Best thing to happen to Pitt recruiting

[Saboteur]

The lack of abundant talent in Western PA (with a couple exceptions) has forced Pitt to expand it's recruiting footprint.
Instead of playing second fiddle to Penn State or being tagged with "I can always transfer back to Pitt" attitudes, Narduzzi can now pick from a deeper and wider talent pool.
It's been a blessing in disguise.

 

[cashisking884]

It really hasn’t. Having to expand a recruiting footprint to far away is the worst thing that can happen to any program. Very few can recover from it.

 

[PittMan 72]

Also having some stability at the HC spot has provided time to develop relationships that are so important in recruiting. Really helps when the same HC can start evaluating and recruiting prospects as early as HS FR.

The revolving door and resultant instability w/r/t head coaches was being used as a powerful negative recruiting tool against Pitt.

Additionally the consistent and relatively competitive revenue stream provided by being a member of the ACC has provided a competent athletic director to be able To provide the program with a better chance to hire and retain what appears to be a better recruiting overall staff.

Now PN has to validate himself by continuing to win more and recruit the kind of talent he needs to compete for ACC championships.

 

[wolf0717]

Also having some stability at the HC spot has provided time to develop relationships that are so important in recruiting. Really helps when the same HC can start evaluating and recruiting prospects as early as HS FR.

The revolving door and resultant instability w/r/t head coaches was being used as a powerful negative recruiting tool against Pitt.

Additionally the consistent and relatively competitive revenue stream provided by being a member of the ACC has provided a competent athletic director to be able To provide the program with a better chance to hire and retain what appears to be a better recruiting overall staff.

Now PN has to validate himself by continuing to win more and recruit the kind of talent he needs to compete for ACC championships.

The lack of abundant talent in Western PA (with a couple exceptions) has forced Pitt to expand it's recruiting footprint.
Instead of playing second fiddle to Penn State or being tagged with "I can always transfer back to Pitt" attitudes, Narduzzi can now pick from a deeper and wider talent pool.
It's been a blessing in disguise.

WHEN ARE PEOPLE GOING TO FINALLY GET IT-OUR LOCAL POPULATION HAS DIMINISHED, KIDS ARE MIGRATING TO OTHER SPORTS, AND THE YOUTH OF TODAY DOESN'T WANT TO WORK HARD!

 

[pitt90seven]

WHEN ARE PEOPLE GOING TO FINALLY GET IT-OUR LOCAL POPULATION HAS DIMINISHED, KIDS ARE MIGRATING TO OTHER SPORTS, AND THE YOUTH OF TODAY DOESN'T WANT TO WORK HARD!

you aren't around kids today, obviously. these kids work on sports WAAYYYY more than they did 10, 20 years ago. WAY more.

 

[PittMan 72]

WHEN ARE PEOPLE GOING TO FINALLY GET IT-OUR LOCAL POPULATION HAS DIMINISHED, KIDS ARE MIGRATING TO OTHER SPORTS, AND THE YOUTH OF TODAY DOESN'T WANT TO WORK HARD!

I think most observant and reasonable fans of Pitt FB do know that.

It requires hard work, diligence, adaptation and adjustment to the current situation.

 

[steelcurtain55.]

you aren't around kids today, obviously. these kids work on sports WAAYYYY more than they did 10, 20 years ago. WAY more.

I'm around them and I think more programs push off-season workouts than 20-30 years ago.

The biggest difference from 30 years ago was football was the safety net. It was looked at as the only way out for social mobility. That has changed dramatically over years and not for the best.

 

[pittdan77]

The lack of abundant talent in Western PA (with a couple exceptions) has forced Pitt to expand it's recruiting footprint.
Instead of playing second fiddle to Penn State or being tagged with "I can always transfer back to Pitt" attitudes, Narduzzi can now pick from a deeper and wider talent pool.
It's been a blessing in disguise.

It's only a blessing if the WPIAL talent starts to improve, become more abundant, AND starts coming to Pitt.

 

[Macchiato]

It really hasn’t. Having to expand a recruiting footprint to far away is the worst thing that can happen to any program. Very few can recover from it.[/QUOTE

Please explain some more why you feels recruiting outside of your area is bad. Great teams recruit nationally. If we want to be great then we should do the same

 

[President Stache]

The lack of abundant talent in Western PA (with a couple exceptions) has forced Pitt to expand it's recruiting footprint.
Instead of playing second fiddle to Penn State or being tagged with "I can always transfer back to Pitt" attitudes, Narduzzi can now pick from a deeper and wider talent pool.
It's been a blessing in disguise.

also this staff is clearly GOOD at doing just that. It’s been so refreshing to see kids from all over choosing our school, and legit solid players too.

 

[cashisking884]

Great teams do not recruit “nationally.” There’s a reason why southern teams dominate college football. They primarily recruit the south.

The further you have to go for talent, the less talent you’re going to have. It’s just too difficult to go far away and pull big time talent.

 

[Saboteur]

It's only a blessing if the WPIAL talent starts to improve, become more abundant, AND starts coming to Pitt.

Part one is a pipe dream.

 

[pittzap]

Great teams do not recruit “nationally.” There’s a reason why southern teams dominate college football. They primarily recruit the south.

The further you have to go for talent, the less talent you’re going to have. It’s just too difficult to go far away and pull big time talent.

Yes they do. The better teams teams in the country get talent all over the place, even if the bulk may come from one area.

But you are now trying to compare Western PA with “the South”?! The original post used Western Pa as the barometer. You used a whole area of the country. There is way more talent in the South, which is why those teams recruit that area. When there is not much talent in “your” area, you have to expand.

 

[pitt90seven]

Great teams do not recruit “nationally.” There’s a reason why southern teams dominate college football. They primarily recruit the south.

The further you have to go for talent, the less talent you’re going to have. It’s just too difficult to go far away and pull big time talent.

yes, notre dame, historically, gets all of their players from northern indiana.

 

[Saboteur]

Great teams do not recruit “nationally.” There’s a reason why southern teams dominate college football. They primarily recruit the south.

The further you have to go for talent, the less talent you’re going to have. It’s just too difficult to go far away and pull big time talent.

Ok....let's look at Ohio State, the only program in the north to actually contend for and win a national championship (2014) since...well since they won in 2003. Before that you have to go to Michigan in '97 and before that Notre Dame in 1988.

That is abysmal if you like northern college football.

Ohio State gets its stars from the south.
Bosa brothers FL
Elliott MO
Fields GA
Haskins MD
Ed George PHILLY


OSU current roster has 8 from Texas, 5 from California, 5 from FL, 5 from Jersey, 5 from Missouri, 4 from GA, 4 from Tennessee. They even have a guy from Idaho!

2 from PA.

It's apples to oranges. Northern teams must recruit nationally. The teams in the south can recruit locally because they have the deepest talent pool. Just ask the NFL.

 

[Panther Parrothead]

you aren't around kids today, obviously. these kids work on sports WAAYYYY more than they did 10, 20 years ago. WAY more.

I feel sorry for a lot of kids today. Too many are being pressured to be “one-sport athletes”. I know of kids who play for elite soccer & hockey teams, and their coaches pressure them to devote themselves to that sport - and that sport only - or risk being replaced.

Wrestling and basketball, which used to be what good athletes did between football and baseball seasons, have become year-round sports as well.

Orthopedic surgeons are reporting that many kids are developing injuries (related to the repetitive use of the same muscle groups) that never used to appear until adulthood.

 

[cashisking884]

Ok....let's look at Ohio State, the only program in the north to actually contend for and win a national championship (2014) since...well since they won in 2003. Before that you have to go to Michigan in '97 and before that Notre Dame in 1988.

That is abysmal if you like northern college football.

Ohio State gets its stars from the south.
Bosa brothers FL
Elliott MO
Fields GA
Haskins MD
Ed George PHILLY


OSU current roster has 8 from Texas, 5 from California, 5 from FL, 5 from Jersey, 5 from Missouri, 4 from GA, 4 from Tennessee. They even have a guy from Idaho!

2 from PA.

It's apples to oranges. Northern teams must recruit nationally. The teams in the south can recruit locally because they have the deepest talent pool. Just ask the NFL.

You are making a completely different point than I am making.

You said it’s great that Pitt has to recruit nationally. It’s objectively not. By your very post, it’s not. Northern teams almost without fail, suck. They suck because they have to recruit nationally.

If you want to argue that Pitt has to go far away to recruit if it wants to have a team capable of even going 7-5, that’s fine. I’ll concede that point for sake of this discussion.

But my point is that it sucks that the program does have to recruit nationally, because that puts a serious cap on how good the program can be.
I’d much rather be UNC, a program looking at a top 10 class and Mack Brown probably never had to get on an airplane to get it.

 

[cashisking884]

yes, notre dame, historically, gets all of their players from northern indiana.

Such a great point. I’m glad you posted it.

 

[cashisking884]

Yes they do. The better teams teams in the country get talent all over the place, even if the bulk may come from one area.

But you are now trying to compare Western PA with “the South”?! The original post used Western Pa as the barometer. You used a whole area of the country. There is way more talent in the South, which is why those teams recruit that area. When there is not much talent in “your” area, you have to expand.

Huh?
Once again, you’ll seem to be arguing that Pitt *has* to go far away to recruit because it has no choice.
If you and I were stuck on an island with no food, I’d probably have to eat you. That doesn’t mean it doens’t suck and doesn’t present a horrible situation.

The further you have to go, the more your talent is going to suck. There are few teams this does not apply to, and we aren’t one fo them. Period. Whether that’s just the reality that we have to live with, is irrelevant to that.

Not having local talent, caps the ceiling to the program. Our recruiting classes are only going to be so good, and the talent on the team is going to be a tier or two below other teams in our conference, let alone college football. That sucks.

 

[pitt-girl]

Huh?
Once again, you’ll seem to be arguing that Pitt *has* to go far away to recruit because it has no choice.
If you and I were stuck on an island with no food, I’d probably have to eat you. That doesn’t mean it doens’t suck and doesn’t present a horrible situation.

The further you have to go, the more your talent is going to suck. There are few teams this does not apply to, and we aren’t one fo them. Period. Whether that’s just the reality that we have to live with, is irrelevant to that.

Not having local talent, caps the ceiling to the program. Our recruiting classes are only going to be so good, and the talent on the team is going to be a tier or two below other teams in our conference, let alone college football. That sucks.

So to sum this up, our talent sucks. Okay. Got it.

 

[cashisking884]

So to sum this up, our talent sucks. Okay. Got it.

It’s about at the level of the rest of the college football that has to go far away to recruit. I’m not sure what would have given anybody the impression that it isn’t? The constant 10 win seasons?

College football can basically broken down into three groups: teams that recruit within a geographic footprint of their campus, Ohio State, and everybody else.

 

[pitt-girl]

It’s about at the level of the rest of the college football that has to go far away to recruit. I’m not sure what would have given anybody the impression that it isn’t? The constant 10 win seasons?

College football can basically broken down into three groups: teams that recruit within a geographic footprint of their campus, Ohio State, and everybody else.

And Notre Dame.

 

[cashisking884]

And Notre Dame.

Notre Dame hasn’t seriously contended for a NC since the early ‘90s. Even the year they played Bama, most would agree that Bama-UGA in the SECC was the actual national championship.

 

[pitt-girl]

Notre Dame hasn’t seriously contended for a NC since the early ‘90s. Even the year they played Bama, most would agree that Bama-UGA in the SECC was the actual national championship.

Wow - you've seriously narrowed yourself to maybe a handful of teams. As a fan of one of the other P5 teams not in that circle, I can see where you'd be very frustrated.

 

[pittmeister]

Notre Dame hasn’t seriously contended for a NC since the early ‘90s. Even the year they played Bama, most would agree that Bama-UGA in the SECC was the actual national championship.

I’m trying to follow your thinking on this....So, Pitt should focus more on landing WPIAL kids and less on looking in Florida, Georgia, and Virginia for players? I understand what your saying that it’s not a good thing to be shut out close to home, however there have only been a few players in the area that became stars elsewhere.

 

[steelcurtain55.]

Great teams do not recruit “nationally.”

Interesting - that every single SEC school I've encountered does recruit nationally. So much so, that if you're a looking to coach at Bama or Georgia and you don't have a hotspot or go-to spot in a specific region outside of the traditional recruiting grounds, your chance of getting a job at the school is slim to none.

The SEC schools don't have to "live" off of non-SEC regions to field a quality program but best believe they have a guy working every hotbed in the country because they know it's those few kids that get them over the hump vs. elite competition.

 

[cashisking884]

Interesting - that every single SEC school I've encountered does recruit nationally. So much so, that if you're a looking to coach at Bama or Georgia and you don't have a hotspot or go-to spot in a specific region outside of the traditional recruiting grounds, your chance of getting a job at the school is slim to none.

The SEC schools don't have to "live" off of non-SEC regions to field a quality program but best believe they have a guy working every hotbed in the country because they know it's those few kids that get them over the hump vs. elite competition.

What SEC program doesn’t live off the south?
I’m not arguing that SEC programs don’t literally recruit any player that isn’t in the south. So you telling me they focus on a few hot beds and try to steal a 5* from Hawaii, has nothing to do with my point.

 

[cashisking884]

I’m trying to follow your thinking on this....So, Pitt should focus more on landing WPIAL kids and less on looking in Florida, Georgia, and Virginia for players? I understand what your saying that it’s not a good thing to be shut out close to home, however there have only been a few players in the area that became stars elsewhere.

My point is it isn’t a blessing that the majority of the class has to come from far away.

We’re aren’t going to go far away and land a 4* class. The only hope we ever have to do that is if the local talent base provided us with enough talent to do that. And it doesn’t. That isn’t a blessing. It’s a curse. It seals our fate. As it does most of college football’s I’m afraid.
That’s my only point.

 

[cashisking884]

Wow - you've seriously narrowed yourself to maybe a handful of teams. As a fan of one of the other P5 teams not in that circle, I can see where you'd be very frustrated.

I haven’t, that’s just college football.
You can find lots of threads on this board with posters advocating college football needs more heavy regulation as a way to level the playing field, because it’s the same few teams every year.
I’m against any such regulation, but the posters in those threads are correct. It’s the same few teams every year. And that’s for a reason.

 

[Saboteur]

You are making a completely different point than I am making.

You said it’s great that Pitt has to recruit nationally. It’s objectively not. By your very post, it’s not. Northern teams almost without fail, suck. They suck because they have to recruit nationally.

If you want to argue that Pitt has to go far away to recruit if it wants to have a team capable of even going 7-5, that’s fine. I’ll concede that point for sake of this discussion.

But my point is that it sucks that the program does have to recruit nationally, because that puts a serious cap on how good the program can be.
I’d much rather be UNC, a program looking at a top 10 class and Mack Brown probably never had to get on an airplane to get it.

Ok. Recruit locally if you must.
Good luck to Youngstown State, because that is the roster you are going to fill.
While you're at it, stop by Forbes Field and catch a double-header. Should be a good day to catch two.

 

[cashisking884]

Ok. Recruit locally if you must.
Good luck to Youngstown State, because that is the roster you are going to fill.
While you're at it, stop by Forbes Field and catch a double-header. Should be a good day to catch two.

You’re lost here.

You keep wanting to tell me that Pitt must recruit nationally to field a team with a pulse due to the local football talent. I keep conceding that point. So I have no idea why you keep making it?

 

[pbrad]

All the great teams recruit nationally, they may get the majority of talent within 100-150 miles of campus, but they recruit and get commits nationally. The reason they get the good national recruits is they have the best recruiters and closers (and the most money).