GBK: COMMITTING TO A SCHOOL - NOT A COACH

[A.M. Allan]

For example, Army changed coaches at the end of 2013 when West Point hired Jeff Monken as their new head coach. And just about any high school football prospect acknowledges his relationship with a particular college coach plays a big and in some cases the biggest role in his ultimate decision, but ....

Rivals.com Special Edition

 

[OntheHudson87]

Interesting article and my guess is that our current staff is selling the institution and all that it has to offer. I do know that was one of the plus sides with Ellerson's recruiting. It was about recruits understanding what the academy is all about.

 

[aleclee]

IMO the coach can make a huge difference. Particularly when a coach is fired, you can expect some degree of systematic change and those changes can leave players without much opportunity to play. For example, the 235 lb DEs that Ellerson tended to recruit aren't gonna get much playing time in Monken's defense. If a coach gets hired away, that can be a diifferent story as the program isn't looking to make changes: more assistants are retained and the system is more likely to be kept in place. Finally, there's the matter of having a coach who has little effort invested in you vs the old coach who pursued you.

Of course, all that presumes a kid's primary reason. For choosing a school is for its football opportunities. For kids where football is a means (to an education, for example) and not an end, then the school becomes a bigger factor.

 

[goodknight65]

At the service academies it's more than committing to a school or a coach. It's committing to a career, at least for 5 years after graduation, and anyone who comes to West Point thinking otherwise will have their expectations corrected quickly enough. To a 17 year old high school student, a ten year commitment to West Point and the Army can seem like a lifetime. Hopefully most will see it as an opportunity.

By its nature and association with Rivals, GBK is geared to focus on recruiting, but retention is an equally significant factor in the success of Army football; so we have to sell the appropriate package or we'll lose recruits before they ever step onto the playing field at Michie. We lost two of our three quarterbacks at USMAPS this season, which is likely to impact on the depth chart at that position next year. USMAPS provides West Point and Army with an opportunity to better evaluate the potential of cadet candidates both as cadets and athletes, but it also provides recruits with an opportunity to decide whether they're making the right choice.

The defensive line has remained relatively intact during the transition from Ellerson to Monken, and there has been no noticeable shift toward getting the bigger guys into the defensive lineup. Tuimaunei is the biggest of the DLs from the Ellerson era, and he has seen only limited playing time under Monken. John Voit who played LB at USMAPS was moved up to DE this year, and Drummond replaced the heavier Bobby Kough at DE. The bulking up process that everyone talked about was far more apparent on the offensive line than on the defensive line, where most of the guys weigh about the same as they did last season with the exception of Drummond who went from 238 to 254. The biggest change in size on defense has been at LB.

And in case you haven't noticed, Monken is still recruiting those small DEs. My records show the following recruits at DE in Monken's first recruiting class last year:

Austin Weaver 6-2, 250 lbs
Isaiah Williams 6-0, 195 lbs
Emanuel Aka 6-3, 215 lbs
Matt Algor 6-2, 225 lbs
Loyd Beal 6-3, 190 lbs
Cordarell Davis 6-0, 238 lbs
Juwan Griffith-James 6-2, 201 lbs
William Truong 6-2, 250 lbs
Jack Ward 6-3 230 lbs

The only other DLs in the 2014 recruiting class were Demarco Hill at 6-4 and 260 pounds andMorgan Faughan a 238 pound DT.

Keep in mind that Andrew McLean was one of those 240 pound DEs that Ellerson recruited but he bulked up to 269 at USMAPS even before Monken arrived.