Recruiting Chicagoland

[TheBoris]

Back in the days of Fat Jack and Leroy Keyes and Mike Phipps, Purdue recruited heavily in Chicagoland and something like 30-40% of the kids on the roster came from that area.

I checked out our recruiting classes of 2014, 2015 and 2016 and we have a grand total on one recruit from Chicagoland in those three classes combined.

So what happened? Why did that pipeline dry up?

 

[pboiler18]

Did it dry up or did we stop?

If we stopped, shame on us

 

[threeeputtt]

Back in the days of Fat Jack and Leroy Keyes and Mike Phipps, Purdue recruited heavily in Chicagoland and something like 30-40% of the kids on the roster came from that area.

I checked out our recruiting classes of 2014, 2015 and 2016 and we have a grand total on one recruit from Chicagoland in those three classes combined.

So what happened? Why did that pipeline dry up?

Ron Meyer as recruiter in the 1960's used to beat ND, Nwestern, Wisky and Illinois for those Chicago kids. He left, we left end of story. He now lives in Austin where I met him a couple of years ago. ASK him. Or, maybe Bob DeMoss as he also helped in that area. Does anyone ask old guys what they would do in life? It IS a great question to ask these guys.

 

[Born Boiler]

Our 1966 team that went to the Rose Bowl had more players from Illinois (26) than Indiana (19). We also had 14 from Ohio and 12 from Pennsylvania, with the other 19 from 10 other states.

We need to raid our neighbors and also grab some fleet Floridians and Texas tanks.

 

[lbodel]

Back in the days of Fat Jack and Leroy Keyes and Mike Phipps, Purdue recruited heavily in Chicagoland and something like 30-40% of the kids on the roster came from that area.

I checked out our recruiting classes of 2014, 2015 and 2016 and we have a grand total on one recruit from Chicagoland in those three classes combined.

So what happened? Why did that pipeline dry up?

Neither Danny Hope or Darrell Hazell made a true effort in many "logical" recruiting spots for Purdue. Hazell touted heavily recruiting the "State of Purdue" - which was explained as the states in and around Indiana (Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky). Purdue's current recruiting class of 14 had 1 commitment from Indiana and 4 others in the surrounding states. So 5 out of 14 were from our recruiting emphasis "region". Last year, Purdue had 23 recruits with 2 from Indiana and 2 from surrounding states. That's 4 out of 23 recruits from our region that he claimed was his emphasis.

What a joke.

 

[threeeputtt]

Neither Danny Hope or Darrell Hazell made a true effort in many "logical" recruiting spots for Purdue. Hazell touted heavily recruiting the "State of Purdue" - which was explained as the states in and around Indiana (Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky). Purdue's current recruiting class of 14 had 1 commitment from Indiana and 4 others in the surrounding states. So 5 out of 14 were from our recruiting emphasis "region". Last year, Purdue had 23 recruits with 2 from Indiana and 2 from surrounding states. That's 4 out of 23 recruits from our region that he claimed was his emphasis.

What a joke.

Local/state kids for the most part would rather stay close. Their coaches and fellow players want them to stay local. Are we ignoring and not sucking up to our state coaches? Ohio St's blueprint is take care of the state coaches. What we doing WRONG? Yeah, I know the talent pool/population is thinner however, we should "own" 60% of them from ND and IU.

 

[New Pal Boiler]

Neither Danny Hope or Darrell Hazell made a true effort in many "logical" recruiting spots for Purdue. Hazell touted heavily recruiting the "State of Purdue" - which was explained as the states in and around Indiana (Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky). Purdue's current recruiting class of 14 had 1 commitment from Indiana and 4 others in the surrounding states. So 5 out of 14 were from our recruiting emphasis "region". Last year, Purdue had 23 recruits with 2 from Indiana and 2 from surrounding states. That's 4 out of 23 recruits from our region that he claimed was his emphasis.

What a joke.

Cole Kmet is a 4 star TE in Chicago suburbs, dad and uncle both played at Purdue and in the NFL. Not even an offer.

 

[HomelessHarvey97]

Thank you for bringing this up. I have seen it posted on this board before-- but I think many of you guys are Indiana guys and therefore focused on your state. I live in Chicago and trust me WE HAVE WET THE BED ON THIS SuBJECT!!

So many good 2* as well as 3* - 4* kids don't want to go to UI or can't go to NU. They end up at Easter/Western Ill, NIU, Wisconsin, Iowa or others.

I think this should be a fundamental recruiting principle for our next coach. Tiller did a decent job here -- but then it just died with the DH brothers.

I think this is still an opportunity for us but I fear Lovie recognizes the opportunity as well and is getting a head start.

 

[lbodel]

Local/state kids for the most part would rather stay close. Their coaches and fellow players want them to stay local. Are we ignoring and not sucking up to our state coaches? Ohio St's blueprint is take care of the state coaches. What we doing WRONG? Yeah, I know the talent pool/population is thinner however, we should "own" 60% of them from ND and IU.

Kevin Wilson has placed an emphasis on recruiting the state as well - so as long as he remains at IU, he's spent years establishing himself in this state.

Overall, there's a lot of clean-up left to do for the next coach. This is one of many issues.

 

[KentuckyBoiler]

I would like to see us recruit TX hard again too. Tiller had a lot of success recruiting the state.

 

[lbodel]

I would like to see us recruit TX hard again too. Tiller had a lot of success recruiting the state.

Yes, Texas was helpful. Tiller's strategy was exactly what you have to do at Purdue. Do well with the decent recruits in Indiana where it should be easiest to recruit (easy to build connections), be competitive in the surrounding Midwest where there is a good amount of recruits - you'll have to cherrypick some of the 'upper' talent and pick your battles. And then recruit some of the national level.

Recruiting strategy is pretty simple - the closer you are to a recruit, the easier it is to visit them, build relationships with coaches, build an overall relationship with the recruit, they can visit you easily, etc. The further away you go, the harder it is to be there in person - and the harder it is for them to visit you in person.

 

[pboiler18]

Yes, Texas was helpful. Tiller's strategy was exactly what you have to do at Purdue. Do well with the decent recruits in Indiana where it should be easiest to recruit (easy to build connections), be competitive in the surrounding Midwest where there is a good amount of recruits - you'll have to cherrypick some of the 'upper' talent and pick your battles. And then recruit some of the national level.

Recruiting strategy is pretty simple - the closer you are to a recruit, the easier it is to visit them, build relationships with coaches, build an overall relationship with the recruit, they can visit you easily, etc. The further away you go, the harder it is to be there in person - and the harder it is for them to visit you in person.

Texas is far less easy to penetrate. SMU football hardly existed when Tiller was here. Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech and Houston have all seen a huge jump in recruiting and relevance in the time since Tiller had success there.

I don't think this is where our pipeline should be.

PA, Chicago, GA/FL should be places we focus outside of the immediate GEO I think.

 

[lbodel]

Texas is far less easy to penetrate. SMU football hardly existed when Tiller was here. Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech and Houston have all seen a huge jump in recruiting and relevance in the time since Tiller had success there.

I don't think this is where our pipeline should be.

PA, Chicago, GA/FL should be places we focus outside of the immediate GEO I think.

I'm just saying strategies like that will be what Purdue needs - solid in-state recruiting, good regional recruiting and then finding a niche area to fill in some talent.

Doesn't mean it has to be Texas. A lot of it depends on the coaching staff put together.

And quite frankly, we have so much work to do just to improve things in our own damn state because we've been ok with our previous 2 coaches not even paying attention to the entire state - the least of our concerns is what place 1,000 miles away we should try recruiting.