Hall of Famer [20555]
TigerPulse: 100%
Posts: 11699
Joined: 10/15/02
|
How Bowden Seems to Recruit (And Why It Works)
Feb 10, 2004, 12:00 AM
|
| View Original Thread |
|
Given that Clemson's latest recruiting class was listed as low as #53 by some sources, and that this class was, by any measure, loaded with two-star rated ("average") recruits, it's easy to ask what is wrong with Clemson's recruiting these days? Well, there's a litany of factors, starting with poor player facilities, tough academic standards, the widely-exploited perception that Clemson is not an ethnically "diverse" campus, and also likely a couple of other reasons that aren't particularily nice, most of which, I suspect, are directly related to the fact that the NCAA is increasingly perceived as a toothless organization. Doubt it? Check out this recent ESPN Article on diminishing NCAA effectiveness, or merely take a glance at the disproportionately high recruiting rankings of the usual-suspect SEC teams (9 of the 12 teams in the SEC are ranked in the top 35 of most recruiting rankings, including USC) and one might start getting an idea of where a certain percentage of the the highly-rated players might be going.
Whatever the truth of the matter, Bowden, clearly, doesn't recruit dirty, and Bowden is probably positively freewheeling compared to Clemson's compliance director, Becky Bowman. That's limiting, on paper, but Terry Bowden, in recent statements he made about the widespread corruption among Auburn boosters while he was a head coach at that school was almost jaw-droppingly blunt. "It was the kids we were paying who were causing all the trouble!" Terry claimed. And Alabama, one of the most-corrupt schools in recent memory, was loaded to the gills in the '99 and 2000 seasons and never managed more than 7-5 and 8-4 years despite the immense talent on their roster. Dirty programs underperform, often badly, and discipline problems tend to be rampant. How do you tell a kid you've paid the rules apply to him? He knows the rules don't apply to him; you broke the rules to get him. And if you displease him, that kid can burn you. The NCAA is just a phone call away. Lotta luck controlling your locker room there, coach.
So how do Clemson's coaches compensate for their competitive disadvantages on the recruiting trail? The answer would seem to be: by turning over an immense amount of game film, casting the recruiting net as wide as possible, and sifting recruits until they find guys that athletically are the equal of the ones at the top-level programs. Skills can be taught; speed and athleticism can't be. Clemson's recruits have tended to be raw and/or undeveloped, but almost universally the guys Clemson has recruited are physically the equal of the guys at top-level programs like FSU or Miami. And Tommy's accumulated sufficient depth that he can redshirt almost all his signees and let them develop behind the starters. Bowden has also placed an emphasis on character, and has red-X'd a number of guys with off-the-field baggage and known character issues, including three that I know of this year. (Many of those guys subsequently signed up I-26.) The guys we get have been raw, but once molded they've proven they can play with - and beat - the best teams in the country. And Bowden proved last year his staff can mold them.
Players, clearly, are not interchangeable parts, but in Clemson's system - which is strongly modelled on FSU's - there's a constant cycling of similar talents. A guy goes down or graduates, and he's replaced by a guy with a very similar skillset and physical capabilities. It's arguably the most-effective system in college football - Bobby Bowden has won more games with it than any other coach in college football history - and towards the end of this past year, like a big-block V-8 that wasn't idling well, it finally caught and starting firing on all cylinders. Will it continue to do so? Probably. Year to year, season-to-season, the Bowden recipe produced more year-to-year success and consistency than any other system we've seen. FSU epitomized the "great teams don't rebuild, they reload" truism...hopefully, now too will Clemson. The peices and system seem to be in place, and that big engine was well and truly humming at the end of last year....
|
|
50
