Iowa Recruiting: This Is An Alarming Thought

MelroseHawkins

MelroseHawkins

Well-Known Member
In the past several years Iowa has poured in millions of $$ to upgrade football facilities. Gary Dinardo and others have stated that Iowa has some of the best, if not the best (Dinardo's opinion) football facilities in the BIG. What is an alarming thought and a bit disconcerting, is that this has not resulted in better recruiting for Iowa. This is supposed to boost recruiting and level the playing field. This does not bode well for Iowa and is not a good sign at all.

Iowa still competes with getting mostly 3 * talent along with the middle of the pack BIG teams and MAC level teams. What card does Iowa have left to play when courting a recruit. Getting players to the NFL might be the only card they really have left to play, but often those players are the interior linemen or TE.

We've had the facilities or promise of the facilities in place now a couple years and not seeing the benefits in the recruiting which was the plan. I don't know what the answer is going forward with recruiting.

When Iowa had some of it's most solid recruiting years, it's been when Mich St, Notre Dame, Illinois was down. That is not the case anymore as Mich St & Notre Dame are healthy. It's much more difficult for Iowa to recruit that Chicago/Ill area they once were successful in. Ugh!
 
We want kids who appreciate and work hard for time in the jacuzzi room with flatscreen televisions showing espn mid-day filler shows.
 
MelroseHawkins said:
What card does Iowa have left to play when courting a recruit.
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Let the kids have access to social media accounts during the season.
What kid wants to play for someone so stuck in their ways, that they can't live their life the way they want.
Have you seen the activity kids have with twitter, instagram, etc?
 
joker said:
Let the kids have access to social media accounts during the season.
What kid wants to play for someone so stuck in their ways, that they can't live their life the way they want.
Have you seen the activity kids have with twitter, instagram, etc?
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That's a part of my point with the original post. If a staff can't change their philosophy on a few things, it's not going to matter what kind of facilities you have. I'm not all for giving in to young men to cater to what they want, but if your team is continually going 7-5 and 6-6 and .500 in conference, something has to change. It's hard to believe the facilities haven't boosted recruiting a little bit.
 
Cool facilities, new huge tv's, awesome hot tubs, don't mean crap, unless they can post a pic of it to shout out to their friends.
 
During the recent Ferentz press conference he was asked several times about recruiting and responded each time by commenting on the new facilities as if they would be the silver bullet. Fact of the matter is that you only stay ahead in the arm's race for a short period of time until others catch up or surpass. Our window of opportunity needs better recruiting personnel and more consistent success on the field.
 
The new facilities were just completed last year, so you couldn't reasonably expect any recruiting gains until that recruiting class. But the lame-duck status of the head coach more than trumps those gains.
 
The problem is the stale culture. Our assts are not paid very well yet none have found better jobs elswhere. Either they are stuck in their comfort zone or are not that great or both. It's just one facet of the problem but without a willingness to change by those running the program no amount of facilities will move the needle.
 
I would add that will change beyond the occasional hand wringing for 12-24 months once the new UI president is in place.

I for one don't want Barta making the next hiring decision.
 
ohhawk said:
During the recent Ferentz press conference he was asked several times about recruiting and responded each time by commenting on the new facilities as if they would be the silver bullet. Fact of the matter is that you only stay ahead in the arm's race for a short period of time until others catch up or surpass. Our window of opportunity needs better recruiting personnel and more consistent success on the field.
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Yes, and our window of opportunity will dwindle away in a matter of years and we may have little to show for it on the recruiting trail.
 
Clark said:
The new facilities were just completed last year, so you couldn't reasonably expect any recruiting gains until that recruiting class. But the lame-duck status of the head coach more than trumps those gains.
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I disagree to an extent. Sometimes you can sell the product before the product is done. I'm sure they've been selling the new facilities to recruits well before they broke ground. A young man might be willing to take the offer even know they only get the last 2 yrs use of new facilities.

I'm pretty sure the recruiters had a fist full of CAD images/photos when recruiting.
 
they hadn't even moved into it this season.

i'll use an analogy - probably not the best, but close -

so if you have a deer hunting place, and plant a new food plot - you aren't going to see a bunch of deer utilizing it year one - but as the deer become aware of it and so forth, your new food plot will attract the attention of more and more deer years 2-5+.
 
imported_ankle23 said:
they hadn't even moved into it this season.

i'll use an analogy - probably not the best, but close -

so if you have a deer hunting place, and plant a new food plot - you aren't going to see a bunch of deer utilizing it year one - but as the deer become aware of it and so forth, your new food plot will attract the attention of more and more deer years 2-5+.
Click to expand...

How long ago was this "food plot" planted? You act like they just started this project, it's been going on for years. This is year 3 of the "food plot", I would hope I see some deer as they know they can get food there now. Let's face the facts, KF recruiting has been lacking the past 3 years even after planting the seeds.
 
BLKNGOLD48 said:
How long ago was this "food plot" planted? You act like they just started this project, it's been going on for years. This is year 3 of the "food plot", I would hope I see some deer as they know they can get food there now. Let's face the facts, KF recruiting has been lacking the past 3 years even after planting the seeds.
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Agree. Throw into the fact that the stadium renovations were and have been done for several years now. It doesn't seem to be paying-off, recruiting-wise. Something's amiss.

An average recruit is 3 * which we have been getting which is reflective in our recent years records. Average.
 
Who here would want to play for Ferentz if you had a better option?

You can't use Twitter to talk about how awesome Iowa is.
He blocks you from the media.
He benches you if you make one mistake.
He doesn't play the best players.
He doesn't know what a fullback is.
He doesn't know how to prepare players for a fake punt.
He spends more time fund raising than preparing for games.
He thinks Davis is a good coach.
He favors certain players over others when the other players are better.

At least this is what I read around the boards.
 
do you see all the true and redshirt freshman who are starting and playing significant time in bowl games for top ranked teams, for SEC and PAC 12 teams. Yet Iowa doesnt have hardly any or play them.

This points to two problems 1) KF doesnt play young players and recruits know this so why come here and try to make your mark in 3 years and/or 2) because of the vicious recruiting cycle we are not getting good enough players to play as true or RS freshman.

It could be a two edged sword but I say # 1 is a turn off for skill position players. There are so many great running backs tearing it up as true freshman it makes me sick, football fan wise.

Why cant we get a stud running back and play him right away, the heck with missing an occasional assignment if he avgs 5+ yards per carry. Same with receivers, corners (like Desmond King who did it), safeties, QBs

KF needs to use his young players to find out what he has instead of worrying about a missed block or a fumble since we are barely winning half our games.
 
MelroseHawkins said:
I disagree to an extent. Sometimes you can sell the product before the product is done. I'm sure they've been selling the new facilities to recruits well before they broke ground. A young man might be willing to take the offer even know they only get the last 2 yrs use of new facilities.

I'm pretty sure the recruiters had a fist full of CAD images/photos when recruiting.
Click to expand...

It's probably pretty difficult to sell recruits with pictures, especially when a recruit can go to a few other schools in the B1G and see a finished product. Iowa has been very mediocre, trying to sell recruits with unfinished facilities, and a product on the field that has been a snoozefest. It's a tough business, Kirk has certainly backed himself into a corner, hopefully the move with the facilities ends up paying off for him because he's worked pretty damn hard to make them happen. If it doesn't, the next coach sure does get to walk into a heck of an opportunity.
 
Iowa's "old" football facilities were still top notch and they were still a draw for recruits. The new facilities are just going to be that much better. Problem is, facilities are one thing and coaching staff is another.
 
I always thought that the "facilities" argument was bull spit, as far as recruiting went. It's so far down the list that it is hardly worth mentioning. It could possibly sway a recruit that has already pared it down to Iowa and one other program. That could be the edge needed.
Reasons why recruits choose programs (football)
Chance to compete for conference and National titles
NFL prospects
Relationships with coaches
Extra benefits
style of offense/defense (which goes back to NFL prospects, both are tied together)

Everything else is far down the list. At least when we are talking about 4 and 5* prospects. Top facilities is just an easy excuse, unless you have them. Then KF is going to resort back to little old not sexy Iowa, chicken little crap.
 
lightning1 said:
I always thought that the "facilities" argument was bull spit
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It is. Either schools have the facilities or they are in the process of building them. Its not an advantage, Iowa is just finally getting with the times. You can build the Taj Mahal of facilities, but if you dont have a staff who can sell, you wont see benefits.
 
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