The Impact of ESPN Contract on Recruiting

I know that we have touched on this subject indirectly but it appears from Bronco's comments that the reason they may not quickly try and sign a majority of the recruits prior to fall (as in the past) is because of the inquiries that they get from very good players that may not even be on their radar.



See his comments below (from Las Vegas Journal):

Brigham Young football coach Bronco Mendenhall thinks the Cougars' independent status and, in turn, its TV deal with ESPN is enhancing recruiting far more than hurting it.



Mendenhall said BYU's 2012 recruiting class of 17 prep signees came from a much wider pool of candidates than the program has had in recent years largely because of the national TV exposure.



The Cougars played on ESPN's family of networks 11 times last fall and also enjoyed worldwide exposure on BYUtv.



"We heard from more players and high school coaches who had seen us play," Mendenhall said. "We fielded more interest from all over the country."

I imagine that this response also aligns with Coach Dupaix's comments that they will take a different approach to recruiting for 2013 given the amount of interest that they have received from players interested in the Y due to what they have seen on TV, etc.



I look for us to be more selective in 2013 and pull in a lot more high quality recruits as our pool of candidates enlarges over a wider geographic region.

IMHO offer all 4 star or higher recruits immediately and sort out the 3's based on need and ability. Note that I am talking about bronco's star system not the services.

I also believe that scheduling many of the away games against high profile teams is also paying some dividends (TX, SEC - MS, FSU, GT, ND, BSU, etc.) as every recruit would like to play at storied venues and test themselves against quality opponents.



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byucougar1 wrote:
I also believe that scheduling many of the away games against high profile teams is also paying some dividends (TX, SEC - MS, FSU, GT, ND, BSU, etc.) as every recruit would like to play at storied venues and test themselves against quality opponents.



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+1. It is a good counter measure to the "allure" of the PAC-12 that the Yewts use in recruiting. West Coast stage vs. National stage.



ESPN is "Priceless." That's no joke.

Ddawg wrote:

I also believe that scheduling many of the away games against high profile teams is also paying some dividends (TX, SEC - MS, FSU, GT, ND, BSU, etc.) as every recruit would like to play at storied venues and test themselves against quality opponents.



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+1. It is a good counter measure to the "allure" of the PAC-12 that the Yewts use in recruiting. West Coast stage vs. National stage.



ESPN is "Priceless." That's no joke.

Our ESPN contract has the POTENTIAL to do all that PAC 12 membership would do for recruting and even more. There is that POTENTIAL word again. It also has the POTENTIAL to hurt recruiting. That is because there is GOOD EXPOSURE and there is BAD EXPOSURE. Maybe even Meh EXPOSURE.



Ole Miss - mixed. We won. They be SEC. But doormats. We looked bad in winning. But we won. At their place. Actually our Defense did not look bad. This one helped a tiny bit.



Texas - mixed. Texas sucked for the 1st half. They adjusted. We did not. We lost. Moral victory. But we looked bad in the 2nd half - Really bad. Well actually - the Defense looked good. This one - Meh.



Utah - hurt. Hurt bad. We were humiliated. It helped Utah. This is the biggest reason Utah outrecruited us in Utah this year. Players do not like to lose to anyone. They do not like to lose BIG. That scared some people away. This one hurt - big time - undid any good the prior two did and then some.



UCF - mixed. We won. We didn't look inspiring. This one - Meh.



USU - this one was humiliating - at first. Then inspiring. Luckily USU had the Auburn story and a couple of other close losses going for them to make it a little less embarassing. And we won. And it was a feel good story for UNDERDOGS, WALKONS, 2 Star guys - the overlooked and underappreciated. But that is who we are. I think this was a big plus - for those kind of recruits.



Then we played a bunch of games that were in many ways forgettable to anyone but a loyal BYU fan, but OSU had to be a plus. Most were Meh. Our D got some good exposure. TCU was not helpful because we lost - but we did not lose badly and showed some promise. Hawaii was a small plus as some thought they were decent. Tulsa was a moderate plus - again for C-USA, Mtn West, WAC kind of recruits. I doubt many recruits were dialed in if they had big-time offers and were not for some other reason already interested in BYU.



Now



Had we blown out Ole Miss, held on to edge Texas after making a QB change, BEATEN Utah, blown out UCF, BEATEN USU by 10, won all the rest, including a squeaker over TCU, been in the national discussion, gone to a BCS Bowl, and won that - The ESPN Deal would have delivered us to the promised land for years to come.



2012 ESPN Deal has even more POTENTIAL. It is all up to us. It isn't about our weak schedule or lack of PAC - it will be about how we step up to the schedule we have.



Just Win Baby!

Cougarbib2 wrote:
Now



Had we blown out Ole Miss, held on to edge Texas after making a QB change, BEATEN Utah, blown out UCF, BEATEN USU by 10, won all the rest, including a squeaker over TCU, been in the national discussion, gone to a BCS Bowl, and won that - The ESPN Deal would have delivered us to the promised land for years to come.



2012 ESPN Deal has even more POTENTIAL. It is all up to us. It isn't about our weak schedule or lack of PAC - it will be about how we step up to the schedule we have.



Just Win Baby!

Even if we had done all that, I'm not sure our recruiting class is any different than it was.

Probably true due to the early committments. But we might have picked up a couple late ones.

SpiffCoug wrote:

Now



Had we blown out Ole Miss, held on to edge Texas after making a QB change, BEATEN Utah, blown out UCF, BEATEN USU by 10, won all the rest, including a squeaker over TCU, been in the national discussion, gone to a BCS Bowl, and won that - The ESPN Deal would have delivered us to the promised land for years to come.



2012 ESPN Deal has even more POTENTIAL. It is all up to us. It isn't about our weak schedule or lack of PAC - it will be about how we step up to the schedule we have.



Just Win Baby!

Even if we had done all that, I'm not sure our recruiting class is any different than it was.

Disagree - at least one if not 6 of those guys that claim to have had offers from BYU but chose Utah would have chosen BYU if Utah had one more loss to go with the several they had anyway and if BYU had not been humiliated by Utah and even lost to Texas and TCU - but gone 11-2 and ranked Top 15 most likely.



Even though we did not have many slots, we had some slots offered to some Utah players at that time and subsequent time. We would not have gotten allof them - we would have gotten more of them.



Do you really think there was not one Utah recruit that watched that game - said wow - and then picked Utah over us. There was also a guy back East that bounced on us after that humiliating loss. Maybe he would have bounced anyway to stay closer to home, but that pummeling absolutely affected recruiting.



If BYU figures out how to pummel Utah in a similarly convincing fashion in SLC next year - I will go on record right here predicting that BYU will get right back to only losing one or two in-state recruits to Utah. Especially when Utah also goes .500 plus or minus 1 game in PAC COnference games which I am predicting right here as well.



We lose to Utah for a 3rd straight year - open the floodgates again the other direction. That game matters that much IMHO.

Agree to disagree Bib. I don't think any of those chose chose Utah because of a few wins one way or the other.

One has to evaluate many factors when claiming we lost recruits to UT. Several of the kids we offered were not LDS - Lutui, Dimick, etc. and others thought they would get more playing time with less competition (Hansen), others had academic issues that kept them from being accepted (the Davis OL), while others yet were not sold on the culture and HC requirements. UT may have got some of the recruits we offered but IMO they may not have been good fits. Everyone that committed has either expressed gratitude for the opportunity to receive a scholarship or stated how much they love the program, atmosphere and culture. I don't think we lost anyone to UT that wanted to be here.



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And Wofford went to BC which is an awful team right now (4-8).

Another similar quote that I previously posted from Bronco by Jeff Call (Desnews):



"In 2011, the Cougars competed as an independent for the first time. Of their 13 games, 11 of those were broadcast on the ESPN family of networks. BYU is ranked No. 6 in the country in 2011 for the most broadcasts available to a national television audience, defined as the potential of at least 100 million viewers.



"The number of people that have seen us play has been absolutely remarkable," Mendenhall said. "Before, when I would go to the national coaches' convention, they would talk about our bowl game because it was the only game they saw. It was on ESPN and more people saw that game. This year, I had coaches talking to me about … our whole season because they had seen almost the whole season. … Is that worth the scheduling that we are battling and continuing to build? No question."



Added Mendenhall: "The exposure that we've gained has been a phenomenal experience for our program, for our fans, for the ( LDS Church ) and the families of our young people."



I believe we will see an even greater impact in the following years as long as we keep winning and playing an exciting, entertaining style of football.



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Cougarbib2 wrote:

Cougarbib2 wrote:
Now



Had we blown out Ole Miss, held on to edge Texas after making a QB change, BEATEN Utah, blown out UCF, BEATEN USU by 10, won all the rest, including a squeaker over TCU, been in the national discussion, gone to a BCS Bowl, and won that - The ESPN Deal would have delivered us to the promised land for years to come.



2012 ESPN Deal has even more POTENTIAL. It is all up to us. It isn't about our weak schedule or lack of PAC - it will be about how we step up to the schedule we have.



Just Win Baby!

Even if we had done all that, I'm not sure our recruiting class is any different than it was.

Disagree - at least one if not 6 of those guys that claim to have had offers from BYU but chose Utah would have chosen BYU if Utah had one more loss to go with the several they had anyway and if BYU had not been humiliated by Utah and even lost to Texas and TCU - but gone 11-2 and ranked Top 15 most likely.



Even though we did not have many slots, we had some slots offered to some Utah players at that time and subsequent time. We would not have gotten allof them - we would have gotten more of them.



Do you really think there was not one Utah recruit that watched that game - said wow - and then picked Utah over us. There was also a guy back East that bounced on us after that humiliating loss. Maybe he would have bounced anyway to stay closer to home, but that pummeling absolutely affected recruiting.



If BYU figures out how to pummel Utah in a similarly convincing fashion in SLC next year - I will go on record right here predicting that BYU will get right back to only losing one or two in-state recruits to Utah. Especially when Utah also goes .500 plus or minus 1 game in PAC COnference games which I am predicting right here as well.



We lose to Utah for a 3rd straight year - open the floodgates again the other direction. That game matters that much IMHO.

I don't know about this one bib. I feel like it's kindof like saying "if my dad were Arnold Palmer I'd be a good golfer." Of course we'd get better recruits if we were 0/1 loss team. So would everybody else.



Truth is Utah is very attractive right now (at least until they hired a 24 year old OC which they hid from the recruits). I hate Utah, I never considered going to school there and though I'm not a collegiate athlete I believe my feelings would not have been any different in 2000 when I went to college. However, Mormon recruits can justify the religious aspect due to Utah's Mormon heavy coaching staff now, they're a winning program over the last 7 years, and if I had my choice to have BYU's indy schedule as a recruit or what BYU in the Pac would be as a recruit I'd choose the Pac.



It's a problem.

When posters post a quote one can only hope they read it carefully. Note that Bronco said if we keep on winning and playing an exciting brand of football.



We did not beat Utah, TCU, and Texas. Utah humiliated us and our ESPN deal ensured that everyone saw that humiliation. Our offense looked pathetic vs Texas. Our Special Teams looked pathetic vs TCU and our new QB did not look good.



All of the other games were ho hum.



We just had our worst recruiting vs Utah for in-state recruits ever while Utah had its best class ever. Blue goggled Y fans should hope it was due to the beat down because that is solvable. If not - then chalk it up to PAC and consider it irreversible, and get used to it.



Coincidence - I hope not.



Go Cougs - beat U on ESPN. Reverse the tide.



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Bronco stated that we met our needs with the recruits we got. Whether it is from UT or out-of-state it doesn't matter - just bring in the talent and insert where we need depth. He stated that our pool of recruits came from a wider geographic area than in previous years. Translate - we are not relying as exclusively on Utah recruits as in the past. As was noted as nauseum, the Utah recruit vs the Y recruit differs in the intangibles that Bronco is requiring. On the surface they may appear to have spurned us for the Yewts but conversely maybe they didn't see a good fit with the Y. Our debacle against the Yewts certainly didn't dissuade our original commits from backing out of their commitment with us. Note - we signed a majority of them before the loss. I trust Bronco in his evaluation of talent and which player will be a success on the team rather than relying on a subjective star rating by talent scouts which relies heavily on which schools are recruiting the player and the number of offers they have been given. Am I satisfied with our recruiting process - no, but we are committed to raising the bar which shows that they are not satisfied with status quo. Let's see how these players turn out after they step onto the field before we jump to the conclusion that UT has a better class.



BTW - both UT/BYU had the same number of players invited to the pro combo tryout (Reynolds and Fangupo). Look for an even higher amount next year with our OL and DL/LB/DB players.



expect this trend to continue and maybe we don't get



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Yeah but Bronco offered those players a scholarship. They met his criteria. And when we lost out on a bunch to Utah and other PAC, then we went to some next in line candidates that were not our first choice.



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http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1328639" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Interesting article showing the states that place the most recruits, but also the ratio of players receiving Division I schollies vs the number of players in the pool. UT placed (20) and was ranked ahead of TX (1 out of every 417). Florida, LSU, AL, OH were tops but surprisingly enough, HI is up in the top with 17 out of 200+. Looks like the Poly connection is alive and well.



Note that we offer players that seem to fit our need, maybe even qualify, but still may be long shots (see Devonte Neal, the TX. LA and CA RBs, OL that went to SC), however, that doesn't mean we don't get good players - just not always or as frequently as the top rated - highly visible programs. Again, I think it is erroneous to think that we got the dregs compared to UT.

Utah got the best recruiting class - on paper - that they have ever had. They got more players with BYU offers than ever before.



BYU got its typical solid class. Not dregs. not as good as U - on paper.



And we probably agree that on the field of play does not always follow the paper ratings.



We just need to get back to beating Utah regularly and we will go back to winning almost every recruiting battle with them for a candidate BYU offers.



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We need a magical season. I remember seeing Doman's name scroll across a Times Square billboard in 01. Since then though, BYU hasn't been a national story. Being out of BCS contention by game 2 or 3 will do that to you.



It has to hurt recruiting if players doubt that bronco and crew can deliver a big season. And unfortunately so far there isn't much evidence so far that would support that they can. Winning 10 games is great, but going 10-0 is a whole different thing.



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Larrycoug wrote:
We need a magical season. I remember seeing Doman's name scroll across a Times Square billboard in 01. Since then though, BYU hasn't been a national story. Being out of BCS contention by game 2 or 3 will do that to you.



It has to hurt recruiting if players doubt that bronco and crew can deliver a big season. And unfortunately so far there isn't much evidence so far that would support that they can. Winning 10 games is great, but going 10-0 is a whole different thing.



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Winning 11 is greater. 11-2 gets BYU Top 15 or better every time. And we have done it 3 times very recently. And we beat Utah for in-state recruits when we do it.



If BYU had beaten Utah rather than suffering a beat down at their hands, we would have gotten more of the players offered by BYU that chose U.



And if we were to nab a 12-1 or 13-0 all the better.



Unfortunately, with our likely 2012 schedule, we should be happy with 10-3 as long as that includes a win over 7-6 or 8-5 or 6-7 Utah. That is where I expect Utah to finish if BYU spanks them in the Rice Paddy.



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