In Reply to: A big part of recruiting is merely wanting to do it posted by TJJ on February 24, 2024 at 18:14:56
You forget that we do have a LOT of prestige. Playing football at UCLA means more than a lot of other Universities, and UCLA has so many non-football advantages that it recruits itself.
Think the Indiana coach who did some pretty good recruiting, esp with DeBoer there, but ultimately getting fired and blaming it on NIL.
BUT. the game changed with boosters paying players, and that's not our game. I doubt it ever will be, unless the UCLA film/tv alums lean in with real NIL jobs, and not the SEC booster "jobs".
Kelly screwed the pooch in recruiting, especially his first couple of years, instead of taking advantage of the massive splash and honeymoon, he hunkered down. He did do well in the portal, but also had the limitations of academics. And while he did do better at hiring assistants who would recruit later, the damage was done, especially with the awful starts the first 2 years.