We had an abbreviated Call-in show last evening due to 1) being on a bye weekend and 2) there’s only so much to discuss at this point that hasn’t been covered in other Roundtables. We even dragged out recruiting which is, let’s be honest, so highly subjective that discussions about it don’t really get anywhere.
But even with that we had a good time last night bouncing thoughts around between Matt, Richard and myself.
Recruiting is a funny business
Much has been said about Narduzzi and staff’s recruiting over the last three years. A commenter posted up Chris Dokish’s latest article about this subject – a response to Pitt fan’s disappointment over missing out on Kwantel Raines and the shortage (void actually) of 4* recruits in our 2018 class. Here it is and it is a good read.
I’ll post the summation because that is the heart of these discussions:
1. Yes, it’s great to have a roster filled with 4 and 5 star prospects if you want to win a national championship, but there’s only about a dozen programs that can do that. Pitt isn’t one of them.
2. Pitt, however, is in the next group of programs, and that group can win with a roster filled with mostly 3 star prospects, as long as they identify the right players, and put them in a position to succeed. In other words, recruiting and coaching.
3. Recruiting websites are a great resource, but they should not be taken as gospel. Five star prospects often do nothing, two star prospects often do a lot, and three and four star prospects are the same level of player.
4. Like Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma State, Pitt is capable of getting into the top 15, too, because they are all recruiting similarly. And getting into the top 25 is even more possible because at worse, they recruit as well, and in a handful of cases they recruit significantly better.
5. It’s still an unknown if Pat Narduzzi is one of those coaches, like Mike Gundy, Paul Chryst, and Justin Fuente, that can identify talent, then put them in the best position to win, but if he isn’t one of those coaches, we know that that it is possible that Pitt can be just as successful as Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, and Oklahoma State with the right coach.
In a nutshell Chris is saying that if you can’t get top shelf 4* or 5* kids you have to rely on coaching… well that certainly makes sense. But it still does not mitigate the need to still get the best possible HS players possible for your program to overcome any shortcomings you may have on your coaching staff.
pittpov.com 