[pefloresjr]

I think this is definitely a down year in recruiting.  It is, however, within the normal variability we have seen in other years.  Given the good track record we have with recruiting, I have a lot of confidence in Shaw and the rest of the coaches to make the needed adjustments. 

One thing that I think some of the Shawtagonists are not considering is the fact that until the first early signing period happened, nobody knew how many would sign early.  I think Stanford was surprised by how many recruits chose to sign early, including the recruits who signed with us.  It was not unreasonable for the staff to think that there would be more recruits still at play until the Feb. signing date.  In hindsight, I can see that most programs would put tremendous pressure on their recruits to sign early or risk missing out but that has always been true of the verbal commits we have had to try to filp.  Of course, the option of flipping recruits late all but disappears if they are actually signed and not just verbals. 

That miscalculation along with only a slight miscalculation on the number of successful hits we would get is enough to explain a down year.  I could say Shaw and co. are idiots for not seeing that we might miss on some prospects but it seems like we have been getting really high (and increasingly higher) yields out of our extremely targeted recruiting strategy.  It makes sense to stick with it because it has been working.  Based on all of that, I think Shaw and co. get a poor grade for this year, but I have high confidence that they will expand their search with more offers and attempts to get the academic questions answered sooner.  Only time will tell, but recruiting for every program is very unpredictable and I think Shaw has earned the benefit of the doubt. 

Cheers,
Pete F. 

[pefloresjr]

I think this is definitely a down year in recruiting.  It is, however, within the normal variability we have seen in other years.  Given the good track record we have with recruiting, I have a lot of confidence in Shaw and the rest of the coaches to make the needed adjustments. 

One thing that I think some of the Shawtagonists are not considering is the fact that until the first early signing period happened, nobody knew how many would sign early.  I think Stanford was surprised by how many recruits chose to sign early, including the recruits who signed with us.  It was not unreasonable for the staff to think that there would be more recruits still at play until the Feb. signing date.  In hindsight, I can see that most programs would put tremendous pressure on their recruits to sign early or risk missing out but that has always been true of the verbal commits we have had to try to filp.  Of course, the option of flipping recruits late all but disappears if they are actually signed and not just verbals. 

That miscalculation along with only a slight miscalculation on the number of successful hits we would get is enough to explain a down year.  I could say Shaw and co. are idiots for not seeing that we might miss on some prospects but it seems like we have been getting really high (and increasingly higher) yields out of our extremely targeted recruiting strategy.  It makes sense to stick with it because it has been working.  Based on all of that, I think Shaw and co. get a poor grade for this year, but I have high confidence that they will expand their search with more offers and attempts to get the academic questions answered sooner.  Only time will tell, but recruiting for every program is very unpredictable and I think Shaw has earned the benefit of the doubt. 

Cheers,
Pete F.