But in order to stack Top 5 classes, he needs to build up the brand. And that means consistent on-field performance. If we take another step back, it won't matter how good he is at recruiting.

Money’s a massive equalizer, D. I think Napier’s about to have a big day on Wednesday, better than us, and it’s not because he’s a better recruiter than Mario - it’s the money. And yeah the SEC label helps but money can help overcome that.

 

[Rellyrell]

This post conflates recruiting with evaluation.

Whether or not Mario is a good enough evaluator is a fair topic worthy of further analysis, such as a comparison of hit rates with peer schools. But if you're talking about the ability to acquire targets, the fact is that Mario signed the best classes in Oregon's history to that point.

Dan Lanning took it to another level for three reasons: (1) he himself is a beast and maybe the best recruiter in America; (2) the program was at a higher level when he inherited it; and (3) Phil Knight NIL money.

In all due respect:

Shannon signed Miami’s best class ever. Who cares! Recruiting is in line w/ evaluations, & that’s in any industry.

I worked w/ a guy who was the recruiter for my company. His sole purpose & value was to assess & recommend the best candidates to fill positions. He was fired; u know why? B/c he was bringing bodies that did nothing for the company. So y should u or anyone care how classes look on paper when they do nothing for the program long term?

The class of 2021 (his best class) was a myth, a figment of imagination, & I would suspect if that class was re-ranked, they would be outside the Top 15. No matter how u try to spin it, justify it, it was an abject failure.

Lastly, Knight has been spending $$ for quite some time. In fact, not only did he offer the $$ to keep Mario, but promised him more. But let’s be real for second, forget Knight & UO; the University of Miami has been the poster child for NIL for Mario, so what r u even talking about at this point?

 

[Calinative]

lol Mario isn’t 10.37542% of the coach Kalen DeBoer is.

Mario took Manny’s 7-5 team, with the added benefit of an “all-star, no money held back coRching staff” and went 5-7.

Dan Mullen’s highest and best use is as an OC under a HC like Saban or Urban. Mario’s highest and best use is as a recruiting coordinator and OL coach under a Saban or Urban level coach. He’s not even a coordinator.

And I don’t think he’s a great evaluator and developer of talent beyond his area but God bless the man for getting to where he has notwithstanding his coaching limitations.

I really don't think you are following the logic here. All I'm doing is applying the exact same criticsm used to so obviously show that Mario is a bad coach and applying it to Deboer and Kiffin lol. If someone says "everyone named albert is stupid" and I reply "using that logic, Albert Einstein is an idiot". .. well what do you think the takeaway is? Is it that I'm actually saying Albert Einstein is an idiot?

It is a fact that Deboer just had 3 conference losses (or regular season losses at all) with Alabama for the first time since 2010 (13 seasons). In our entire history of being in the ACC we have only lost LESS than 3 games 3times with this being the 4th. Anyways, In doing so Deboer lost to mighty Vanderbilt for the first time since 1984. He was blown out by Oklahoma who had only 1 other win in the SEC this season... But sure our losses were soooo much worse right? lol

Maybe the coach who has progressively won more games every year for us, won the recruitment of Cam Ward and got us the #1 offense in the country this year, and is about to finish with our highest or 2nd highest ranking at the end of the regular season since 2002 when we lost the National Championship isn't a bad coach... just a thought.

 

[DMoney]

In all due respect:

Shannon signed Miami’s best class ever. Who cares! Recruiting is in line w/ evaluations, & that’s in any industry.

I just want to make sure we're talking about the same thing. When I say Mario is an elite recruiter, I'm talking about his relentlessness and ability to sign kids. That's the skill other coaches acknowledge about Mario.

But if someone says Mario is elite at acquiring talent, and not just "recruiting," then that's a different argument. Your post raises legit concerns about his ability to evaluate.

I tend to think he's decent there. In last year's draft alone, he signed/evaluated two 2nd rounders, a 3rd rounder, two 4th rounders, and a 6th rounder. But your post raises good points about the washouts from his Oregon and Miami classes.

My personal view on Mario is that his talent acquisition ability is better than his coaching ability. He's had strong seasons at three different spots. He won a conference title at FIU after inheriting a winless team. He had a top five finish at Oregon, which is one of only six in their 107-year history. And of course, he just had Miami's second 10-win season in two decades. I think those seasons reflect more on his ability to acquire talent than to elevate talent.

But it begs the question: can he recruit well enough to make the program a consistent winner, if he's not elevating the talent? That's the whiskey in the highball. I don't know the answer. If the past two decades of Canes football are any indication, he will probably fail. But his recruiting will give him a chance.

The class of 2021 (his best class) was a myth, a figment of imagination, & I would suspect if that class was re-ranked, they would be outside the Top 15. No matter how u try to spin it, justify it, it was an abject failure.

I think this is wrong. That class already produced two 2nd rounders (Kingsley Suamataia and Jackson Powers-Johnson), and a highly productive 4th rounder (Troy Franklin). Donte Thortnon and Terrance Ferguson are probably going to be mid-rounders this year. That's not elite by any means, but it's not a "figment of imagination" either.