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HuskerInTexas said:
My general feeling is that people will pay money for stuff that they feel is worthwhile, even if they don't have much of it. So to answer your question, I think it's starting with relationship building and because these kids not only feel like Nebraska is an up-and-comer, they're also able to convince their parents of the same.

That being said, it is interesting how many kids we are pulling from private schools or semi-wealthy areas. The Calabasas crew, the IMG guys, all of the different prep schools being targeted..
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This is a big part of it. I do however think the Bo cam hurt the previous staff as well. Right or wrong Bo was portrayed nationally as a maniacal bully. Parents today for the most part do not want their kids playing for a coach like that. whether the kid plays or not they want their kid treated with respect. The public face of Bo hurt him.

That and instead of working with the administration to improve the recruiting staff they complained to the press and bad mouthed them. You can't get help unless you ask.
 

In my simplest of opinions, recruiting is like selling. I'm not a salesperson, but isn't selling mostly about attitude. If you're excited about selling a product and committed to that product, you will be a better salesperson than someone with a negative attitude (whether it's a lack of excitement and/or lack of commitment to that product).

For that reason, I consider Riley a far better recruiter than Pelini. I think that is hard for most anyone to dispel.

However, recruiting is also just one responsibility of many for a college football head coach.
 
Blue Howl said:
I agree with your concerns. It mystifies me that a veteran staff seems to have made so many "rookie" mistakes. If that continues, we can recruit all the 4 star talent in the world but will never really achieve a lot of success.
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Just for the record. Other than MR & Cav it is hard to call this staff veteran anymore. Langs is in his third year as a play caller. All of the other veteran guys were put out to pasture... rightly so. Young energetic replacements were brought in. That is one of the things helping recruiting.
 
djlhuskerfan said:
I have given your post a lot of thought. Looking over the last two years, I recall only 2 games in which we were seriously out athleted (if that's a word!) OSU and probably Oregon. We got lucky with Oregon because of the head coaches dislike of his extra point kicker. Wisconsin, Iowa, Northwestern, Illinois, Purdue, BYU etc. we had equal or better talent. We lost because of poor game planning, clock management, injuries etc. I seriously want Nebraska to be successful! I appreciate this staff's ability to recruit but I am at a point they need to prove it on the field. Two years ago the clock management issues were just unacceptable from a veteran staff. I don't want to come off as a negative nelly, but we have some serious issues to overcome and recruiting really isn't going to fix it.
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This brings to mind that well used phrase "It is necessary but not sufficient."

The recruiting is now moving to a state that is needed for success, but in and of itself is not sufficient to put W's on the board. You need great coaching, which is also necessary but in and of itself is not sufficient. You also need the right culture/attitude, which is necessary but not sufficient. Sufficiency, as measured by W's and Championships requires all aspects to exist and be of high quality. And then you need a little luck as well!

The coaching has improved each year with HCMR. As many have noted we may, or may not be there yet on all fronts, but there have been some impressive improvements in the past year.

Culture/Attitude may be the most challenging. IMHO the culture needed dramatic change when HCMR was hired. It is a process that takes time and effort to achieve. I don't know if it is there yet, but it has been dramatically improved with HCMR and I think with the addition of some of the new coaches (Diaco).

My opinion is that things are headed in the right direction. Our recruiting is moving to a "Championship Quality", our coaches continue to improve, and our culture is getting better each year.

When HCMR was hired my first comment to friends was that it would be the 2018 season before you saw the "New Huskers" because it takes time to make the necessary changes. Unfortunately 2018 turns out to be one of our toughest schedules in some time. And in spite of the experts view of the 2017 Huskers I expect to see some good results.

GBR!
 



If I'm thinking of the same article, most of the quotes were from Els IIRC. His most prestigious job pre-NU was Ohio and he had recruited to Hastings. I don't think he was accustomed to this kind of talent, much less asking them to come to Nebraska for a visit.

You'd think Bo, being at LSU and OU and playing for osu, would have a good grasp of the necessary to compete at a high level. Of course, LSU and OU could recruit their 500 radius and come out with top 10 classes most every year (maybe a bit more for OU to get enough of Texas.) Getting a kid to drive up the gulf coast is undoubtedly easier then getting them fly 1800 miles.

As far as the new staff, Riley likes recruiting better than Bo. I don't think that's a knock on Bo, it just is what it is. He looks like a guy who just genuinely enjoys meeting all of these kids and their families. It's like the commitment is almost secondary. His relationships with guys like KJ really got the ball rolling too.

When you look at the assistants I think the energy level of most of the current guys is a notch above the previous group. Your OC coached a Manning in the NFL, pros come to Lincoln to train with the WR coach, and your DC produced a top D at ND and put guys in the pros. Williams, Williams, and Bray seem like they can flat out sell anything and they know it.

Seems like energy level on the trail got turnt up from a 6 to an 11 & these assistants have swag that the last group didn't.
 
Riley started by hiring people he was comfortable with. He canned those who weren't getting the job done (I suspect we may have a new OL coach and RB coach next year if the trend continues) and hired recruiters and people with fire. Bo didn't can anyone based on their coaching ability and wasn't hiring recruiters. He even fired one that was recruiter of the year because he wasn't one of his buds. Riley hires coaches and turns em loose...Bo hired who he could control
 
At one time the term "unique selling proposition", or "USP", was a popular phrase for describing the niche that any product or service needed to carve out for itself if it hoped to drive sales and be successful. And lots of research and marketing dollars have been spent over the years creating and leveraging USPs for companies. Sometimes these UPS are legitimate differentiators, and other times USPs are created in parity categories by simply talking louder and more consistently about your claim than your competition.

I'm not sure how Pelini and team approached the challenge of selling Nebraska football, but I feel that Mike Reilly and team have developed a vision and USP for the football program, and are communicating a focused and consistent message via an aggressive and modern marketing plan. It seems to focus on a combination of a "return to greatness" and "only in Nebraska" message, and it seems like the program is doing a great job of using digital media in creative ways to get the message out.
 




utsker said:
Riley started by hiring people he was comfortable with. He canned those who weren't getting the job done (I suspect we may have a new OL coach and RB coach next year if the trend continues) and hired recruiters and people with fire. Bo didn't can anyone based on their coaching ability and wasn't hiring recruiters. He even fired one that was recruiter of the year because he wasn't one of his buds. Riley hires coaches and turns em loose...Bo hired who he could control
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I have to wonder how important it is for our running back to be a good recruiter. Our running backs haven't been horrible and he really doesn't have control over the offense. Seems like it should be a cooperative effort with the OC and the head coach and running backs coach. Our OL coach seems to be able to recruit well enough but haven't seen big results on the field. Hopefully that will change with more players. And we always used to have success with instate backs that didn't need to be recruited really hard. We fell into Bradley last year and maybe Moses Bryant this year
 
Greatest Fan of All said:
If you don't believe that you can get great athletes to come to Lincoln, you won't make the effort necessary to get the job done. If you do believe it, anything is possible.
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Lots of truth to this. How can you sell something that you yourself don't believe in? The current staff believes they can get top-level talent to Lincoln and they are proving themselves to be right. If this increased talent equates into big time wins, the sales pitch gets easier because the top recruits are already going to be interested.
 



Red Reign said:
I have nothing to add because the posts have been so stellar thus far in this thread. :)

Good job one and all as I can not think of much anything i can disagree with. Great conversation. :)
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Really nice to discuss Husker football with out the personal attacks!! Several different points of view!
 
djlhuskerfan said:
I have to wonder how important it is for our running back to be a good recruiter. Our running backs haven't been horrible and he really doesn't have control over the offense. Seems like it should be a cooperative effort with the OC and the head coach and running backs coach. Our OL coach seems to be able to recruit well enough but haven't seen big results on the field. Hopefully that will change with more players. And we always used to have success with instate backs that didn't need to be recruited really hard. We fell into Bradley last year and maybe Moses Bryant this year
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I'm not as concerned about OL recruiting as some are, but I think your last sentence speaks to your first. IMO Bryant would still be a reach for a class RB. I'm a big fan and would like to have him, but I wouldn't rank him up there with the big boys. And with Bradley, really, what were his options? I think Reggie's a good coach (like I would know), so I don't know that we need a gangbusters recruiter like the Williams' guys. That said, we're looking for a guy to evaluate and build relationships so we can get one guy each year. Part of me wants DL to help him out more, but part of me says if RD can't build that relationship that DL is clearly building with his QBs, why are those top backs going to want to be coached by him day in and day out?
 

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