Voice of the Hawkeyes Board

I know some of you disagree, but I actually like this approach. So much of recruiting comes down to using your time and resources most efficiently. While there is a ton of talent in Florida, every college in the country knows that, and virtually every BCS program that's considered ahead of Iowa in the college football pecking order recruits there. With the NCAA rules the way they are at this point, it's extremely difficult to get recruits to take unofficial visits across the country on their own dime. Official visits don't begin until September of their senior year, and by that point, many recruits have already made a decision. And for the ones that haven't, it can still be too late, as there's a good chance there's another school that has already established itself as the team to beat. I think it's a much better use of time and resources to focus even more heavily on a state like Ohio or Pennsylvania, where Iowa can be a realistic contender for the top prospects.

That being said, I do think it could be a good move for Ferentz to hire an assistant with deep connections in Florida at some point. If/when that happens, then it'd make sense to adjust this philosophy. But if a coach like that isn't currently on the staff, you can't force it.

Thanks guys for the info. This right here makes me think once again about how Iowa needs better public relations. I think they did a pretty good job in this case by having Coach Johnson and Norm talk about whats going on, but I have thought for a long while that Coach Ferentz need's to explain things to the fans better than he has in the past. Too many times have the fans had to piece things together and too many times does it end up in confusion. Todd has the time and knowlege to help us out and thats great for us, but most of Iowa's fans just shake their head when they hear about decisions made by the coaching staff. After listening to Todd, I agree that the staff is doing the best thing overall for recruiting. Coach Ferentz has always struck me as a "play the odds" kind of coach and it seems that philosophy is a sound approach in this case.

Just add Florida to the list with California and everything west of the Rockies. I understand the principle, but I also understand talent. The move is flat out dumb. Hopefully the coaches cruise doesn't disembark from F-L-A....just another land of talent that Iowa forgot.

And hey I understand its not fun getting told, "no thanks", but if recruiting was easy, nobody would be 4-8.

Iowa currently has 42 offers out. 3 are going elsewhere, and we landed the 2 easiest in state. That leaves 37 offers, and nearly half are gonna land in the "no thanks" category. So, that leaves what, 20 viable offers? LSU just had 300+ kids at their Junior Day...Miss St just handed out 14 offers over the weekend to up their total to something like 55...and what? Its time for a cruise? Not enough time and money for recruiting Florida, but there's time for a cruise? 4 wins, 8 losses. Cruise. 4 wins, 8 losses. Cruise. No Florida recruiting. Cruise. 4 wins, 8 losses. Cruise. , I'm stuck.

I love Ohio's talent, particularly this year, but even I understand that compared to Florida's kids, Ohio's are less explosive, less sudden, and slower. But then again, any and all talent will wait. Have a nice time on that cruise.

Wasn't everyone dancing in the streets when Hernandez tweeted he was coming to Iowa because that opened up the Florida pipeline?

Smart move in my opinion, I feel like they could spend that Florida effort on new east coast states that the new coaches have connections to and more time in Texas to try and open it back up. Recruits like playing in front of their friends and family and we don't play any games in Florida and most parents don't have the money to travel to games so far away. With the addition of Rutgers and Maryland to the conference I think it really opens up that area to recruit because we will be playing games around there.

What the hell can someone upvote lumu for me it downvoted him for some reason, thanks and sorry lumu. Anyway, I think hillboy was being a wisenheimer

I'm kind of torn on this one. I don't think we give up on Florida. I do know many players haven't panned out from there, but we've also had some good players from Florida. Maurice Brown and Brad Banks I believe both came from the sunshine state. Abdul Hodge came from Florida.

Todd, can you post a list of players from Florida that have played for Ferentz? I'd be interested in seeing who came from Florida and played for Ferentz.

I understand the reasoning, but Iowa has also had players from many other places either transfer or not pan out for various reasons.

You could get playmakers from anywhere and there are busts from everywhere too. No point in bringing up past success stories because that is just the past. If we could get those players to play for iowa now then it would be relavent. Greenway was successful, should we start putting more effort into South Dakota? I just think it is wiser to put more effort into other places rather than Florida. Recently it's been kind of a lost cause and we have no inns down there anymore really. We should use the connections we have and try to exploit them.

That's still unclear at this point. At least up until now, the coaches have handled Chicago (and Illinois as a whole) on a positional basis since Erb stopped recruiting. I would imagine we'll get more clarity on that in the near future when the new coaches begin establishing themselves on the recruiting trail for Iowa.

You bring up a great point here. It'll be interesting to see if the addition of Jim Reid, as well as Maryland and Rutgers joining the conference, will enable Iowa to recruit more successfully on the east coast.

Last 4 years Michigan has 34 kids from Ohio and 4 from Florida interesting fact

Because that's where the talent is...? Sorry, but the state of Florida, according to 247 had 242 players rated at a 3☆ or better. How much of the east coast would one have to cover to find that much talent?

I mean if Bowling Green University can go into Florida and pull out 8 recruits, 5 of whom are 3☆, one of which is a stud SDE recruit we would've loved to have had at Iowa, I cannot see the logic of abandoning this state.

I for one am getting tired of the "we need a coach with contacts in this state or that state"...how hard is it to pick up a phone and introduce yourself to a high school football coach and say "I'd like to come down and talk to you about so and so..."?

Maybe they can think about that on their cruise.