Point made earlier it was recognizing talent, getting it to commit then develop. CPR did some but Campbell has it all figured out.
Per 247Sports....
- Thread starter LarryISU
- Start date
Ya... Hakeem Butler was one of the other Paul Rhoads scrubs from TX. He may have started for us if he hadn't left early.... for the NFL.
joking obviously. I agree, no question recruiting has taken a huge step forward under Campbell. In addition, his model seems much more sustainable. Basically out works everyone, builds genuine connections, hires staff that do the same, prioritize the area around Ames, and leverage connections in areas they have them.
At the same time, 3 of the 5 starting OL from last year (and current depth chart) are still CPR guys... his last class included:
Julian Good-Jones (IA)
Bryce Meeker (IA)
Marcel Spears (KS)
Hakeem Butler (TX)
Sheldon Croney (CA)
....
and Dom DeLira (TX)
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Agree and I in turn hope coaches see that making $500K-$750K annually in Ames under a stable head coach > making $750-$1M but in a major metro under constant pressure. It's more about keeping assistants from other assistant coaching spots because head coaching is impossible to compete with, unless you pay like Clemson, Alabama and others
Ames has the #1 schools in the state, high standard of living, NO TRAFFIC, low housing costs relative to major metros, the top AD in the country, commitment to facilities, and no competing professional teams
Ya... Hakeem Butler was one of the other Paul Rhoads scrubs from TX. He may have started for us if he hadn't left early.... for the NFL.
joking obviously. I agree, no question recruiting has taken a huge step forward under Campbell. In addition, his model seems much more sustainable. Basically out works everyone, builds genuine connections, hires staff that do the same, prioritize the area around Ames, and leverage connections in areas they have them.
At the same time, 3 of the 5 starting OL from last year (and current depth chart) are still CPR guys... his last class included:
Julian Good-Jones (IA)
Bryce Meeker (IA)
Marcel Spears (KS)
Hakeem Butler (TX)
Sheldon Croney (CA)
....
and Dom DeLira (TX)
No one is saying that there isn't talent to be had in Texas. It's just harder sometimes to get Texas kids to leave the state. There are a ridiculous amount of FBS schools just in the state of Texas. Then you have the surrounding states as well who have an advantage over a school multiple states away like Iowa.
Recruiting Texas does make sense, but not as exclusively as Rhoads did. We play against teams from Texas every year and in the state of Texas often so these kids and their families would get to see them in person and on TV a lot. ISU has some advantages over teams like Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska, etc, in that respect with Texas kids.
Same with the Florida kids that Rhoads liked a lot. Lots of talent in that state, but it is light years away from Iowa. Got some huge gets from FL and TX but also wasted some time and resources on kids who never left their state.
The state of Iowa has more in common with Ohio than those other states, plus it is what CMC and some of his staff know best.
Regardless of where the recruits come from, I think CMCs talent evaluation and hit percentage has been much better than Rhoads so far. And he got a lot out of some of the guys remaining from when Rhoads left.
Agree... There are many examples of kids that did not work out from FL/TX, and we definitely over recruited there. I think the key is where does the coach have connections and, as you mention, how well can they evaluate talent (which I think to some extent are related - better connections, better info).
CPR and his staff averaged 11.1 recruits per year from TX/FL over his seven yrs. This is similar to Chizik's 12.5/yr (who was from FL, coached in TX) and much more than McCarney (his last 5 yrs) 6.6/yr and Campbell 4.5/year.
I just think it is a combination of things that Campbell has going that are helping him get kids in the Midwest... It's a lot easier said than done. I don't think CPR did not try - just was not nearly as successful and then forced to resort to options available (limited) in TX/FL.
From 1999 - 2003 was a great opportunity for ISU, middle of a 5 year win streak v. ia, ferentz was still getting established..
Looking back at McCarney, his success in the Midwest was tide directly to recruiting IA. He had almost 8 recruits per year from the State from 2002 - 2006 (in fact look at the 2003 class on 247sports... he was coming off of a 5 year winning streak against Iowa and killed it). But, he also had 9 kids per class come from FL/TX/CA and only about 2 from other Midwest states.
Since McCarney, ferentz has done a good job of winning more than iowa's share of recruits. Similar to the way McCarney was in his best years... (not saying we don't get good recruits here, just has been slanted in their favor).
Since averaging 7.8 recruits/yr from IA over McCarney's last 5 years (2002-2006), none of the other coaches have reached 4/yr avg; meanwhile, ferentz has never had fewer than 4 in a season over that same time (2007 - 2019), with 5 seasons of 10+ (2007 - 2010, 2017):
Chizik: 3/yr
Rhoads: 3.9/yr
Campbell: 3.5/yr
ferentz (2007-2019): 7.8/yr (6.5/yr since 2016)
(from 247sports)
CMC also knows that Ohio has a mountain of talent compared to Iowa. There are 40 Ohio kids with a 247 composite of .850 or higher...Iowa...8 kids with a composite of .850 or higher. He is using his Ohio connections and using it well.
CMC showed from year one that he was willing to find talent wherever he needed to. Jacob Park didn't end up great, but he was effective early on. He moved Lanning to LBer. He found Kyle Kempt and got the most out of him.
CMC and staff are relentless on social media. They have embraced it completely while Rhoads was much more old fashioned. All of the teenagers are on twitter, you kind of need to know what you're doing there in 2019. Campbell is going after guys that Rhoads wouldn't have bothered with.
I think a lot of the problem with Rhoads was that he embraced the underdog role a bit too much. He didn't try to break out of that mold and just accepted where ISU was on the pecking order. He was happy to get a 3 star and hoped to develop 3 and 2 star players into quality starters. And he did well with a few guys, and others were flops. There were a handful of guys each class that seemed like last second cross your fingers guys. A lot of them never played a down.
I think people overrate the recruiting individual regions vs recruiting other regions thing. Ultimately, any coach is happy to get the best players from any place that they can. Campbell is getting better recruits, and maybe there aren't as many coming from Texas, but I don't think that's a specific strategy where he thinks that he won't have a chance at the kids he wants out of Texas.
I also think that coaches recruit where they have the best relationships built up first and foremost. For Campbell and his staff, that's easy, since a lot of them are Ohio/upper Midwest guys. I think for Rhoads's staff, it was a bit harder, since a lot of them, including Rhoads, had coached all over.
I also think that coaches recruit where they have the best relationships built up first and foremost. For Campbell and his staff, that's easy, since a lot of them are Ohio/upper Midwest guys. I think for Rhoads's staff, it was a bit harder, since a lot of them, including Rhoads, had coached all over.
I’m genuinely pretty sure CPR didn’t have a good handle on what Twitter even was and probably still doesn’t.
And Rhoads was such a flustery guy that there never seemed to be a coherent strategy from year to year on the field and I’m sure that carried over in to recruiting. CMC has a plan and he’s going to sink or swim with it.
Man there was like two different threads going on. My head was about ready to explode.