Mark Helfrich Recruiting Question

[GoDucksTroll]

Mayden said the same stuff last year though, not a lot of communication with the coaches ect. So this wasn't just because the coaches knew they would be fired, it's how Helfs guys handled recruiting for a few years.

Lets not forget Vavae. While I wasn't a fan, he said virtually the same thing. It's all supposition from us, however, it sure looks like they got lazy or hadn't adapted to the times.

Even 10 years ago, wouldn't a coach at a major program be calling committed recruits regularly? I guess with the way things have changed, and coaches be trying to connect non-stop, that even a call every couple of weeks would seem like a lack of communication.
Recruiting is ridiculous though.

Yeah, it's really changed. The shift from the 90's to today is extreme. I can see why Chip wouldn't want to come back to this anymore. Coaching and talking to your own players takes enough time let alone having these kids expect daily conversation (adulation) thrown at them.

Isn't that what twitter, facebook, instagram, snapchat, etc and graduate assistants are there for? All in the coaches name of course.

You would think but apparently we couldn't even get them to do this according to these recruits.

100% accurate. I've heard this from recruits time and time again. Along the lines of "SEC school and ACC school hit me up everyday and Oregon doesn't talk" and that was from someone committed to Oregon...

[Groundswell]

That's the problem with staff continuity. It's difficult to keep up with new ways. And that's the trouble with staying in a particular position for too long. It's difficult to change old ways.

True. But they made a very deliberate decision to "settle" on kids who really wanted Oregon above all else. It was a strategy: we won't beg and cajole kids to come. If we have to work too hard to convince a kid, he's not a Man of Oregon. They thought they could be different by not badgering kids and trying to be straight with them and trying to make an Oregon offer special. To them, the best 20 commits were the kids who didn't/don't go for that kind of stuff/fluff. Of course, that all might have been the old staff's "old ways" showing. It certainly wasn't working for them towards the end.

I agree. It may have worked with some, like Arik Armstead who probably felt like every other coach was full of BS, but in many more cases it didn't. If a recruit responds to straight talk, cool, use it. Always speak to people at their level. Don't be fake, but if you want someone who only speaks Chinese to understand you, you don't speak Portuguese.

I've also heard people suggest that the recruiting style of our old coaches led to commits who were more concerned with comfort than competition. That's almost impossible to quantify, but I think there's some merit to it.

[Ppb]

In helf's defense, smartphones these days have touch screens with a million little buttons on them, that's kinda their deal. I'm sure he had a game plan to keep in touch with recruits, but the execution wasn't always there. He would get 8 or 9 of the numbers in a sequence dialed correctly, but a just one miss on the dial pad, or using the wrong area code, and the connection couldn't be made. Get enough of those, like missed tackles, and recruits wonder why they never hear from you. He'll regroup, learn from it, and get some numbers dialed in full next time.

[srsmiley007]

In helf's defense, smartphones these days have touch screens with a million little buttons on them, that's kinda their deal. I'm sure he had a game plan to keep in touch with recruits, but the execution wasn't always there. He would get 8 or 9 of the numbers in a sequence dialed correctly, but a just one miss on the dial pad, or using the wrong area code, and the connection couldn't be made. Get enough of those, like missed tackles, and recruits wonder why they never hear from you. He'll regroup, learn from it, and get some numbers dialed in full next time.

Wow, a double hit on Helf.

[duckfan96]

The old coaching staff probably said f it and quit contacting recruits due to their situation. Lots of people throw in the towel when the writing is on the wall. Helfrich isn't dumb, he knew he was on his way out.