Recruiting Official Recruiting Thread for the stretch run #5

[The Original DC]

Would be a helluva shot in the arm:

@ZachAbolverdi: OL Steven Clark, a Syracuse commit, and N.C. State DL pledge Jabari Zuniga will make final decisions tonight. I expect both to pick UF.

 

[TLB]

Watching some of you whistle through the graveyard is equally entertaining. The worst recruiting collapse in the history of modern day recruiting, yet some of you are taking the "Bob Marley approach." Baby, don't worry about a thing, because every little thing's gonna be alright.

You can't finish 101st in recruiting and be competitive in the SEC. This class can sign up to 27 recruits yet most of us are hoping we get to 15 or so, in a day and age where many programs over-sign, we're going to be a dozen or so under.

This is a big deal for the program and its future.

We're still over a week from NSD with many of these kids not committed to our rivals which means they could come to us or not - glass half full, or half empty? We've got over a week until the FIRST day of LOI submissions, and kids can continue to submit LOIs through April 1. Yes the ego spotlight parade is focused on NSD, and the big names will likely announce then - so save all your frowns and harumphs until we KNOW they didn't sign with us. And look at what the staff does to make up for any gaps in areas where we didn't fill the roster on NSD. Juco's and those 2-3* kids have about 2 months to get pulled in and signed. The world doesn't end in early February, so it's safe to say we are not likely to finish 101 in recruiting. There are months of recruiting to go.

We all expected this year to be bad given the transition. To say it is 100+ ranked is accurate of TODAY, but do you sincerely believe that's where we'll be come April when kids stop being allowed to sign up? You were probably one of those kids that threw a fit in the kitchen for mom to fix something to it - "it's the end of the world, I'm in a concentration camp, oh noes!!!!" all the way up until you got a sammich and then it was all no big deal. Here, have a sammich and wait a week or two before panicking further or proclaiming this the worst recruiting collapse in the history of modern day recruiting.

Don't worry? What's worrying done for anyone? Kids haven't committed to the rivals, and there is nothing we can do to impact their decisions from our forum fan positions, so .... why worry?

 

[chferg]

You have no idea what Foley offered or was willing to offer Freeze. I think the more realistic situation is that Freeze said he wasn't interested in leaving Ole Miss.

I disagree, I think money talks to anyone. I have to believe Foley refused to offer more than what Ole Miss was going to pay him. I mean look at how Foley does his hiring, whether it is right or wrong is neither here or there, it's just that he refuses to spend big money.

Michigan took the idea of backing up a dump truck to Harbaugh and it worked; why didn't we at least try that with a few other names? With that said, I think McElwain has what it takes to succeed, it just will take longer than hiring a bigger more proven name.

 

[ATXGator]

Would be a helluva shot in the arm:

@ZachAbolverdi: OL Steven Clark, a Syracuse commit, and N.C. State DL pledge Jabari Zuniga will make final decisions tonight. I expect both to pick UF.

We are screwed if Zach reported it.

 

[ATXGator]

Ryan ‏@ClutchLikeMJ 2m2 minutes ago
“@tyceUF: What if this is all a big troll and Byron really is coming to UF?” It's not

 

[TLB]

Oh, I get how that works, but to assert a specific discussion occurred when all signs point to the opposite....A lack of evidence is proof? Wow.

 

[Gator Fever]

Would be a helluva shot in the arm:

@ZachAbolverdi: OL Steven Clark, a Syracuse commit, and N.C. State DL pledge Jabari Zuniga will make final decisions tonight. I expect both to pick UF.

Hopefully we get at least one of them so maybe we can pull in front of Appalachian State and Air Force in the recruiting rankings.

 

[williston_gator]

@ZachAbolverdi: Zuniga will decide around 8, Clark whenever his in-home visit with Ole Miss is over.

 

[TNgator20]

Ryan ‏@ClutchLikeMJ 2m2 minutes ago
“@tyceUF: What if this is all a big troll and Byron really is coming to UF?” It's not

I need someone to help with that Twitter decoder ring again...

Is he saying that Cowart is going to AU with Muskrat?

 

[Gator Fever]

But we should have tried. If the rumor was that Freeze turned down $5MM, then money was really not an issue, but we made it really easy for him to turn us down. How was it that Michigan was able to get Harbaugh? Rumors were that they were willing to break the bank for him. Did we even try to get him? Based upon the Freeze fiasco, I would guess no. If coach Mac has a decent year, I think we will be ok in the long run.

Possibly but with him having his roots there I am not sure 5 million would have got him to leave. I see your point about trying it anyway. I thought he would leave thinking Florida gave him a realistic shot at a NC but I guess that wasn't enough to get him away from there.

If McElwain gets the recruiting back to where it used to be we should be OK in the long run.

 

[TLB]

We're mixing the coaching stuff into the recruit stuff but whatever....


I like how MICH structured Harbaugh's contract:

Harbaugh is to earn $5 million in each of the first three years of his deal -- a $500,000 base salary and $4.5 million in additional compensation for contracted TV and radio appearances and an apparel agreement, among other items.

The contract calls for a 10 percent raise to $5.5 million in January 2018 and another 10 percent raise to $6.04 million in January 2020, pending the market-value review.

The total value of the deal is $38,069,000.

If Harbaugh leaves Michigan for other employment, he must pay the university the remaining pro-rated amount of his $2 million signing bonus. For instance, if he takes an NFL job after four years, he will owe the school $857,142.

Other terms of the contract provide Harbaugh with:

• The joint responsibility with the athletic director to schedule games. The final decision rests with the AD.
• The use of two automobiles.
• $4,000 of apparel annually from Michigan’s official outfitter (currently adidas).
• Use of a private viewing box for his family and guests at Michigan Stadium and 16 additional tickets to home games.
• Private air travel for all recruiting purposes and up to 25 hours of additional flight time for personal travel. First-class commercial airfare for all other football-related travel.

The contract allows for a salary pool of $4-5 million for his assistant coaches, with 10 percent raises after the third and fifth years of Harbaugh’s deal.

Harbaugh’s incentives include payment of $125,000 for winning the Big Ten East Division, $250,000 for a conference title, $200,000 for a New Year’s Six bowl appearance, $300,000 for a berth in the College Football Playoff and $500,000 for a national championship.

Additionally, he will receive $50,000 if named Big Ten coach of the year, $75,000 as national coach of the year and up to $150,000 for the academic performance of his players.

Only $500k base and the rest dependent upon non-school activities (tv, radio, etc). Additionally, the scheduled raises take some of the WM-extension bs out of it. Instead of Foley extending WM to show confidence and screwing us overall, the coaches have that commitment that they WILL be compensated, and everyone knows it's on a 3 and 5 yr schedule that would match with a review of performance. I also like that there is a pool for the assistants, and my reading of it makes me feel Harbaugh can split that as he sees fit. I'll acknowledge the $5m starting pay is big - and I'll admit it's probably the norm going forward as salaries trend up. However, I still believe that if we'd have offered $6, he'd still have gone to MICH as it would be the only school he'd go back to NCAA work for...IMO.

I'm not hearing anything about non-competes or B1G restrictions on where he could go if he quit.

 

[ATXGator]

But we should have tried. If the rumor was that Freeze turned down $5MM, then money was really not an issue, but we made it really easy for him to turn us down. How was it that Michigan was able to get Harbaugh? Rumors were that they were willing to break the bank for him. Did we even try to get him? Based upon the Freeze fiasco, I would guess no. If coach Mac has a decent year, I think we will be ok in the long run.

Harbaugh is a Michigan alum... it is completely different for Michigan to go get him vs. Florida. We didn't have a shot at Harbaugh, he wanted to come back to coach where he played.

I don't want a coach that is coming soley for money. I want a coach that recognizes the opportunity at UF. If the only deciding point for Freeze was money then I don't want him. All things being equal he should choose UF if he wants to be here. Otherwise.. I'd rather find somebody else.

 

[The Original DC]

Ryan ‏@ClutchLikeMJ 2m2 minutes ago
“@tyceUF: What if this is all a big troll and Byron really is coming to UF?” It's not

I need someone to help with that Twitter decoder ring again...

Is he saying that Cowart is going to AU with Muskrat?

You can get a few different interpretations from that post, but I took it to mean Cowart is not trolling, either us or Auburn. I think he's legitimately torn.

 

[williston_gator]

@LukeStampini: The @247CrystalBall trending towards Auburn in a big way for CB Jeremiah Dinson. https://florida.247sports.com/Season/2015-Football/TargetPredictions

 

[williston_gator]

@LukeStampini: Jabari Zuniga, Jordan Cronkrite & Steven Clark picking up @247CrystalBall predicitions to the #Gators. https://florida.247sports.com/Season/2015-Football/TargetPredictions

 

[TLB]

Ok, but what if he offers $5m to Freeze and/or $6m to Harbaugh and is turned down.....now he is looking at a national search among choice B candidates who know we're willing to pay big money and they start expecting that. Suddenly you can't find a coach unless you are willing to overpay for their talent.

Bigger concern to me is what happens 3-5 yrs down the road and the coach isn't working out (ala WM)? Do you hang on just because the price tag is too big to cut and try again? You've sunk yourself and your program deeper into the financial hole. If it were my money, I'd have a similar approach as Foley - I'll pay you market for what you're worth and give you a chance to prove yourself. If you do well, we are fine talking raises and extensions, but we're not throwing the bank at you until you prove yourself. Until then, you get market pay for your value. This is with the belief that there aren't that many $5m+ coaches willing to come here, that we would want, and that would stay.