Texas spends 280k on recruiting trip

[tsrich]

Sam Khan Jr. has a dazzling story this morning about the astronomical tab Texas incurred for an official recruiting visit. Three days, eight recruits and their families — $280,000.

That would be about 1/3 of our 2021 recruiting budget.

 

[CuseJacket]

For those who can't read The Athletic.

Texas spent $280K on visit by Manning, 8 others

The Longhorns spent nearly $630,000 over two recruiting weekends in June, including almost $280,000 on the official visit by quarterback Arch Manning and eight other recruits that featured five-star accommodations and virtually all-you-can-eat fare.

www.espn.com

The $630,000 total on two weekend visits shows how much Texas has invested in recruiting compared to recent years. Athletic Director U and INFLCR published NCAA financial reports that showed Texas spent $1,275,368 on recruiting for the 2019 fiscal year. That was the 13th most spent on recruiting that year, which was led by Georgia at $3,676,858.

The Bulldogs spent $2.7 million on recruiting in 2020, which was affected by recruiting restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The increase in recruiting spending is not unusual to see, as the Orlando Sentinel reported in July that the University of Florida Athletic Association increased its football spending by $4.72 million recently, with $700,000 added to the recruiting budget. That was a 55% increase that gave new coach Billy Napier close to a $2 million budget for recruiting and does not include Napier's access to two private jets with a budget of $839,000, according to the report.

@tsrich - are you posting this in GT Football Forum to compare to GT, or should we move to College & Pro Sports?

 

[iceeater1969]

About 15 years ago OU had commit from a stud lb who my son coached. Just before end of season Texas coach Mack Brown came to practice in a helicopter and visited w his father. Flipped to Texas but injuries cut career short. Mack and Texas were on a long decline. We are also on a long decline - just way below them .
But we can turn it around and get better every day at $/day and coaches and players.

 

[tsrich]

It was a comparison of what we are up against

 

[swarmer]

Not that surprising. Hosting 9 kids and their families, so like 30 folks. $10K each to cover travel, lodging food and entertainment doesn’t seem too wild. I imagine we have one very expensive weekend as well.

The article noted Texas total recruiting budget is 1.2M; so not that much more than our own. Actually thought the gap would be higher.

Dawgs spend 3X Texas.

 

[yeti92]

Not that surprising. Hosting 8 kids and their families, so like 30 folks. $10K each to cover travel, lodging food and entertainment doesn’t seem too wild. I imagine we have one very expensive weekend as well.

The article noted Texas total recruiting budget is 1.2M; so not that much more than our own. Actually thought the gap would be higher.

Dawgs spend 3X Texas.

Closer to $1.3m, and that was in 2019 - it has very likely increased further since then.

 

[swarmer]

They paid $24 million for Tom Herman and his staff to leave. So the difference in $1.2 and $1.3 million is negligible.

An extra $100K to land the top QB probably has a nice ROI

 

[tsrich]

Not that surprising. Hosting 9 kids and their families, so like 30 folks. $10K each to cover travel, lodging food and entertainment doesn’t seem too wild. I imagine we have one very expensive weekend as well.

The article noted Texas total recruiting budget is 1.2M; so not that much more than our own. Actually thought the gap would be higher.

Dawgs spend 3X Texas.

No way this kind of weekend fits into a 1.2M budget. Either their budget has grown tremendously or it's funny math.

 

[GTLorenzo]

Who doubts Darryl Laberrie wasn't dropping $280k in a weekend for hoops recruits at Magic City???

 

[LargeFO]

Who doubts Darryl Laberrie wasn't dropping $280k in a weekend for hoops recruits at Magic City???

More like $280 but it still screwed us cause we’re GT.

 

[jacketup]

People want to fire Collins. That's $3mm/yr for the next 3 years. Then add another $3mm increase over current salaries for a new coach of the quality that people want and his staff (no $450K DCs will do). Then increase his recruiting budget by even $500K-plus other things you have to do to attract a top coach. That's $6.5 mm/yr--at least-- we don't have. Or, you can gamble on an up and comer for a little less, and if he doesn't work out, then you can pay another fired coach.

It would be better to spend another $500K for a DC and add another $500K for recruiting and NIL. That's $1mm instead of $6.5 mm.

We actually need to spend more on recruiting than a Texas does. We aren't the flagship state school in a huge state and we need to be recruiting nationally. The current "bring 'em back home to Atlanta" is the best cheap strategy, but we've seen that it has some limitations.

Big donors saying they had the money to fire Collins last year weren't looking at the whole picture. How did they get so much money and be so short sighted?

Texas--they can afford to spend whatever it takes--and they will. Fire all the coaches you want, but we don't have the money to play in the same sandbox with those schools in the current environment.

 

[GTLorenzo]

More like $280 but it still screwed us cause we’re GT.

Yep

 

[GTLorenzo]

People want to fire Collins. That's $3mm/yr for the next 3 years. Then add another $3mm increase over current salaries for a new coach of the quality that people want and his staff (no $450K DCs will do). Then increase his recruiting budget by even $500K-plus other things you have to do to attract a top coach. That's $6.5 mm/yr--at least-- we don't have. Or, you can gamble on an up and comer for a little less, and if he doesn't work out, then you can pay another fired coach.

It would be better to spend another $500K for a DC and add another $500K for recruiting and NIL. That's $1mm instead of $6.5 mm.

We actually need to spend more on recruiting than a Texas does. We aren't the flagship state school in a huge state and we need to be recruiting nationally. The current "bring 'em back home to Atlanta" is the best cheap strategy, but we've seen that it has some limitations.

Big donors saying they had the money to fire Collins last year weren't looking at the whole picture. How did they get so much money and be so short sighted?

Texas--they can afford to spend whatever it takes--and they will. Fire all the coaches you want, but we don't have the money to play in the same sandbox with those schools in the current environment.

So do you want to keep Collins to save money and win 3 or 4 games a year?

 

[Lavoisier]

Probably not a big deal for a kid like Arch who has been around big money his whole life, but something like that would be absolutely insane for a middle or working class high school kid. I don’t think 17-18 year old me would have been able to wrap my head around that.

 

[iceeater1969]

No way this kind of weekend fits into a 1.2M budget. Either their budget has grown tremendously or it's funny math.

They have lawyers and accounting graduates?

 

[bke1984]

Not that surprising. Hosting 9 kids and their families, so like 30 folks. $10K each to cover travel, lodging food and entertainment doesn’t seem too wild. I imagine we have one very expensive weekend as well.

The article noted Texas total recruiting budget is 1.2M; so not that much more than our own. Actually thought the gap would be higher.

Dawgs spend 3X Texas.

$10K each to host a family of three for a weekend in Austin doesn’t seem too wild?

 

[MikeGT]

No way this kind of weekend fits into a 1.2M budget. Either their budget has grown tremendously or it's funny math.

yeah, that number was from 2019 and #13 documented budget. I bet that number isn't top 50 anymore.