OMG! I'm defending June Jones....I think

[Corso]

Of course Texas teams have been built on Texas talent. Kentucky teams traditionally are built on Kentucky talent, Arizona teams are built on Arizona talent ... hell, Hawaii is built on Hawaii talent. Recruiting locally is easier, but that doens't always translate to more successful teams (hell, SMU has proven that over the past couple of decades). But there is absolutely no reason it has to be that way. ponyboy is right — zip code has nothing to do with talent. When Colorado won (shared) the national title, its elite players were from California. The Washington and Oregon schools recruit California heavily. Why? Because there are a lot of very talented players there, more than can fill out the rosters of the California schools. It's not an accident that more and more schools recruit Florida and California, even at the risk of (gasp!) bypassing some in-state players. The best players make the best teams. Auburn didn't go to Texas to find that JUCO quarterback named Newton — it went after the best QB it could find, and he just happened to be from Texas.

[ponyboy]

Unlike others, I don't have my mind made up on this or many other issues. I don't come into these types of conversations (that's what they're supposed to be anyway) with the conclusions already clear to me and ready to defend them at all costs. It's called having an open conversation while weighing all available data so that the truth can be more easily discerned, not winning an argument to show the world how much damned smarter you are than everyone else.

Look, an argument can be made that we need to recruit Texas more heavily. But as Corso points out the logical fallacy of appeal to precedent, i.e. it's never been done before therefore cannot be done, is weak. Give me better reasons than that.

[Wuba]

Unlike others, I don't have my mind made up on this or many other issues. I don't come into these types of conversations (that's what they're supposed to be anyway) with the conclusions already clear to me and ready to defend them at all costs. It's called having an open conversation while weighing all available data so that the truth can be more easily discerned, not winning an argument to show the world how much damned smarter you are than everyone else.

Look, an argument can be made that we need to recruit Texas more heavily. But as Corso points out the logical fallacy of appeal to precedent, i.e. it's never been done before therefore cannot be done, is weak. Give me better reasons than that.

I agree with you that it is not cut and dried. My preconception is that I would prefer that we focused more on Texas for a number of reasons.
1) Generally speaking it has to be easier to convince kids from a given area to stay in that area than it is to convince kids to move across the country (parents want to see them play, etc)
2) Focusing on Texas means building relationships with coaches and schools in the state that will still be there even when one or all of the current SMU coaching staff is gone.
3) I do not have the numbers to prove it, but I feel like it is easier to build momentum for future years by pulling kids from schools in the region than trying to do that from across the country.

That said, I can see the other side of the argument
1) Perhaps SMU is (as has been stated here many times) in a unique situation where we are just not credible enough with top recruits and the people influencing them to garner interest from top recruits in Texas
2) Even if recruiting in California will not help in future years, that does not mean you should not take advantage of the access while you can.
3) We have in fact seen evidence of momentum in california carrying over from 1 year to the next, i.e. Connor Preston and Jordan Payton.

As for Stallion's oh so pleasantly worded question about whether any school in Texas has ever succeeded not recruiting primarily in Texas, I would ask him to name a school in Texas that ever tried not recruiting primarily in Texas. Pretty sure it has never been tried before.

[Charleston Pony]

I think the "credibility in Texas" comment might be a factor, or it certainly was in the past...but it's time we step up and compete with Big XII schools and TCU for local talent. We need to keep the "winning" momentum going to get the attention of more locals.

Meanwhile...nothing wrong with having a broader appeal...and hopefully a recruiting budget to match

[smudubs]

a lot of excuse making on here for a Super-Star 2 Million Dollar, nationally visible Coach in his 4th year who didn't bother to hire Coaches with strong Texas ties. Is June Jones admitting he can't do what it took Franchione/Patterson 1/2 year to get rolling in Texas with their coaching staffs filled with experienced Texas recruiters.

This is laughable. Your argument ignores entirely the damage to the program that Cavan and Bennett created. When June and staff got here we had no talent or depth. Further the kids did not believe they could win. While TCU went 1-10 the year before Fran's arrival, that team had talent. It's not as hard to turn a program around when you inherit LT and a defense that sent several players to the N.F.L. Given your love of all things purple, I would have thought you would recognize that. Don't spew this BS as gospel and proclaim everyone else here is uninformed.

Our biggest recruiting concern has to be what will we do when AK leaves. With the exception of Reinbold, it does not appear that the remainder of coaching staff is making inroads anywhere. That's more troubling than where we are focusing our recruiting efforts.

[smudubs]

One more note: Nine kids were drafted from TCU between 1998-2002. That was base that Fran had to work with when he arrived at TCU. This does not include undrafted free agents. Only three of Bennett's recruits have been drafted.

[Stallion]

Oh come on-here comes the Death Penalty excuse makers again. I'm talking right now. SMU has won 15 games in the last 2 years.We've won a Bowl Game and a Division Championship. We have a 2 Million Dollar a year Coach with excellent facilities-much better than TCU had-a better campus, school, alumni and city. Our situation right now is better than TCU's was in 1998 except that TCU hired a Coaching Staff with strong Texas roots. Despite what some might think the Admission Model is more than a school like SMU could hope for-we can admit just about all recruits that have any business being in any College. Time to Cowboy up and stop making outdated excuses. Can we get some Coaches in here that want to sell what we have. The criticism is not that they tried and failed- its that they failed to even make a minimal attempt in Texas. You can sugarcoat it all you want but SMU mailed it in this year in Texas recruiting-you're not likely to get commitments from recruits you never offer. Again we have 12 offers out in Texas-about half of which are committed elsewhere.

[ponyscott]

I am with Stallion on this issue. He is not always the gospel on Recruiting, but he does know more than most here and no we are all not stupid and un-informed about recruiting in general, but he is right on here.

[smudubs]

Oh come on-here comes the Death Penalty excuse makers again.

Never once did I mention the DP. You and I agree on that one. The kids we are recruiting now were not even alive when that happened so we all need to move on. I also don't necessarily disagree with you regarding recruiting. My post was intend to point out the fallacy of your argument. Just look at the 2001 draft alone. If you believe that JJ inherited a better situation than Fran did, I have to ask where I can buy some of what you are smoking.

Interestingly, when JJ arrived he said his recruiting philosophy would be similar to what TCU has done. Like a lot of you, I assumed that meant he would focus locally. I don't think that he has deviated significantly from that philosophy considering that the majority of our signees last year were from Texas. Further you can't deny the quality of the past couple of recruiting classes. The man has done something that no other coach has been able to do, so I think we have to trust him.

[stc9]

I disagree on this issue. We need talent and we need it now. If the coaching staff has pipelines it used from their last school, then they should use them.

I am not suggesting we ignore recruiting in Texas, that would be shear stupidity. But I think its crazy to latch onto this one aspect of recruiting to work ourselves up about. We all knew the JJ didn't have Texas roots when he took the job.

As for no Texas University being successful without predominantly Texas rosters. No School in Texas has ever ignored their football program like we have. This isn't a DP issue, this is a Ken Pye issue. Ken Pye turned a Division I Atheltic Department into Division III Atheltic Department. Long after our DP. Turner carried this on for the majority of his time at SMU. Rebuilding the football program in his last years as President is an attempt to leave another legacy.

We will become a Texas power in recruiting. But as they say, "We need to make our bones first."

[One Trick Pony]

find waldo

[PK]

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=52946

[Pony_Law]

I don't understand why you guys feel like we don't recruit texas. isn't 2/3rds of our incoming class from tx?

[ponyboy]

17 of 27 2011 signees are from Texas. They are making the argument based on Rivals' record of who we've offered this recruiting season (2012).

[Vitale]

I disagree on this issue. We need talent and we need it now. If the coaching staff has pipelines it used from their last school, then they should use them.

Exactly.