I don't understand why any of this stuff matters. Jimbo Fisher has a better track record as a head coach than Sarkisian, both at Florida State and A&M, versus Washington and USC. Saban, Swinney, Mack Brown, Orgeron, and Jimbo Fisher are part of an elite group of active head coaches who have actually won a national championship. Anything Sarkisian did as an assistant at Alabama can easily be credited to Saban instead.
But in the end people make these types of decisions emotionally, then rationalize them afterwards. That's not just true for 18 year old kids, although them especially. That's simply sales 101 for anyone.
The fact remains Sarkisian is not a witch as a recruiter, at least not at this stage of his career. That's okay. Nick Saban wasn't making everyone googly eyed at Michigan State, either, and it took a bit for him to take off at LSU. Part of how he succeeded at Alabama was getting ahead of the curve regarding paying kids and handlers for unofficial visits, using that as leverage to get an offer, sending out offers like it was coming from the Zimbabwe currency printing presses, and then ruthlessly dropping offers right before signing day to make the numbers.
I see people complaining about A&M paying for unofficial visits. Get a grip. That's been going on for 10 years now in various ways. The only thing that's changing is the amount of money paid. Was anyone paying attention at how many cross country unofficial visits Texas was getting under Herman? He made it part of the sales pitch that he wasn't carpet bombing offers, but still. Don't be naive. Strong's early classes were in part because he was a good recruiter, and at least in part because of race. Herman's early classes were in part because in some ways Texas took the gloves off, particularly concerning working with handlers and compensating people for unofficial visits. Also both of them had recent track records as head coaches that they could sell. Nothing against Sarkisian or the hire, but that's part of the risk of hiring an assistant.
It makes the NIL bit even more important. Texas at least has to be playing on a level playing field when it comes to student athlete compensation. When kids come on visits, they have to be told by players on the team that they're being taken care of. Frankly, that's even more important than anything done before they get to campus. When OU was cheating their butts off under Switzer, that was a huge part of the sales pitch. The players would explain to recruits how the system worked. They would go around to various alums after a game and get huge wads of cash. The bigger the player, the bigger the payout, but they all got something.
Think about it this way. You have a special set of skills that's highly valued. You have interviews at three different companies. They all offer you to come in for a 3 day visit, tour their facilities, go out for dinner and drinks with employees, even have someone chaperone you a bit. One business offers you a big payout to take the job, one business talks about the city they're in and the great resume builder it will be to work there. The third business the employees talk about how amazing it is to work there, and how well they're taken care of by the company and the different shareholders, often on an individual basis. All other things being equal, which job are you likely to take?
Never mind that one of the companies hasn't had anything other than mediocre profits for the last 10 years. They have a new CEO, and he was the chief vice president of the number one company in the country!
That's where the sense of urgency has to come from. The better the players already on the team are taken care of, the more robust the sales pitch. The longer it takes for anything to transpire, or if whatever comes about is chicken feed or only for the star players while other programs are doing a better job of taking care of everyone, the more that's going to be seen in recruiting.
Remember, the final nail in Herman's recruiting came when he lost the locker room. Not everyone, as could be seen by the effort given at the end of the season in the games. But there were plenty of recalcitrant voices. People are a lot more responsive to an asshole when he delivers all the time.
Anyway, I've somewhat written off this class as the one that returns Texas to elite status. It will be a good class, because Texas. And there's still time to get a few more difference makers. Plus studs can be developed or the staff can find diamonds in the rough. But it's not going to be a top 5 class, and in the end that's where Texas needs to be year in and year out to give them the best chance at winning multiple national championships. Hence the depression, which I get.
But the sense of urgency regarding NIL is real. And frankly, whining about kids getting paid to make visits to A&M is not helpful. Those days are gone. There's no enforcement agency any more. The NCAA is handing that responsibility to the conferences (hahahahahahahahaha!). So unless you think the IRS is going to step in to make sure those are declared wages (they're not and they're not), then Texas either needs to be doing the same or they need to stay in the Big 12 or a similar dead end of a conference.