That is surprising.
Is there some reason (we recruit more nationally, so have to fly kids in from far away, or something else?) that drives up our costs versus others?
Or is this yet another excuse that has been over-exaggerated (like Facilities)?
Or is it that schools don't report numbers the same? What is "recruiting spending"? The bizjournals article said it is for travel, lodging, and food. Is that staff travel expenses, recruiting travel expenses or both. If the mutts are spending $2.8 million just on travel expenses for recruits to visit campus, how much are they spending on extra staff, staff travel, outside consultants, etc.?
As to being over-exaggerated, the mutts have about 100 people on the football staff. GT has around 30. It is probably close to the mid 30s no because they added 4 additional people to the recruiting staff. Not all of the additional 65 yo 70 people on the mutt staff are recruiting people, but they all take some responsibilities from the coaches and allow them to concentrate on coaching football. Think about 50 years ago. The football coaches had to do curfew checks, check on players attending class, keep up with player nutrition, make sure the players were on the bus, make sure the correct equipment was on the bus, etc. I don't remember is it was 2014 or 2016, but when Clemson came to play at GT they had more people on the travel staff than GT had on the entire football staff. The Clemson staff doesn't have to concern themselves with curfew checks or daily nutrition of athletes. They only have to concern themselves with football. I seriously doubt they are working 6 hour days now. They probably are still working 14 to 18 hour days, but they are concerned mainly with football, not various ancillary activities. As of a few years ago, the GT coaches were doing the majority of the recruiting video watching, HS coaching calls, background checks, etc. That was part of their 14 to 18 hour day. If they used that time for football in the here and now, recruiting suffered. If they used more time on recruiting, then the here and now suffered. At Clemson, Alabama, the mutts, etc., the coaches were provided with pre-screened reports about potential recruits. How is it an over-exaggeration to say that GT has 1/2 of the recruiting staff that Duke has?(Or before this year 1/4 of the recruiting staff)
