Per 247Sports....

[wgleason]

No

Jeffrey John Hornacek is an American professional basketball coach and former player. ... Hornacekredshirted at Iowa State University (ISU) in 1981; he was a team walk-on who played from 1982 to 1986. The son of a high school basketball
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Hornacek

Yes

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

They seem to have a knack for identifying talent early and not being shy about pulling the triggerly early. This has helped us with a lot of recruits once the big boys came calling and some of them stuck with isu.

Yeah but is it the right way?

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

In all honesty CMC's "plan" was really basic but the execution has been off the charts. He knew Iowa State needed to break away from the "Big 12 mold" and not rely on the state of Texas for recruiting. He had the staff shift their focus towards the Midwest and the results speak for themselves. It used to drive me nuts how little effort CPR's staff put into recruiting B1G territory and basically just conceded that region of the country and relied on the Texas leftovers.

 

[Rural]

In all honesty CMC's "plan" was really basic but the execution has been off the charts. He knew Iowa State needed to break away from the "Big 12 mold" and not rely on the state of Texas for recruiting. He had the staff shift their focus towards the Midwest and the results speak for themselves. It used to drive me nuts how little effort CPR's staff put into recruiting B1G territory and basically just conceded that region of the country and relied on the Texas leftovers.

Less than leftovers in some cases.

 

[dualthreat]

Can we be sure some of this phenomenon isn't "grade inflation"?

There was a thread awhile back about how Campbell's recruiting classes have improved every year and I had the same assumption.

So, I compared the last 5 classes with the 10 prior to it. And then compared them with Iowa to have a control group. This is a summary of what I found

Iowa has consistently out recruited us for the last 15 years (no shocker here)

Campbell's recruit classes have been as good or significantly better than any previous class we've had.

Iowa State was consistently ranked last or second to last every year Rhoads was here. Campbell has improved that ranking dramatically.

The gap between the two programs had never been closer. Iowa's class's has NOT seen a significant improvement as of late, nor has their average national ranking improved. They have been consistent for the last 15 years.

Iowa State used to be well below Iowa in average player ranking. Now we are nearly identical.

In conclusion, our classes have been improving significantly and it is not a result of inflated rankings.

 

[Cydkar]

All-time highest rated prospects for basketball, too...

#1 Brackins
#2 Wigginton
#3 Horton-Tucker
#4 Thomas
#5 Niang
#6 Clark
#7 Colvin
#8 Morris
#9 Taggart
#10 Griffin
#11 Lewis
#12 Long
#13 Haliburton
#14 Grill
#15 D. Jackson (as a JUCO)
#16 Noskowiak
#17 Custer
#18 Lard
#19 Dendy
#20 Buckley
#21 Pomlee
#22 T. Jackson
#23 SDW
#24 Anderson
#25 Oliver

Bold are since 2010.
Black and bold is Hoiberg.
Cardinal and bold is Prohm.

This is to be expected considering the coach before Hoiberg.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

There was a thread awhile back about how Campbell's recruiting classes have improved every year and I had the same assumption.

So, I compared the last 5 classes with the 10 prior to it. And then compared them with Iowa to have a control group. This is a summary of what I found

Iowa has consistently out recruited us for the last 15 years (no shocker here)

Campbell's recruit classes have been as good or significantly better than any previous class we've had.

Iowa State was consistently ranked last or second to last every year Rhoads was here. Campbell has improved that ranking dramatically.

The gap between the two programs had never been closer. Iowa's class's has NOT seen a significant improvement as of late, nor has their average national ranking improved. They have been consistent for the last 15 years.

Iowa State used to be well below Iowa in average player ranking. Now we are nearly identical.

In conclusion, our classes have been improving significantly and it is not a result of inflated rankings.

When you look at CMC's recruiting classes top to bottom, they are filling their classes with guys they can work with. When you look at CPR's classes the bottom of the class were full of kids that you knew would never see the field. When you compare CMC's classes to Iowa's they are really similar other than Iowa usually hitting on a couple of higher level recruits which obviously helps lift the average.

 

[cyhiphopp]

Jeffrey John Hornacek is an American professional basketball coach and former player. ... Hornacekredshirted at Iowa State University (ISU) in 1981; he was a team walk-on who played from 1982 to 1986. The son of a high school basketball
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Hornacek

Yes

I wasn't around at the time, but the story I've heard is that there was an unorthadox reason that he "walked on" at ISU. It wasn't because he was a non-scholarship caliber player.

Anyone with knowledge of that era care to elaborate?

 

[cyhiphopp]

Aah the old Rhodes special

The difference is that Campbell has so far promoted guys who are actually qualified.

Manning was ready to take the next step from OL coach to OC when Candle decided to stay at Toledo to be their head coach.

Messingham was a decent position coach who Rhoads thought could keep running Herman's system. They were both sorely mistaken and it is one of the huge reasons Rhoads lost his job.
His initial staff was very good, but he did not replace those that left well at all.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

The difference is that Campbell has so far promoted guys who are actually qualified.

Manning was ready to take the next step from OL coach to OC when Candle decided to stay at Toledo to be their head coach.

Messingham was a decent position coach who Rhoads thought could keep running Herman's system. They were both sorely mistaken and it is one of the huge reasons Rhoads lost his job.
His initial staff was very good, but he did not replace those that left well at all.

Ugh, the Messingham hire... What a massive mistake by CPR. Iowa State actually had a little momentum going in the program and then this happened... I can't recall talking to a single Iowa State fan that though he was going to work out.

 

[cyfan92]

Is there more than 1 or 2 starters on the team that hail from Texas??

 

[cyhiphopp]

Ugh, the Messingham hire... What a massive mistake by CPR. Iowa State actually had a little momentum going in the program and then this happened... I can't recall talking to a single Iowa State fan that though he was going to work out.

Rhoads was loyal to a fault. I remember there were talks about hiring an established OC from a lower level FBS school. Someone who ran a similar style to Herman, but could bring in some new ideas. I think one of the names was Tony Franklin, who was at La Tech and eventually was the OC at Cal under Sonny Dykes. He would have been great.
Then they just promoted Messingham. Ugh.

 

[VeloClone]

I wasn't around at the time, but the story I've heard is that there was an unorthadox reason that he "walked on" at ISU. It wasn't because he was a non-scholarship caliber player.

Anyone with knowledge of that era care to elaborate?

Hornacek came on the scene late. Johnny wanted him but didn't have a scholarship available. He promised Horny a scholarship as soon as one was available - no later than his sophomore year - if he would come on his own dime. So, yes, he was technically a walk on but he would be considered something like a grey shirt today. It wasn't like he was a walk on that played himself into a scholarship. He was already a scholarship level player.

As far as the context of the list that is being discussed, Hornacek would not have been one of the top ranked recruits to come to ISU.

 

[cyhiphopp]

Is there more than 1 or 2 starters on the team that hail from Texas??

Eisworth, but he wasn't recruited out of Texas

Kene Nwangwu might get some starts this year, but I think he's more of a change of pace guy. We'll see.

I might have missed someone but I think that's it.

 

[Statefan10]

Is there more than 1 or 2 starters on the team that hail from Texas??

Nwangu and Eisworth are starters, while Bickam and Azunna would be guys up for potential starting spots. All from Texas. Don't think we have that many from there.

 

[cyhiphopp]

Hornacek came on the scene late. Johnny wanted him but didn't have a scholarship available. He promised Horny a scholarship as soon as one was available - no later than his sophomore year - if he would come on his own dime. So, yes, he was technically a walk on but he would be considered something like a grey shirt today. It wasn't like he was a walk on that played himself into a scholarship. He was already a scholarship level player.

As far as the context of the list that is being discussed, Hornacek would not have been one of the top ranked recruits to come to ISU.

Thank you. I knew there was a story behind it. Hornacek was not some scrub who couldn't get a scholarship out of HS. That I knew for sure.

 

[cymonw1980]

In all honesty CMC's "plan" was really basic but the execution has been off the charts. He knew Iowa State needed to break away from the "Big 12 mold" and not rely on the state of Texas for recruiting. He had the staff shift their focus towards the Midwest and the results speak for themselves. It used to drive me nuts how little effort CPR's staff put into recruiting B1G territory and basically just conceded that region of the country and relied on the Texas leftovers.

Agree to an extent. However, where ever a coach has the best connections will likely be where they find the most talent. I don't pretend to know the inner workings of college football recruiting but I do think it is fun to follow.... I don't think it is a coincidence that since 2002 we have gotten 10 kids out of the state of Ohio.... all of them under Campbell with at least 2 kids from that state in each of the his first 4 classes (2016 - 2019). In addition, Gene Chizik (former TX d-coordinator, from FL where he started as a HS coach) had the highest average number of players from FL/TX (12.5/class) of any coach looking at the recruiting data from 2002 - 2019.

In the end, Campbell is getting kids from all over (Purdy AZ, Bailey FL, etc.). But he is absolutely focusing on getting kids from b10 territory (where he is connected) and within driving distance of Ames. The kids close to you are always key for long term success. Our ability to recruit the "8 hr" radius around Ames is an indicator of sustainable success. But this will likely always need to be augmented by recruits from other parts of the country. There will likely be bias for where ever the staff has connections.

Under Campbell, the Midwest has bounced back (48% of recruits) with a significant reduction in recruits from the South (32% of recruits). This compares well to McCarney's last 5 years (48% Midwest, 37% South) and is a significant difference compared to Rhoads (28% Midwest, 55% South) and Chizik (34% Midwest, 58% South).

(Data pulled from 247sports, added region groups)

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

A big test will be what he does when he loses some of these guys to bigger positions. He kind of dealt with that when Manning left, but he didn't actually hire a new OC.

If someone like Heacock ever leaves (god forbid), the way he is replaced will be a true test of Campbell's abilities.


I guess you can say replacing Candle with Manning was an initial test before he even coached a game, but I'm sure more are coming.

This is why Iowa State needs to continue to keep bumping up salaries for assistant coaches and coordinators. Not saying give them a million a year, but they need to also not be making 250K. How many good asst. coaches have we lost in the past 15 years, because we were not willing or could not afford to spend money to keep them in Ames.

 

[StClone]

All-time highest rated prospects for basketball, too...

#1 Brackins
#2 Wigginton
#3 Horton-Tucker
#4 Thomas
#5 Niang
#6 Clark
#7 Colvin
#8 Morris
#9 Taggart
#10 Griffin
#11 Lewis
#12 Long
#13 Haliburton
#14 Grill
#15 D. Jackson (as a JUCO)
#16 Noskowiak
#17 Custer
#18 Lard
#19 Dendy
#20 Buckley
#21 Pomlee
#22 T. Jackson
#23 SDW
#24 Anderson
#25 Oliver

Bold are since 2010.
Black and bold is Hoiberg.
Cardinal and bold is Prohm.

FIZER!

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

Agree to an extent. However, where ever a coach has the best connections will likely be where they find the most talent. I don't pretend to know the inner workings of college football recruiting but I do think it is fun to follow.... I don't think it is a coincidence that since 2002 we have gotten 10 kids out of the state of Ohio.... all of them under Campbell with at least 2 kids from that state in each of the his first 4 classes (2016 - 2019). In addition, Gene Chizik (former TX d-coordinator, from FL where he started as a HS coach) had the highest average number of players from FL/TX (12.5/class) of any coach looking at the recruiting data from 2002 - 2019.

In the end, Campbell is getting kids from all over (Purdy AZ, Bailey FL, etc.). But he is absolutely focusing on getting kids from b10 territory (where he is connected) and within driving distance of Ames. The kids close to you are always key for long term success. Our ability to recruit the "8 hr" radius around Ames is an indicator of sustainable success. But this will likely always need to be augmented by recruits from other parts of the country. There will likely be bias for where ever the staff has connections.

Under Campbell, the Midwest has bounced back (48% of recruits) with a significant reduction in recruits from the South (32% of recruits). This compares well to McCarney's last 5 years (48% Midwest, 37% South) and is a significant difference compared to Rhoads (28% Midwest, 55% South) and Chizik (34% Midwest, 58% South).

(Data pulled from 247sports, added region groups)

Which is why I still find it head scratching that CPR didn't recruit the Midwest harder.