Though the star system of today didn’t exist, GT did bring in some highly regard recruiting classes under Ross and O’Leary.
Besides being good coaches, a major reason that Ross and O’Leary were effective at GT is that they each cast a wide recruiting net. I remembered there being a number of players from the Northeast on the Ross/O’Leary teams. I appreciated that GT was a national school and our teams reflected a national presence.
Take a look at the 1990 roster.
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools...90--9/misc_non_event/1990-football-roster.pdf
The 1990 team roster shows:
15 players from Florida,
11 players from NY
6 players from PA
4 players from MD
3 players from OH
2 players from NJ
5 players from SC,
5 players from TN
4 players from NC
3 Players from AL,
1 Player from LA
1 player from AZ
1 player from VA
in total 59 of 132 players listed were from out of state, near 45% of the team, with 22 being from north of the Mason Dixon line.
It was a mistake for GT to begin concentrating more on the state of Georgia in lieu of the recruiting up and down the east coast, especially given the school's more pronounced name recognition and prestige out side than inside the state. Since the retirement of Homer Rice, it is like a basic concepts -- GT is a science and engineering school, and there are only so many science and engineering football and basketball players in the nation to be had, much less in a single state; so in order to consistently compete in these sports, casting a much wider recruiting net than the neighboring schools is a must -- easily seen from afar become not readily apparent upon entering into the GT athletics department.
Or maybe the concepts are perfectly apparent to all, but as a matter of policy with all things being equal GT now prefers to award sports scholarships to lesser players from in state than to better players from out of state.[/QUOTE]
Well, it's an interesting theory. But you don't really have any facts, with the exception of your 1990 team. Which was 25 years ago.
So, how about this one: Our 2007 class was widely considered to be the best recruiting class that we had signed in a decade. Of the 20 kids that signed:
12 (60%) were from Georgia
16 (80%) were from Georgia, Alabama, or Florida
The remaining recruits were from Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.
Of the nine kids that were 4-star in the class, 67% were from Georgia
Based on this, I think your theory is unproven and probably incorrect. I also dislike the fact that you're using 132 players as your guide - lots of walk-ons there. Take those guys out to get to scholarship players so we can talk about recruiting.
Finally, when Chan Gailey came in to Tech they made a big to-do about how we were going to recruit nationally because we are a national school. Well, when that didn't work they decided to focus on the south, because.......that's where all the majority of talented players are! Hence the 2007 class. People seem to think that a success can be explained by a simple metric or to, not just in recruiting but in the real world also. But the truth is that there a complex set of situations that guide recruiting, and the only true way to be succesfull is to focus your limited resources on a place that you have an advantage. If you're George O'Leary and you can walk into a house in New York and relate to a kid because you've got a similar background, then you leverage that advantage. If you're Paul Johnson and you created your reputation as an offensive guru and winner in the deep south, then you leverage that advantage. One strategy or tactic does not work as time changes; and one of the hardest things to do is figure out the winning strategy. Because it's hard to see the future.
Figuring that national recruiting is the pathway to the promised land based on the makeup of the 1990 squad is like saying that I think a bowl haircut and high white socks is stylish because that's what I did in 1986.