Ohio Recruiting

[jerry weinstein]

 In response to Tom Gray:
   
  1. My point was not that Huggins didn't recruit in Ohio from 2000 on.  It was that he didn't recruit successfully.  This also applies to neighboring states, as I recall.
   
  2.  It is ridiculous to refer to Tony Yates as a great recruiter. His best recruit at UC was Roger McClendon, who he got because McClendon was from Champaign, Illinois, where Yates was employed as an assistant coach prior to coming here. That was his first full class, and he didn't get anyone afterward to compare with McClendon as a recruit. 
   
  Lou Banks and Levertis Robinson were highly rated in high school, but they were both non-qualifiers (as was virtually his entire class that year), which diminished their appeal and the recruiting competition. Also, Robinson came via his connection with Sonny Cox at Martin Luther King high school in Chicago, which was one of the very few recruiting resources Yates had.  Although he was rated highly as a player, not only was Banks a non-qualifier, but he also had a terrible reputation for his off court activities coming out of high school, so he was not highly recruited.  Although Banks scored alot of points in his career at UC, I don't think he would have fit in on an upper level team.
   
  There were a few other decent players during Yates' reign, but I don't believe any that were highly recruited.  The main thing it takes to be a good recruiter is hard work.  Anyone close to his coaching staff knew Yates was not a hard worker. If there is one thing we agree on it is that Mick Cronin should not be compared in any way to Tony Yates.  Cronin will be successful here.