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Posted by Scipio Tex on May 7th, 2009 under Football, Recruiting
The board’s favorite object of Sooner abuse has put up an interesting analysis concerning Tim Griffin’s Big 12 Blog detailing Big Game* Bob’s dominance over the rest of the league. I certainly concede the argument to Oklahoma simply on the basis of Big 12 hardware though the postseason letdowns are becoming increasingly brutal for Sooners fans to endure and obfuscate Bob’s league dominance.
I was actually somewhat more interested in how the rest of the list shook out after Stoops and Brown. Obviously, you need to view it qualitatively since the numbers don’t adjust for tenure.
Snyder and Leach are #3 and #4 respectively and although that’s something I knew intellectually, it’s striking to see arguably the two most resource deprived schools in the league (I suppose Iowa St has an argument) acquitting themselves quite well. Leach wins with scheme and a contempt for orthodoxy and Snyder won by building the best group of assistants in college football.
You might argue that Tech should succeed by virtue of sitting in the talent-rich state of Texas, but if by “in Texas” you mean Tech is 300+ miles from the first batch of athletes and 650 miles from the highest concentrations, I suppose I’ll agree. They’re less proximate to East Texas talent than half of the SEC and less proximate to Dallas talent than Little Rock.
Kansas State is even more geographically godforsaken and though their academic standards open up some avenues for recruiting, there are plenty of places more desirable to play football that don’t check transcripts either.
Texas A&M is the great underachiever on this list even though good ‘ol RC checks in #5. Like UCLA, A&M football somehow manages to always be less than the sum of its parts. Unlike UCLA, they manage to do it while caring about football deeply.
You could argue from his record that Frank Solich got a raw deal, but he didn’t. Callahan was just a terrible hire. The Solich program was in massive decline and it was written all over the recruiting. Everyone can Larry Coker it for a while, but reality sets in with each graduating class.
What jumps out to you?
TaylorTRoom said:
May 8th, 2009 at 4:05 am
I like the approach of gauging program potential by how close the school is to concentrations of recruits. There is a secondary factor, now. A few years ago, the NCAA banned the use of private planes for recruiting trips. I wonder if that explains why some schools have struggled to recruit, despite having seemingly enviable locations.
Look, if a kid comes to Austin or Norman on a recruiting trip, he flies into a major airport, and is shuttled 10 minutes to a hotel. If he visits Waco, he either drives in himself (I assume they reimburse mileage, but don’t know), or flies in on a turboprop. If a kid flies into College Station, he’s coming in on an RJ, or turboprop (do they exit on the tarmac?). I assume it’s the same for other schools like KSO and OSU. In the past, recruits would have been brought in on Lear jets.
So, you’ve got this conference with national recognition, but several member schools are handicapped in recruiting nationally. Just another example of the NCAA making rules changes to help the little guys, and actually hurting the ones they think they’re helping.
Just some thoughts. To get back on topic, have you noticed how much Stoops is starting to look like Bruan Doyle-Murray?
Ag_in_TX said:
May 8th, 2009 at 5:36 am
I know flying into Kansas City and driving two hours out the school you’re visiting is a beating. Hell, the whole official visit thing is a beating after the first one.
Ag_in_TX said:
May 8th, 2009 at 5:39 am
I would beware your comments that A&M is “always less than the sum of its parts” – you seem to have selective amnesia regarding a decade long period of the not so distant past.
Damn, I wish we’d gotten Peterson but I just have to hope for the best from Sherman.
BEHorn said:
May 8th, 2009 at 5:50 am
“you seem to have selective amnesia regarding a decade long period of the not so distant past”
More distant with each passing minute …
ponderos said:
May 8th, 2009 at 6:07 am
I don’t think Franchione underachieved at all.
uthookem said:
May 8th, 2009 at 7:03 am
Too bad Tim didn’t include bowl games on the fancy chart of his…
dedfischer said:
May 8th, 2009 at 7:38 am
Spike Dykes is the best goddamn football coach to ever walk the planet. That’s what jumps out at me.
Flamingmonkeyass said:
May 8th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Anyone got the over/under on ponderos offing himself in two years next October? I can only imagine the personal he’ll he’ll be in, living in Austin, his sooners having lost the last 5 of 6 to the Longhorns, and stoopsie no longer having a winning record against Brown. What’s else will he have to live for?
Stats Are For Losers said:
May 8th, 2009 at 8:19 am
What the bloody hell is going on over at Spence Park Soapbox.. It has been taken over by NFL Fantasy Footballers. DO we need to put out an APB for Doc?
Facebook User said:
May 8th, 2009 at 8:30 am
We’ll be adding some more Aggie guys and probably launching those Fantasy guys as a new site eventually. Loved Doc and those guys but they went MIA.
Phenomenal Smith said:
May 8th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Larry Smith, RIP, has a better conference record than Mangino. That’s what jumps out at me.
dedfischer said:
May 8th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
There’s no way those guys have the kinks worked out of their FF shit like we do around here.
mr. horn said:
May 9th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Wow — Stoops is the only coach in the history of the conference to win more than one title. That’s pretty stunning to me.
longhornmatt said:
May 9th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Things that stand out:
1. Spike Dykes actually has a higher conference winning percentage than Leach. This underscores just how much Leach benefits from his Bill Snyder style of OOC scheduling to guarantee 4 wins each year (I know we aren’t much better). A big reason behind the “growth” of that program in recent years is that they now play Eastern Washington and UMass in September instead of Ohio State and NC State.
2. Solich definitely did not get a raw deal. Even if you remove the recruiting aspect, he still deserved to go based on his performance. He inherited the most dominant program in college football and averaged a 5-3 conference record.
3. Kevin Steele was an awful, awful coach.
ThatsYou said:
May 10th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Has Baylor really won 13 conference games in 12 season?
Jesus Christ.
Cats said:
May 11th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
American Airlines started direct flights from DFW to Manhattan, KS.
Facebook User said:
May 11th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
The funniest thing about that Fran picture is how close he came to beating Stoops in Norman with that Bama team a year or two before.
Palmettohorn said:
May 15th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Gene Chizik is a very fortunate man – at least for now.