Just thinking of WM's move to DC of AU, and the belief by many that he is using relationships built while at UF to pull recruits to AU. I think even a HS kid can look honestly at the situation and call BS. They say you commit to a school, not a coach. And WM's dismissal and the rest of the staff being removed from UF further proves that point - any coach you commit to may not be there the next year, it's a fact, and yet the kid will be there until they graduate or are ready for NFL.
We all see WM's reputation with kids taking a hit in that he got fired because he made us suck. There is a proven history of NOT developing players, and the few we have that went pro did so mostlly off their own talent, not what WM did for them. That's a strike one.
Then he has to sell them on AU, after trying to sell them on UF. If he badmouth's others, I imagine he badmouthed AU while he was here and now he has to play an opposite spin. Two faced in the eyes of a recruit. Strike two.
And lastly, my opening comment about committing to a school and not a coach, WM is the epitome of that situation so I don't see him holding those 'relationships' as strongly as he'd like to think. Coaches come and go, kids are committing to the school (and in that sense, the academics, but also the program that exists above and surrounding any coaching staff). Strike three on WM.
Many of us want him to implode at AU, and hate the damage he's doing to UF recruits. But as I sit here, I'm thinking he's already damaged himself, and he doesn't have the strength of relationship to really damage our recruiting efforts if the kids think beyond 'this guys says he loves me' and consider 'will he be here to love me tomorrow?; and 'if he's gone, am I where I want to be?'
I just don't see WM hurting us like a lot believe he is, despite the tweet noise from recruits when they are on site at AU. I wonder what their tweets are like when they get to UF for a visit, and how apesh!t the AU fanbase would be going. Wonder how their fan sites would be melting down about how WM was a poor choice, and he can't close deals he was working on for months. Actually, I'd very much like to know how other fan sites are reacting in comparison to the internal meltdown we are having in here. Are the AU forums giddy that they have the big 3 in the bag? Or are they worried it's all tweet trolling, and the recruits are secretly all going elsewhere, possibly even to (gasp!) UF?