The Mythical Recruiting Disadvantage

HawkeyeWalker said:
Does Iowa have a recruiting disadvantage to the perennially 40th ranked and lower teams, absolutely not.

Does Iowa have a recruiting disadvantage to the perennially 16th-39th ranked and lower teams, I would say no except for when there are preceeding poor performance years

Does Iowa have a recruiting disadvantage to the perennially top 15 ranked teams, YEP... and always will, any argument to the contrary is being completely blind to 100+ years of history, geography, population, weather, $ backing, etc.
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I think this is fair except for "$ backing". Iowa has invested just as much resources in the equipment, facilities, etc. as any other major program. We are not at a financial disadvantage.
 
pumpdog20 said:
Need to do a better job of getting kids better coaches in Des Moines metro (and I think everyone knows what I mean). The metro schools are horrible, and they don't produce talent. Yes, Iowa is small, but you don't do a good job of producing out of your largest base.

Nebraska stayed dominant because they would get their lineman from farms (both Nebraska and Iowa) and their RBs from Omaha. Iowa needs to do something similar.
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Excellent point! I this is a huge issue that is overlooked by many.
 
HawkeyeWalker said:
I honestly am not trying to be a d-bag here, but while I agree a 9-3 season may have helped with recruiting, it would have been just a very little bit. I'm not saying success doesn't improve recruiting power, of course it does, but 2-3 more wins in one single year? Does it really help that much.

Again, I think I may just have a different view on this than most. No disrespect intended.
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I think you missed the point, after '10 Iowa would have ended '08 and '09 ranked, then in '10 and '11 at 9-3. That is 4 straight years of being ranked, not just 1 year. In theory, recruiting could have been better in those years with and it would be paying off now and still gaining momentum into the future.
 
tubahawk said:
Excellent point! I this is a huge issue that is overlooked by many.
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I have to disagree with you and pumpdog. Iowa gets quite a few in-state linemen. Look at the last few years and see the number of Iowa O-line in the two deeps and starting. After all didn't Iowa start an all 5 Iowa line last year? Clearly it didn't pay off, sure injuries had a huge impact on that but in the end the point is Iowa is getting the o-linemen from Iowa. As for RB's, Wegher and Robinson, not to mention Iowa was recruiting Jordan B's little brother, need I say more?

The solution isn't as simple as recruiting more players from Iowa, besides the fact that Iowa is still recruiting instate players pretty heavily.
 
Iowa's disadvantage in recruiting isn't because of the state of Iowa, it's because of KF's ultra-conservative offensive and defensive systems. KF says his systems aren't sexy enough for the top recruits. I say his systems don't use the athletic ability of those top recruits and consequently, they go elsewhere. IMO, a game changer isn't an offensive or defensive lineman, or tight end. Not like Timmy Dwight. Besides, KF would never use Dwight to his fullest. He would, for example, make Dwight let the punt roll.
 
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So which teams (over the course of a few years) have out-recruited Iowa? In other words, who should Iowa be like?
 
HomerChampless said:
Iowa's disadvantage in recruiting isn't because of the state of Iowa, it's because of KF's ultra-conservative offensive and defensive systems. KF says his systems aren't sexy enough for the top recruits. I say his systems don't use the athletic ability of those top recruits and consequently, they go elsewhere. IMO, a top recruit isn't a offensive or defensive lineman, or tight end. They aren't game changers. Not like Timmy Dwight. Besides, KF would never use Dwight to his fullest. He would, for example, make Dwight let the punt roll.
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Exactly. If you believe your system isn't sexy enough for top recruits...THEN CHANGE YOUR DAMN SYSTEM!!! Again...it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. He's reinforcing...if not actually creating... his own limitations.

Don't confuse stubbornness with strength, Kirk. It's closer to stupidity
 
David79 said:
There is a recruiting disadvantage in football whether people want to admit it or not. Small population state with two state schools. That's not to say that some of that can be overcome. But there is a built in disadvantage.
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the myth of a recruiting disadvantage of iowa.

if it is a myth, please point to a time in history where iowa got blue chip recruits on an annual basis.

small population state, two BCS conference schools, heavy competition in the populated areas surrounding Iowa.

i forget exactly what year it was in the ferentz era - just say 2006. that year, iowa had something like 19 commits - all of which were out-of-state guys. OSU had a similar amount of recruits and the majority of them were Ohio guys. You know, OSU could take their pick of the instate guys, and go out and put a lot of focus on their out of state targets. If you don't think that is a recruiting disadvantage, then nothing more to say.
 
The numbers do not lie. Go to the Top 300 list of HS players....how many live in Iowa? How many live in SEC country or Ohio?

KU was not born with tradition? Well, since the inventor of the game,Naismith was the mentor of their first coach,Phog Allen,who pretty much established the KU program, I would say yes,they were born with tradition. Comparing Iowa football with KU BB is a joke,right?
I do not see the party label as helpful with parents of recruits.

Black players dominate the game,and Iowa has 70k black people living in the whole state...not helpful.
 
imported_ankle23 said:
the myth of a recruiting disadvantage of iowa.

if it is a myth, please point to a time in history where iowa got blue chip recruits on an annual basis.

small population state, two BCS conference schools, heavy competition in the populated areas surrounding Iowa.

i forget exactly what year it was in the ferentz era - just say 2006. that year, iowa had something like 19 commits - all of which were out-of-state guys. OSU had a similar amount of recruits and the majority of them were Ohio guys. You know, OSU could take their pick of the instate guys, and go out and put a lot of focus on their out of state targets. If you don't think that is a recruiting disadvantage, then nothing more to say.
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Nearby Nebraska has 1 large public school (and does Creighton have football)? Otherwise, the state of Nebraska, in number of blue chip recruits compares favorably to the state of Iowa. How does West Virginia get its recruits? IMO, it's the systems that bring them in (or not).
 
HomerChampless said:
Any team that recruits playmakers, like West Virginia, for example. But, you know, we've got KF as HC.
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Well, they (WVU) were 7-6 last year so I guess if that's your goal, that would be Ok for you. They also somehow accepted Noel Devine who shouldn't have gotten into community college.
 
JHHawk said:
The numbers do not lie. Go to the Top 300 list of HS players....how many live in Iowa? How many live in SEC country or Ohio?

KU was not born with tradition? Well, since the inventor of the game,Naismith was the mentor of their first coach,Phog Allen,who pretty much established the KU program, I would say yes,they were born with tradition. Comparing Iowa football with KU BB is a joke,right?
I do not see the party label as helpful with parents of recruits.

Black players dominate the game,and Iowa has 70k black people living in the whole state...not helpful.
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Are you saying that football (and, for example, basketball) are sports that African-Americans are more interested in that whites?
 
dave3912 said:
I have to disagree with you and pumpdog. Iowa gets quite a few in-state linemen. Look at the last few years and see the number of Iowa O-line in the two deeps and starting. After all didn't Iowa start an all 5 Iowa line last year? Clearly it didn't pay off, sure injuries had a huge impact on that but in the end the point is Iowa is getting the o-linemen from Iowa. As for RB's, Wegher and Robinson, not to mention Iowa was recruiting Jordan B's little brother, need I say more?

The solution isn't as simple as recruiting more players from Iowa, besides the fact that Iowa is still recruiting instate players pretty heavily.
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Our point was more specifically to the lack of developed talent coming from the Des Moines Metro schools (North, East, Hoover, Roosevelt,& Lincoln). What should be a hot bed for recruiting doesn't turn out many D-1 prospects. I think that has to do more with the quality of coaches at those schools rather than a lack of available talent.


Edit: If you look at Iowa's current roster there are 0 players from Des Moines Metro Schools (unless you count Dowling in which there are 3).
 
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kmurp said:
Well, they (WVU) were 7-6 last year so I guess if that's your goal, that would be Ok for you. They also somehow accepted Noel Devine who shouldn't have gotten into community college.
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What is West Virginia's combined record over the last 4 compared to Iowa's over the last 4? I also used West Virginia as an example 'cause they have lots more playmakers than Iowa.
 
HomerChampless said:
Are you saying that football (and, for example, basketball) are sports that African-Americans are more interested in that whites?
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Whether it is interest or natural physical attributes, it is hard to deny that the percentage of black players in both fb and bb in both college and pro is much higher than the percentage of the general population.

Call me a racist,but I firmly believe that black players have an edge in speed,quickness and explosiveness.
Watching the Olympic 100 meter races, it is hard to find many non-blacks in the finals.

I believe that if Iowa had the demographics of Texas,we would recruit better.
 
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