SWC Recruiting Offer/Commitment Summary

[RE Tycoon]

This kind of ties into my feelings on the season prediction thread. People are predicting a 6-6 season and losses to any team with a heartbeat...when are we going to expect more from one of the highest paid coaches in the country. I haven't seen an updated list, but recently he was in the top 20 in salary.

When can we expect him to recruit with the bottom BCS teams in the region? If he gets the WR trio from CA and pulls in some other studs, I won't care that they aren't Texans, but I do worry about this strategy long term.

I appreciate what he's done for the program, but I'm not satisfied. In my mind, it's BCS Bowl or bust every year.

[Mexmustang]

We have too many position coaches that aren't allowed to recruit or simply aren't recruiting--they occupy positions that young agressive coaches from Texas could be hired into. Unless we get one or two additonal recruiters June won't get there. He just doesn't have enough contacts to feed him sleepers, the NCAA won't permit him marginal and academic casualties, and the school won't give him many "second chance kid" opportunities.

Unfortunately, Texas recruiting is under a nationwide microscope. A school like SMU is going to have to do it the old fashioned way, build long-term relationships with high school coaches and play the game of large numbers--start identifying and contacting young hs sophomores when they are fifteen, add and subtract from that number at sixteen, refine that number and make your offers at seventeen, i.e., 20-30 relationships equal 6-10 offers; 6-10 offers equal 2 commitments, 2 commitments, might equal 1 player.

[Stallion]

I always say if you are getting 1 out of 4-5 of the players you really want then you are doing great in recruiting. Probably more like 1 in 10(if not higher) of the players in the Top 100. Most of those kids have 10-20 offers

[GiddyUp]

All about the numbers - can't hit anything if you aren't swinging. I agree with Stallion 100% on this one.

[perryhall]

June Jones is doing just fine. You guys need to take a cold shower. June is improving our recruiting class by class and it doenst matter where they are from, just that we win. I dont car if we sign two kids from Texas if we are winning.

[PonyKai]

June Jones is doing just fine. You guys need to take a cold shower. June is improving our recruiting class by class and it doenst matter where they are from, just that we win. I dont car if we sign two kids from Texas if we are winning.

7-7, lost to a dreadful Army team, and less than 72 hours before the game he "interviews" with Maryland. Excuse me if I want the coaching staff to be building pipelines in the state our school is dependent upon to win consistently year in and year out.

[78pony]

June Jones. What a blessing for this program. The right guy at the right time for SMU. Look at the progress we've made in such a short time. However, I don’t get the feeling that all is perfect in Camelot.

Here is what my take on the situation.

Recruiting is the lifeblood of any program and we have been fortunate to have one of the nation's best recruiters with us for a couple of years. Coach Klemm is a young, articulate, aggressive, smart coach with an NFL pedigree. He has been linked to more recruits this year (to date) than the rest of the staff combined. His success in the past is almost a moot point for the sake of this post. We know that Klemm was recently named recruiting coordinator, but I suspect that his role hasn’t changed (at least yet). Maybe he was just given the title so that they can boost his pay or keep him at SMU. There is also the chance that he may have some good and innovative ideas, but you have to wonder if the older/established coaches on the staff are willing to listen to someone who they perceive to be young and inexperienced in comparison.

Rivals and Scout do a great job of talking with the recruits. Read the articles. The kid's words often tell a fairly detailed story. In many instances the parents also chime in with a Klemm story. The recruiting services do not rely on the schools to provide information about who they are recruiting, offers extended, etc. Taking the schools word would be just a forum for self-promotion.

There is a two hour time difference in CA and there is little doubt that Klemm realizes that his day isn't over just because it's past business hours in Dallas. A recruit or several have noted in interviews on this and other web sites that he has contacted them well into the night PST. All indicators suggest he wants to be the best and he's willing to put in the effort to get there. Bottom line: it's called hard work and there is no substitute for it.

Everybody uses what tools they have. In this instance, Klemm uses contacts made from growing up in SoCal, to those made in college and the NFL. Klemm goes to great lengths to keep relationships fresh and current. In other words, he works at it.

Texas kids, Cali kids, Florida kids, whatever. It's simple. We have had much better success in CA because we have our best recruiter, our hardest worker, our hungriest coach looking to make a name in the profession taking advantage of his superior contacts, and relating well to 18 year old kids as a young coach who made the NFL, made a little money, at one time lived in their 'hood,' understands their problems and can speak their language. Then top it off with the educational element that is driven home with the parents and family and...bingo, a pretty tight and impressive presentation.

Do we want to do the same things in recruiting Texas? Sure. Is it getting done? No (at least not yet). Can Klemm bail out and make up ground for the rest of the staff? Probably to a degree, but certainly not fully. He has his own territory and it takes time and effort to work distant locales such as CA, OH and other states where he has recruits on the line, and he now has recruiting coordinator responsibilities as well.


Klemm has demonstrated he can do it all when it comes to recruiting. From first contact to close. We need him and we need other aggressive and motivated coaches on the recruiting trail (young probably wouldn’t hurt either). I won't speak to what I perceive to be the recruiting qualifications and efforts of our other coaches. But I have unanswered questions in my mind regarding our other assistants. Are they motivated? Do they put in the time and effort? Do they try to work with each other to make sure everybody is on the same page? Do they really know what it takes to recruit an 18 year old kid? Can they evaluate talent? Do they spend extra time trying to learn how to be a better recruiter? Do they feel any degree of accountability related to their recruiting success? Is on the field coaching the only criteria used for evaluation? How active a role does JJ play in the day to day process?

As Mustang fans, I imagine some have already considered these/similar issues, and if so, you may have connected your own dots. I know I have.

[ponyscott]

Its obvious that Klemm is swinging hard for the fences on top recruits in his territory out west and now has a title to match his success......that's a lot of responsibility for one coach/recruiter. We hope the recruiting in all area's including Texas are kept at a high level of effort from all coaches to keep the recruiting momentum as the 2012 student athletes make their college choices. Texas is our lucrative football back yard and should be the foundation for all recruiting efforts. California, Louisiana and the rest of the country should just be the icing on the cake.

[Pony Fan]

I agree with 78pony that we clearly have some coaches that work harder at recruiting that others. Coach Klemm is spending hours upon hours scouring the country looking for players that will make us better. I think making him recruiting coordinator was a brilliant move on Coach Jones part. I would love to get our share of the BEST players in Texas but at this point, we are not yet going to compete with Oklahoma, Texas, A&M and other more high profile schools, but we will get our share of the same ones that tcu built their program on. They are now trying to compete with Texas, et.al on the BEST kids and they may get some. However, we are going to places to recruit where SMU is getting good rapport with the high school coaches (due to our coaches that are recruiting hard in those areas). I am perfectly fine with our current recruiting strategy if that is going to make us a better team on the field.

[Mexmustang]

Klemm's biggest problem, just might might be as the rookie on the staff without any NFL coaching experience, the older coaches won't take his direction in terms of recruiting. Again having only 4-5 Texas offers out by the other seven coaches isn't part of any plan, but the effort.

[ponyboy]

Do you actually have any real information on what the plan is? Anything more than conjecture?

It's amazing to me how people will invent their own little worlds then walk around in them as if they really exist.

[PK]

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=52946

[78pony]

Nice link. Glad to hear JR is on the road in DFW. Here's wishing him the success that we need locally. Tone of the tweet is interesting, almost like working DFW area is a novel idea or one that has not been overworked. Whatever the case may be, go get the DFW kids and make inroads with their coaches.

[GiddyUp]

Lookie, lookie - some developments in the local area

http://smu.rivals.com/default.asp?type=2

[Stallion]

Monthly Update-5/17/2011

1. Baylor-83 Offers 71 Texans 12 Others= 7 Commitments
2. A&M-73 Offers 50 Texans 23 Others = 23 Commitments
3. Tech-74 Offers 48 Texans 26 Others= 7 Commitments
4. Houston-51 Offers 45 Texans 6 Others= 8 Commitments
5. SMU -50 Offers 18 TEXANS 32 Others= 4 Commitments
6. TCU-42 Offers 35 Texans 7 Others = 11 Commitments
7. Texas-34 Offers 24 Texans 10 Others= 16 Commitments
8. Rice 29 Offers 28 Texans 1 Others= 3 Commitments


Texans Only:
1. Baylor-71
2. A&M-50
3. Texas Tech- 48
4. Houston -45
5. TCU 35
6. Rice 28
7. Texas 24
8. SMU-18