Like, why is our football outrecruiting our basketball? Talk about conference affiliation being a big deal. Our football recruits have 0 chance to play for a national title. And they are coming into a program that the former coach did his best to destroy. We have won 3 AAC games in the last 2 years. And yet...Fickell isn't out there making every excuse under the sun. Instead he's brought a jolt of energy into the program and made it cool to go to UC.
Obviously local talent plays a big role. But Cronin has never made it much of a priority to recruit in Ohio anyway. We have had like 3 Ohio kids in 12 years. And even if he tried, the good recruits would go somewhere else. Look at Gaffney. That kind of thing doesn't seem to be happening to Fickell. And he's in a MUCH tougher spot. And he's getting paid less.