Everyone on here needs to step back, take a deep breath and see the big picture. This is a process. Yesterday, and the last half of this cycle, have been disappointing; but if you thought that Riley (or any other coach for that matter) was going to step into the shit hole that Bo left and just turn everything around in 2-3 years so that we were a perennial top 5 team was just taking too much medication. That might be possible if you're at a program in a talent rich area like Fla, Texas, CA or Ohio, but that has never been the case at Nebraska! Step back and understand the history of the program and look at how Devaney and then Osborne built us into a powerhouse. It took years, and there were a lot of bumps and disappointments along the way.
Someone made a very good post yesterday asking the question about why Michigan and OSU are having so much more success recruiting right now than we are. I read many of the posts and I think a lot of people had a lot of things right, or at least partially so, and a lot of things wrong, or partially so. My answer to the OP can be summarized in one word: momentum.
Back in the 80s & 90s I often harped on the momentum issue and warned that if we ever lost the momentum in the program we could have a very long road back to the top because even then Nebraska wasn't a hotbed of football talent, but that mostly fell on deaf ears because of the success of the time. Here, IMO, is why Michigan and OSU are doing better.
1. They have coaches that recruits recognize and have a positive impression about. The two are actually quite a contrast. Urban would have to come up in any conversation of CFB GOAT Coach of all time. Harbaugh is not someone who I think of as a great coach. He is in many ways the modern Osborne - really great recruiter who teaches fundamental football pretty well but is really limited in his offensive and defensive philosophy. But whatever one's opinion of them are, the public perception is that they are good coaches and a recruit will play in big games if they commit to these guys. Riley, although actually a really good coach, hasn't been at a place as a coach in CFB to build that perception yet, and it's going to take a few years for that to occur here. These recruits' frame of reference on a program/coach is 10 years or less for their own personal experience, and our brand in that time frame is poor, with the history of any program that backs that up of only minimal affect.
2. They are in talent rich areas. Yes, the amount of talent pool in Michigan is a lot different it was 30-40 years ago, and its also true to some degree in Ohio, but there is plenty for both of these teams to develop a good nucleus of a team to draw national recruits to. Furthermore, the hx of the Michigan program is that it has always drawn nearly as much talent to its roster from Ohio as Michigan. Ohio has dropped, but it still is a significant hotbed of talent. Of course, Nebraska does have a talent pool anything like that. To understand this all you have to do is look at the degree of success Saban had at MSU vs LSU and Alabama, and how fast that success occurred.
3. Both are farming areas they have recruited for decades within the Big Ten footprint. Of course that's not the case for Nebraska. In fact, with the coaching changes and Bo's schizophrenic recruiting style we don't have much of an established recruiting footprint anywhere. Get this, and this is critically important, in order to establish such a footprint we are going to need staff stability for several years to come. I agree whole heartedly with the post of one of the HOL staff this week that if there is a rush to judgment and/or Riley does not pan out that Nebraska Football will fall into the abyss, and it will be decades before we are very relevant again, if ever.
4. As a result, momentum and name recognition are vitally important for Nebraska. In the 70s/80s/90s we were usually ranked for years on end, most times had been in the top 10 at some point during the recruiting cycle of each recruit, and had a reputation of "not rebuilding, but reloading." We were therefore attractive to national recruits and known by virtually all of them before we ever made first contact because we had that momentum.
5. They are concentrating on areas where they have a history of success. Michigan's last 2 years have had a huge boost from NJ, and Urban has done very well going back to Florida, etc., etc., etc.
Times are different. Well that's an understatement. Back in the day if a program was on TV 3 or 4 time in a year before bowl season they were the stars of CFB, and if a recruit watched any games at all they knew about you. Even when things got ramped up on TV by the mid 90s there were only 5-7 games on each week. More importantly, there were a lot less distractions for a recruit and they were more likely to watch some of those games. There were less channels for other programming, no twitter, less in the way of video games, etc. Today when I read articles on recruits I see quotes from them sometimes that make me wonder if they've ever watched a game for those programs they are talking about. Today it's much easier to get lost in the crowd and it's going to take a lot longer, or something more significant like a CC to build the momentum.
2016 was Riley & Co.'s first true class. We signed Dismuke, Jackson & POB out of CA; shored up the OL recruiting, including 4 star Farniok, and got some top flight defensive talent. This year we got the Calibraska movement going strong and clearly have a foothold in CA due to the Williamses and other efforts. We are clearly making progress. I know we are all disappointed by the whiffs at OT and DE again this cycle, or what appear at this point may be whiffs, and those spots must be addressed in spades in the 2018 cycle, but it's significant progress nonetheless One month and/or one day isn't going to shape the destiny of the program over the next 10 years. I'm sure the coaching staff is disappointed by how yesterday went down as well; but I can guarantee you that they aren't mulling over radical changes to the program to try a different approach. They are instead digging in, tweaking things sure, but not considering radical makeovers. They're going to finish off this cycle the best they can (in my view Darnay and Calvin are still in play, etc.), and continue to build that momentum.
Next year is indeed a critical year from a recruiting standpoint, not on the field so much. It's critical because recruiting these days isn't a one year cycle anymore but instead at least 2. The staff has put their system in place and the 2018 class will be the first where that system has been in place and working on recruits for a full 2 years, or more. I have faith in this staff and I think we will be a lot more pleased with next year's results, and then the momentum truly begins to build. Patience is indeed a virtue, and it's critically necessary here in order to preserve everyone's perspective, which largely seems to be lost here most of the time.
Someone made a very good post yesterday asking the question about why Michigan and OSU are having so much more success recruiting right now than we are. I read many of the posts and I think a lot of people had a lot of things right, or at least partially so, and a lot of things wrong, or partially so. My answer to the OP can be summarized in one word: momentum.
Back in the 80s & 90s I often harped on the momentum issue and warned that if we ever lost the momentum in the program we could have a very long road back to the top because even then Nebraska wasn't a hotbed of football talent, but that mostly fell on deaf ears because of the success of the time. Here, IMO, is why Michigan and OSU are doing better.
1. They have coaches that recruits recognize and have a positive impression about. The two are actually quite a contrast. Urban would have to come up in any conversation of CFB GOAT Coach of all time. Harbaugh is not someone who I think of as a great coach. He is in many ways the modern Osborne - really great recruiter who teaches fundamental football pretty well but is really limited in his offensive and defensive philosophy. But whatever one's opinion of them are, the public perception is that they are good coaches and a recruit will play in big games if they commit to these guys. Riley, although actually a really good coach, hasn't been at a place as a coach in CFB to build that perception yet, and it's going to take a few years for that to occur here. These recruits' frame of reference on a program/coach is 10 years or less for their own personal experience, and our brand in that time frame is poor, with the history of any program that backs that up of only minimal affect.
2. They are in talent rich areas. Yes, the amount of talent pool in Michigan is a lot different it was 30-40 years ago, and its also true to some degree in Ohio, but there is plenty for both of these teams to develop a good nucleus of a team to draw national recruits to. Furthermore, the hx of the Michigan program is that it has always drawn nearly as much talent to its roster from Ohio as Michigan. Ohio has dropped, but it still is a significant hotbed of talent. Of course, Nebraska does have a talent pool anything like that. To understand this all you have to do is look at the degree of success Saban had at MSU vs LSU and Alabama, and how fast that success occurred.
3. Both are farming areas they have recruited for decades within the Big Ten footprint. Of course that's not the case for Nebraska. In fact, with the coaching changes and Bo's schizophrenic recruiting style we don't have much of an established recruiting footprint anywhere. Get this, and this is critically important, in order to establish such a footprint we are going to need staff stability for several years to come. I agree whole heartedly with the post of one of the HOL staff this week that if there is a rush to judgment and/or Riley does not pan out that Nebraska Football will fall into the abyss, and it will be decades before we are very relevant again, if ever.
4. As a result, momentum and name recognition are vitally important for Nebraska. In the 70s/80s/90s we were usually ranked for years on end, most times had been in the top 10 at some point during the recruiting cycle of each recruit, and had a reputation of "not rebuilding, but reloading." We were therefore attractive to national recruits and known by virtually all of them before we ever made first contact because we had that momentum.
5. They are concentrating on areas where they have a history of success. Michigan's last 2 years have had a huge boost from NJ, and Urban has done very well going back to Florida, etc., etc., etc.
Times are different. Well that's an understatement. Back in the day if a program was on TV 3 or 4 time in a year before bowl season they were the stars of CFB, and if a recruit watched any games at all they knew about you. Even when things got ramped up on TV by the mid 90s there were only 5-7 games on each week. More importantly, there were a lot less distractions for a recruit and they were more likely to watch some of those games. There were less channels for other programming, no twitter, less in the way of video games, etc. Today when I read articles on recruits I see quotes from them sometimes that make me wonder if they've ever watched a game for those programs they are talking about. Today it's much easier to get lost in the crowd and it's going to take a lot longer, or something more significant like a CC to build the momentum.
2016 was Riley & Co.'s first true class. We signed Dismuke, Jackson & POB out of CA; shored up the OL recruiting, including 4 star Farniok, and got some top flight defensive talent. This year we got the Calibraska movement going strong and clearly have a foothold in CA due to the Williamses and other efforts. We are clearly making progress. I know we are all disappointed by the whiffs at OT and DE again this cycle, or what appear at this point may be whiffs, and those spots must be addressed in spades in the 2018 cycle, but it's significant progress nonetheless One month and/or one day isn't going to shape the destiny of the program over the next 10 years. I'm sure the coaching staff is disappointed by how yesterday went down as well; but I can guarantee you that they aren't mulling over radical changes to the program to try a different approach. They are instead digging in, tweaking things sure, but not considering radical makeovers. They're going to finish off this cycle the best they can (in my view Darnay and Calvin are still in play, etc.), and continue to build that momentum.
Next year is indeed a critical year from a recruiting standpoint, not on the field so much. It's critical because recruiting these days isn't a one year cycle anymore but instead at least 2. The staff has put their system in place and the 2018 class will be the first where that system has been in place and working on recruits for a full 2 years, or more. I have faith in this staff and I think we will be a lot more pleased with next year's results, and then the momentum truly begins to build. Patience is indeed a virtue, and it's critically necessary here in order to preserve everyone's perspective, which largely seems to be lost here most of the time.
