CougarCorner

Our worry now has to be that more of our recruits don't start jumping ship to teams with better records.

Another recruit has now decommitted from BYU and has committed to the Utes.

I was a high school pitching coach for 10 years and had players who subsequently started at Arkansas, Michigan, Northwestern, Wisconsin and other noted schools. Basically, there are two groups of kids: (1) those whose only goal is playing at the professional level and (2) those who use their athletic ability to get into/pay for college and pro aspirations are secondary. All of them are serious about their sport, want to maximize their ability, and have an enjoyable college athletic experience. Importantly, they all want play for the coach that they feel comfortable with in a stable program. So a program that looks like its going to have major turnover of the coaching staff is a big drawback. A football example was Joe Paterno: during his last decade at Penn State, he had trouble recruiting because many recruits felt, due to his age, he probably wouldn't be there for their full 4 years.

The kids in the first group definitely want to be in a winning program where they will get noticed. Pro scouts look at top programs a lot closer and more often than they do mediocre or poor teams. They want the chances to play for a team that offers a major non-conference schedule, conference titles and hopefully in the NCAA tournament (playoff or major bowl games in football). Those post-season games mean extra practice time, the chance to play against other successful teams and further chances to get noticed. So these kids will generally go to the best program, with a name coach, that offers them.

The second group of kids is motivated by other considerations: academics, playing close to home so their family can see them play, family history of attending the school etc. For example, I had a pitcher that was recruited by Mississppi State, OK State and other "baseball schools" (who said "Don't worry about the academics") but accepted a full scholarship to Northwestern because he was a smart kid who used his arm to attend an expensive, top ranked university that his family couldn't otherwise afford (he graduated with a 3.9+ avg. in Engineering and was All Big10).
 
So, yes, the losing record is going to hurt BYU recruiting particularly if the losing continues for a couple more seasons. But what will hurt more than just losing is poor fundamental play, a reputation that the coaching staff is inexperienced or incompetent, the reputation that the school isn't committed to the sport or it appears that BYU will be making major changes to the coaching staff.
 

OL and DL players, exactly what we need the most.

Meh. We didn't want these kids anyways!

Yeah, they are the best line prospects in Utah and lifelong die hard BYU fan (Kump) but I've heard they said they see no opportunity at BYU to be successful or have a shot at the NFL.

It seems like several guys committed early on--but then as they are getting more offers from programs in P5 conferences, they are decommitting. Kump's tweet said he has been decommitting for "several months" and we know other guys have like Sekope Latu, Tyler Manoa, Allan Mwata, and Cameron Latu. It sucks to see them going to Utah over BYU but I'm not going to fault them for making the decisions they do for the reasons they do. I'll just pull for the guys who come to my team.

Interesting--CougarBoard is speculating that these two decommitting has more to do with the honor code and Francis Bernard situation as both these guys and FB are all from the same high school than the losing season this year.

Oral commitments really mean: "you're ahead right now but I can change my mind if a better offer comes along." Don't get excited about any kid until the commitment letter is signed.

Woody ... good points! Thank you!