National Championship Recruiting

[nebcountry]

So is it coaching or recruiting that makes National Champion teams? I would guess it takes both.

Can just some average coaching staff walk into NU and recruit at a level of previous National Champs. I would guess "no". I do think an average coaching staff should be able to get us routinely into the top 20 in recruiting (just my opinion).

With the championship playoff in place, It's my opinion that "put the stars on the players" teams will have an even lower chance of winning it all (i.e. more games to win, more games to win against the highest level of competition). Not only do we need to win a conference championship against the "best" team from the other division, but we would also need to win two more games against 2 of the top teams in the NATION. Other than a low probability anomaly, a national championship is nothing more then a "fool's hope" at this point in time for second tier recruiting schools. Unless you're trying to be an extremist thread-derailer there's no reason to respond with a "so you expect us to win the national championship this year, next year, x years". So why do I even bring up National Championships. Well, it's a good goal even though it's likely unattainable at this time.

So who's to like/dislike. Don't care, doesn't matter to me. If half (or whatever the percentage) go on to contribute, I'd rather have a stacked hand with a higher number of blue-chippers compared to diamonds in the rough/"undervalued" recruits. The teams winning it all are not relying on diamonds in the rough/"undervalued" recruits.

So, here's my updated table of national champions recruiting classes.

 

[SilentCommit]

While that table/statistic has indeed become a solid metric, it isn't viewable only in a vacuum. I would imagine ancillary factors come into play that should add to the way we evaluate it. Some thoughts:

- SEC dominance within those years has become a self fulfilling prophecy, as those schools battle each other consistently for a "quality wins" advantage. This definitely increases their odds of winning the Nat. Championship. For example, if you're Alabama, the reality is you must lose twice during the regular season to suffer elimination.
- Most of those schools (save LSU) benefitted from high level Quarterback play.
- there are 10 schools listed, but only a handful of coaches are in play. Saban, Meyer, Fischer, Chizik (even a broken clock is right twice a day) and Miles.
- the table does not include other schools that recruit as well, but never sniff the National Championship
- Every single school in that list also resides in talent rich areas of the country.

Overall, recruiting evaluations have improved dramatically, and this isn't a metric to ignore. I don't, however, feel it's a death knell for any outlier program's chance to win it all.