Det Free Press: Recruiting dilemma: Do football players commit to coach or program?

[BleedGopher]

per the Detroit Free Press:

When P.J. Fleck announced he was leaving Western Michigan to be Minnesota’s football coach last week, many in the WMU community were disappointed but hardly surprised.

This is how it works in college football: build a winner at a small school, earn a shot at a larger school. Less than a day after the move became official, several WMU recruits announced they were following Fleck to Minneapolis.

This brings to the forefront the question of whether recruits commit to a coach or to a school.

No one is safe. Everyone goes after everyone else’s commits these days.

But what Fleck has managed is outside the norm. He is taking more commits than most coaches are able to take with them when they move from one school to another.

Fleck’s high-wire personality is one reason. The chance to jump from mid-major to high major is another.

A third factor was the level of recruiting Fleck had managed at WMU. In other words, when coaches from smaller programs jump to larger programs most of their committed recruits aren’t talented enough to make the jump, too.

But Fleck had sold a bevy of three-star guys on the culture of Kalamazoo, many of whom are gifted enough to play in the Big Ten. He’d secured the best recruiting classes in the MAC the last several years, and was about to do it again.

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/c...stern-michigan-minnesota-recruiting/96585244/

Go Gophers!!

 

[joshvanklomp]

But what Fleck has managed is outside the norm. He is taking more commits than most coaches are able to take with them when they move from one school to another.

Fleck’s high-wire personality is one reason. The chance to jump from mid-major to high major is another.

A third factor was the level of recruiting Fleck had managed at WMU. In other words, when coaches from smaller programs jump to larger programs most of their committed recruits aren’t talented enough to make the jump, too.

Another reason is that Minnesota had a lot of open scholarships. By my count on 247, only 10 of the 23 currently in the class were brought in by Claeys. I know some decommitted, but it was still basically a half-full class I believe.

 

[TruthSeeker]

We all know that players commit to get that free education. LOL!

 

[PMWinSTP]

per the Detroit Free Press:

When P.J. Fleck announced he was leaving Western Michigan to be Minnesota’s football coach last week, many in the WMU community were disappointed but hardly surprised.

This is how it works in college football: build a winner at a small school, earn a shot at a larger school. Less than a day after the move became official, several WMU recruits announced they were following Fleck to Minneapolis.

This brings to the forefront the question of whether recruits commit to a coach or to a school.

No one is safe. Everyone goes after everyone else’s commits these days.

But what Fleck has managed is outside the norm. He is taking more commits than most coaches are able to take with them when they move from one school to another.

Fleck’s high-wire personality is one reason. The chance to jump from mid-major to high major is another.

A third factor was the level of recruiting Fleck had managed at WMU. In other words, when coaches from smaller programs jump to larger programs most of their committed recruits aren’t talented enough to make the jump, too.

But Fleck had sold a bevy of three-star guys on the culture of Kalamazoo, many of whom are gifted enough to play in the Big Ten. He’d secured the best recruiting classes in the MAC the last several years, and was about to do it again.

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/c...stern-michigan-minnesota-recruiting/96585244/

Go Gophers!!

Again, this gets quoted often without context outside of the MAC. It is true, but his predecessor actually had recruiting classes ranked higher than PJ's. He's had the best recruiting classes in a MAC that has declined in overall recruiting class rank.