It's not just a name that gets a player on a campus. It's facilities. It's gameday campus visits. It's culture. And not culture all-time-winningest-15-MAC-titles-cradle-of-coaches-old-farts-remembering-the-good-old-days. Culture NOW.
And right now, Miami is a Dorothea Lange picture.
Makes perfect sense. But it reminds me of a Charlie interview.
I wish I could remember the specifics of either the interview or article, but part of it was around Charlie Coles' recruiting. And I'm probably missing lots of it, but they did their best on recruits during home visits, building relationships with parents, etc, basically everything
except having them see games & Millet Hall. And I think there was mention of a fair amount of his team that committed without seeing Miami in action at home. For that empty 'arena' it makes perfect sense. But to me never made sense for a commit to not see what they're getting into. Just thought that was really interesting and smart for them.
But also to Pete's point that it is not just a name that does the job - look at Akron. (Even know they do have the facilities.)