re: Dave Aranda: proof that the common fan just looks for the flavor of the month

We all know Dave is a great coach. We all know he will be a great culture and X and Os guy. However, the jury is still out on him as a recruiter. That’s not a knock on him, or me saying that he can’t do it. We just haven’t seen him try to even recruit as well as possible at Baylor yet. Maybe that will change in the future, but he hasn’t made a move up yet.

SFP mentioned Kelly, but that’s not a good comparison at all. He was pulling consistent top 10-15 classes at ND. Aranda isn’t doing that yet, and maybe that’s because of where he is, but we don’t know that yet. Some coaches don’t want to play the games necessary to be big time recruiters, even grading on a curve for where they are. A prime example is Dan Mullen. UF fans just assumed he would magically flip a switch and go bigger once he got there and it didn’t really happen. He just wasn’t interested in doing what it took to be a top-tier SEC recruiter.

Where Kelly might be a good analogy for Aranda is seeing how he’s adapted to focus more on recruiting here than he did at ND. The warnings that he was a “lazy recruiter” and that he wouldn’t care and hire the staff necessary were completely unfounded. If and when Aranda takes a step up to a bigger program, it is possible he does the same. But it’s not certain.

I’m sure he would have to address that with any school he interviews for and any SEC program will want up-front commitments on recruiting. Auburn would especially after the way Harsin didn’t give a shite about getting to even a base SEC level.