Recruiting. He was a relentless recruiter at K-State, and he has received national recognition for his recruiting efforts since he left here. We saw in 2004 and 2005, and are seeing now, the effects of poor recruiting. Some will say that we'll never out-recruit Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, etc., and they're right. Even so, we were near the top of the college football universe in the 90's and early 2000's. And that's because there's more than one way to skin the recruiting cat, so to speak. You can either win head-to-head battles against the blue bloods, which we almost never did, or you can identify kids who have the ability to play at a high level, but for whatever reason are not recruited by the blue bloods. I think that's what we did so well in Snyder 1.0, and Venables understands that and will bring back a relentless approach to recruiting that has been lacking in 2.0.
Some will say the landscape has changed (e.g., we don't have the advantages in the jucos that we once did), and they're probably right about that, as well. But for enterprising, aggressive recruiters, I believe that there is still a way to get better talent to KSU than what we've been doing.
Having been a part of three top programs under three top coaches, I also don't believe Venables would allow us to be out-schemed, so I doubt we'd lose much there, either. Ultimately, this game is about the jimmies and joes more than it is the x's and o's, and I think Snyder's tenure proves that.
Some will say the landscape has changed (e.g., we don't have the advantages in the jucos that we once did), and they're probably right about that, as well. But for enterprising, aggressive recruiters, I believe that there is still a way to get better talent to KSU than what we've been doing.
Having been a part of three top programs under three top coaches, I also don't believe Venables would allow us to be out-schemed, so I doubt we'd lose much there, either. Ultimately, this game is about the jimmies and joes more than it is the x's and o's, and I think Snyder's tenure proves that.
