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CU in Texas

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Hasta la Viska
Club Member
In classes 2005-2013 CU signed 23 prospects from Texas, which is actually a pretty small number over 9 classes.

The 23 breaks down like this:
14 transferred
3 exhausted their entire eligibility at CU (Drescher, Bonsu, and now DD Goodson)
1 starter (Drescher, if you count LS). Maybe 2 with Goodson
6 remain on the roster

So how much energy should the staff expend on recruiting Texas. Over 9 classes we basically landed a LS and two ok back-ups. Add in that the staff is built to recruit Cali and the frustrations from last year (only two TX commits and 2 decommitments) and I think we'll only see 2-3 from TX. Perhaps Boulder isn't a fit for most recruits from TX.
 
The 14 transfers is a shocking number, I have to admit. Perhaps a little more effort into educating the kids about what CU - and Boulder - is all about would be a wise move.
 
I don't think you simply ignore a region that has that much talent. You have to make an effort.

Definitely don't think CU should ignore TX... but you also can't ignore our abysmal track record there. With the current setup I imagine MacIntyre will spend 90% of his time in CA/CO and 10% on TX
 
There are a lot of Texas players who sign with PAC-12 schools. Believe the 2nd most of any major conference besides the Big 12. You simply cannot ignore the state, especially since those players are more equipped to contribute right away, which is needed to build the program.

The main question is if we have the right coaches down there. Jeffcoat has basically done nothing in DFW.
 
Sadly our number overall aren't a whole lot better, we haven't been able to keep guys on campus for 4-5 years no matter where they are from.

I do agree to an extent with your premise. You can work your tail off to get a Texas kid and along comes an offer from a Texas school and he stays in state. It is very rare that we would be the clear first choice on Texas kids.

On the other hand there is a huge pool of talent in Texas and if you can convince the kids to leave Colorado is a desirable destination for them.

I don't think we should abandon Texas but I also don't think we should expect it to be the source of our core players. To win we are going to have to get the bulk of our talent in California, do a much better job of locking up Colorado talent, and do reasonably well in the rest of the PAC footprint.

As an example I think that CU is a very appealing option for Utah kids who want to get out of the Utah mindset and culture yet stay reasonably close to home and family. The fact that M2 is a guy with strong moral values and supportive of kids religious beliefs and practices means that they can step out and experience something different without being lost in a world without support.
 
I think you have to make Texas a focus with Cali. Colorado is a unique location to draw on both regions.
 
I continue to maintain Arizona is the untapped resource this program desperately needs. Can realistically appeal to PAC-12 kids and hurt division rivals in the process.
 
Bottom line: there is too much talent in Texas to ignore it.

Despite your examples, I think Boulder is a good fit for Texans (I should know!), and in fact, the love of the state of Colorado by Texans probably helps us, even when we are coming out of a historically low point as a football program.

I agree that our staff should be focusing on CO and our west coast Pac-12 footprint, but to completely disregard Texas would be a mistake. We'll have a hard time winning battles with Texas, A&M, OU and LSU, but with 25 scholarship limits, they can't lock down all the D-1 talent.
 
Definitely don't think CU should ignore TX... but you also can't ignore our abysmal track record there. With the current setup I imagine MacIntyre will spend 90% of his time in CA/CO and 10% on TX
I think part of the abysmal track record is due to an overall high rate of attrition in the program regardless of geography. With no attrition to date out of Mike Mac's first class, I am hoping we can reverse the Texas trend.

The bigger question to me is the effectiveness of our closing in Texas. As Duff mentioned, Jeffcoat is doing very little.

I always liked a strategy of targeting late bloomers for a place like Texas. The local schools fill up early which means late developing talent can be overlooked.
 
I continue to maintain Arizona is the untapped resource this program desperately needs. Can realistically appeal to PAC-12 kids and hurt division rivals in the process.

I agree with this. Arizona is growing with talent. I refer to it as Inland Empire East.

Texas - you got to get the right kids no matter where you recruit. I believe our attrition had more to do with taking clowns than the state where they were from. I don't recall losing kids that would have made a big difference. We got kids who either didn't really want to play football or kids who had character issues, etc. We used to get some good kids during Mac thru Barnett era's. Can still do that IMO.
 
I agree with this. Arizona is growing with talent. I refer to it as Inland Empire East.

Texas - you got to get the right kids no matter where you recruit. I believe our attrition had more to do with taking clowns than the state where they were from. I don't recall losing kids that would have made a big difference. We got kids who either didn't really want to play football or kids who had character issues, etc. We used to get some good kids during Mac thru Barnett era's. Can still do that IMO.

Agree fully with this. It's a bigger question who you get than where they come from. Do your scouting, develop relationships with the HS coaches who can tell you honestly if a kid has what it takes to stick, and target kids who can contribute and the attrition issue goes way down.

Texas is to deep a pool of talent to ignore but we have to recruit well in all our areas to succeed.
 
Racism is not tolerated in Boulder, while anti-Texas sentiment is just part of the cultural fabric. Boulder exceptionalism and Texas exceptionalism are oil and water.

Experience shows only few Texans are capable of enjoying and thriving on the CU football team in recent years.

Some are going to come in with a chip on their shoulder. They'll figure out that other kids on the team had high school coaching that resembled their Texas Pop Warner experience.

Some will feel like they are settling for CU because they weren't recruited by local dream schools like UT, A&M, OU, or even Baylor (gasp), TCU, okie light, or Tech.

Some kids are going to miss their Texas homies and (fat) girlfriends. Others won't feel at home on the predominantly white and wealthy Boulder community that has zero resemblance to the social scene in DFW, San Antonio, or Houston.

With out any scheduled games in Texas, it is going to be harder to appeal to players the same way that was possible back when Hugh Charles, Terrence Wheatley, or Mason Crosby wore the BnG.

Exceptions exist, and will include Texans who are California or P12 region transplants and kids with personal ties to the school. Well to do kids who come from families with second homes in Colorado, and players with personal connections to coaches, former players, and friends of CU can fit right in.

But CU's Texas pipeline on MM2's staff is limited to Jeffcoat plus any goodwill that exists with Kanavis McGee, Bobby Kennedy, the Detmer clan, and other Texas connections of various value.

If CU wants to prioritize Texas recruiting, they will need to look for a head coach or assistants who qualify based on the strength and freshness of their Texas connections.

I don't see MacIntyre to be that guy. He has California and Colorado relationships to nurture first.

As long as CU is perceived as a loser program in a cold area of the country, most Texas kids won't buy what CU is selling.
 
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It also helps when you can really concentrate on Texas, and not spend a lot of wasted time spot recruiting random areas of the midwest and east. Hawkins did a lot of this, Embree did a little less, but was still trying to rekindle the glory years by touching those same talent regions, that really don't make a lot of sense for CU these days.
 
I don't think this data is evidence that we should abandon recruiting efforts in Texas, I think it's evidence that we should change our approach there.

Texas is a big place and despite all the jokes to the contrary, it's home to a pretty diverse group of people. There are kids there who would be happier than a pig in slop in Boulder and would bring a lot to CU football. The staff can find them, they can be smarter about who they recruit and how they recruit and become very successful there. They've nabbed a few recruits from Texas in the last two years and they should continue to do so. Sure, they're obviously much move comfortable with the recruiting scene in Cali, but there's a lot of talent in Texas to. Casting a wider net is always a better policy IMO.
 
Skiddy, got Texas talk going in to threads at once.

You are right though about the challenges of recruiting Texas.

I wonder if future staff changes should include somebody who can get us better results in Texas.

I agreed completely with the total changover in staff but the one guy off the old staff that I would have liked to have kept around in one way or another was Kanavis. I saw him doing good work with his position group and I think he has the personality and drive to be a very good recruiter. I hope that the Embree experience didn't sour him on college coaching because I think that he could have a very good future in it given the right situation to develop in.

Anyone have an idea where he is at now?
 
But CU's Texas pipeline on MM2's staff is limited to Jeffcoat plus any goodwill that exists with Kanavis McGee, Bobby Kennedy, the Detmer clan, and other Texas connections of various value.

Walters is from College Station, and coached at A&M for a couple years.
 
Thanks TD, for pointing out Walters. (Bit of a journeyman. Born in Indiana, HS College Station. Stanford grad. NFL career at Vikings, Colts, Cardinals, and Lions. 1 year coaching at A&M, 1 year at NC state)

With the changing of the guard at UT from Mack Brown to Charlie Strong, there was an opportunity to pick up some talent with a nice Rolodex.

This was was not a path that MacIntyre elected to pursue.

We've seen from Denver Johnson, Bobby Kennedy, and Kanavis McGee that getting a Texas player into Boulder is one thing. Retaining and developing that player is another story. I believe it takes more than just a token Texan (like Jeffcoat) to make Texas recruiting work. The optimum scenario is to have strategically placed former Buffs who are coaching at football factories in affluent Texas suburbs. It would be fantastic to have friendlies with coaching positions at powerhouses in well to do places like Southlake/Carrol, Allen, Plano, Katy, The Woodlands, or Round Rock. Imagine how much of a leg-up CU would have if someone like Darian Hagan found himself coaching at those schools.
 
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does anyone believe that scheduling series with Texas schools would make a difference? there doesn't appear to be a single one.
 
Wouldn't our optimal recruiting class be 1/3 from Colorado, 1/3 from Texas and 1/3 from California?
 
Texas is essential. Any problems need to be solved, not used as justification to de-emphasize Texas.

CU, to compete with the best, needs to build a roster from CA, TX and CO as its core and then bring in other players from the western footprint (emphasis on Arizona, Washington and Hawaii) along with some targeted national recruits.

In some ways, this makes it more difficult. In other ways, this leads to greater opportunities since the Buffs can effectively fish from a larger pond.
 
We've had some excellent players from Texas in the past, Vickers, Wheatley, Crosby, McGee and Williams for starters. Kids from Texas or anywhere else will be happy here when we are winning.
 
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