Interim tag presents major recruiting challenges
It's not exactly selling prime rib at a PETA board meeting, but it's close.
Interim head coaches aren't just handcuffed on the recruiting train. In some
Advertisement
cases, they're downright jailed. Convincing prospects to sign up to attend a
school with an uncertain coaching future is a hard sell. Miami interim
head coach Larry Scott knows this. He's currently living the nightmare.
The crux of the hypothetical pitch is an awkward one to say the least:
Come play for Miami, where your coach will be ... well, who knows?
"You get all the questions you'd think you'd get, but you just try to steer the
conversation toward the opportunity that the University of Miami is going to
provide," Scott said. "The administration and everybody here is going to always
make sure that they put the right people in place to ensure that these
student-athletes have the success that they should have."
Difficult? You bet. Victories on the recruiting trail are few and far between
for Scott and interim head coaches like him. The process of retaining previous
commitments is the easy part, but it's also priority No. 1.
"I feel like I committed to the school more than anything," said four-star wide
receiver Sam Bruce, who committed to the school in July of 2014, more
than a full year before Al Golden was ousted as the program's leader. "I'm a
University of Miami-type player."
The reactions of already-committed prospects obviously cover a broad range. Bruce
seems on the solid side. Others, however, need some convincing.
"It's hard because, in my situation, I had already built a relationship with all
the coaches there," said four-star defensive end Joseph Jackson,
another Miami commit. "So for the coach to get fired, yeah, it does make it
tough to be committed, but I'm waiting to see what happens after the season with
the new staff and the coaches that are there now."
Retaining committed prospects is one thing. Landing new ones is the part that
borders on impossible. Just don't tell that to USC's
Clay Helton, who shrugs off the idea that his interim tags may be a major
recruiting obstacle.
"It's been extremely easy, to be honest," Helton said. "USC is never going to
change. The sell is extremely easy. We have a tremendous product to sell. If you
work at it like we do, then you are going to have success. With us, we have a
great product. This is one of the top educations you are going to get anywhere
in world, and it's a school that is extremely rich in football tradition."
The data suggests the difficulty level is a little higher than Helton says. Not
only has Helton yet to land a single new commitment since being slapped with the
interim tag, he's also lost the previously intact commitments of a pair of
five-stars in linebackers Daelin Hayes and Mique Juarez. The
hesitation is out there. It's strong and it's real. Helton's "extremely easy"
might not be the right phrase. Just ask Rivals100 quarterback Jake Allen, a Florida commit in the class of 2017.
"I wouldn't be able to commit to an interim head coach just because of the
uncertainty of the future," Allen said. "What if they bring in a guy that runs
an offense that doesn't suit me? When I committed, I knew what I was getting
into. I wouldn't be able to commit to a school that I don't know exactly what's
going on."
Acting as a human placeholder isn't exactly ideal in any sense. Doing so on the
recruiting trail is especially difficult. Continuity? Yeah right. This is
crossing fingers and hoping your goods literally sell themselves.
"It's really just you keep moving and make it business as usual," Scott said.
That's easier said than done.
Click Here to view this Link.