I know we dont have any moderators here--and based on how poorly most boards are moderated--that isn't necessarily a bad thing but let me redirect the conversation back on topic:
To those that follow recruiting all year long how is ND looking in 2024 relative to 2023 right now? From personal/gut it feels like recruiting is nowhere near as hot right now as it was last year. Does anybody have any information to the contrary?
And if recruiting isn't trending up, what in the hell are we doing employing this ultra-green head coach with little to no P5 experience? If he's not going to move the needle on the talent side of the equation what is he bringing to the table--besides a lower salary--that makes him more employable than all of the competing head coaches out there?
I’d argue that, given the portal, much of which gets fed by NIL, a new and BROADER TERM is needed that measures a team’s overall TALENT RANKING.
Using random numbers, a #10 recruiting rank for ND today is NOT the same as a #10 rank was, say, in 2018 in that, IN ORDER TO GET THE TOTAL PICTURE, you also now have to factor in ND’s current PORTAL RANK which as listed on one of the other sites, is currently
A PEDESTRIAN #35, one below BC.
If it were me, the future METRICS APPROACH I’d want as an EVALUATOR would not only combine recruiting and portal rankings, but also NET OUT PLAYER DEPARTURES – and not only ones lost through the PORTAL, but to GRADUATION AS WELL with the aim of coming up with an overall
STRENGTH OF ROSTER SCORE PER ANNUM.
To me, not a bad DASHBOARD.
And, yes, one can still track recruiting, and it certainly still remains VITAL, but at the same time, it HAS become a SUBSET in that it doesn’t tell THE WHOLE STORY.
If the ultimate purpose of talent acquisition is to PUT AS MUCH OF IT ON THE FIELD AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE, isn’t the best metric the one that tells you JUST HOW VIABLE A VALUE PROPOSITION YOU HAVE BASED ON YOUR
OVERALL TALENT INPUTS AND DEPARTURES?
Like with everything else today, most people want INSTANT RESULTS, even if you’re a school that once fielded the country’s preeminent football team but in recent years continues TO DO ONLY SO MUCH to end its 35-year NC DROUGHT.
But the fact is, long-term a) personnel projections and b) player development are no longer the only games in town. What now matters at least as much is –
WHICH GREAT PLAYERS CAN YOU GET RIGHT NOW WHO ARE GIFTED, BATTLE-TESTED AND READY TO GO?
And from the looks of it, CU, OU, USC, LSU and FSU, to name just a few – ARE DOING EXACTLY THAT. And MUCH MORE EFFECTIVELY than ND given its current policies.
As for Freeman, my fear is that he's been cast as the THE MAN OF LA MANCHA. There are now STRUCTURAL FORCES at work in CFB that may make it EXTREMELY DIFFICULT for ND to run with already strong programs now PORTAL-GORGING AS WELL.
Freeman or no Freeman.