Interesting Numbers on Recruiting Budgets Among G5

[Side Show Joe]

From August, but still interesting.

 

C-USA & Other G5 Texas Programs Listed

12. FAU $339,748

13. Southern Miss $324,634

15. Texas State $294,642

17. ODU $286,487

18. Charlotte $286,370

19. Marshall $283,931

23, UTSA $270,286

25. FIU $258,126

27. Houston $251,975

30. UTEP $245,678

34. Middle Tennessee $203,494

37. WKU $177,709

40. North Texas $150,991

 

https://watchstadium.com/news/examining-the-college-football-recruiting-investment-by-group-of-five-schools-08-27-2019/

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

I’ve seen these numbers before, and struggle to understand why we are so low. Maybe someone has some better insight. We are top 10 in Group of 5 revenue. My only theories are that we have so much talent nearby we don’t need to travel much, and we’ve focused so much on facilities we’ve neglected other areas. One could argue that facilities are a very big part of recruiting. In that, we have to be close to top of the conference in spending. This appears to be travel budget and other ancillary recruiting stuff. 

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

If it makes anyone feel better, spending doesn’t seem too correlated with recruiting success, at least based on these numbers. Facilities on the other hand are highly correlated (see: Clemson). 

[DeepGreen]

2 hours ago, ChristopherRyanWilkes said:

My only theories are that we have so much talent nearby we don’t need to travel much, and we’ve focused so much on facilities we’ve neglected other areas.

If that is our strategy then I think that is our Achilles heel.  The rest of the country recruits DFW for football talent too.

I'd like to know what Louisiana Tech spends on football recruiting.  They seem to recruit all of Louisiana(naturally), and find talent in Texas wherever it may be.

Edited

Edited December 28, 2019 by DeepGreen

[Venson]

Well, the good thing I see if we want to look at the bright side is that we are spending a hell of a lot less than the schools whose 2019 recruiting classes were ranked higher than ours. Plus, most schools on this list are spending more than us and our 2019 class is ranked higher than most on this list.

15 minutes ago, ChristopherRyanWilkes said:

My only theories are that we have so much talent nearby we don’t need to travel much

Seth did say he wants to dominate this four county metroplex. If we could do that, we would easily be in the top 25 with the talent that is in Denton, Dallas, Collin, and Tarrant counties alone.

[GreenN'walinsVet]

I think it primarily boils down to the fact we can recruit, Texas (DFW, West, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, East), Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas, and even Mississippi without having to pay for flights for our coaches.   

Edited December 28, 2019 by GreenN'walinsVet

[p_phelps]

7 minutes ago, GreenN'walinsVet said:

I think it primarily boils down to the fact we can recruit, Texas (DFW, West, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, East), Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas, and even Mississippi without having to pay for flights for our coaches.   

private jet access doesn't hurt either 

[GrandGreen]

Almost meaningless stat.  Recruiting is the key to any success in sports.  

What goes into the budget line recruiting?  There are no standards and it is probably different at every school. 

I highly doubt NT with one of the highest budgets in G5 is hampered by their recruiting budget.  

 

[Venson]

1 minute ago, GrandGreen said:

Almost meaningless stat.  Recruiting is the key to any success in sports.  

What goes into the budget line recruiting?  There are no standards and it is probably different at every school. 

I highly doubt NT with one of the highest budgets in G5 is hampered by their recruiting budget.  

 

We are not hampered by a recruiting budget. The article says it was our recruiting expenses not our budget. I read it as we are not spending a lot on recruiting. If you can spend less and get more then go for it. It does make me wonder if we spent more, how much would our recruiting improve?

[GrandGreen]

Just now, Venson said:

We are not hampered by a recruiting budget. The article says it was our recruiting expenses not our budget. I read it as we are not spending a lot on recruiting. If you can spend less and get more then go for it. It does make me wonder if we spent more, how much would our recruiting improve?

It clearly states budgets.   

Spending more obviously would help, but probably not as much as you might think.

Many recruit visits are non-official because of NT's location and that substantially reduces the expenses.  

Spending more obviously would help, but the concept of diminishing returns heavily factors in., 

 

[MeanGreen_MBA]

Those numbers are kind of crazy. I run a sales team that travels all over the US, Caribbean, Mexico, Canada and generates +$100M in revenue and our 2019 travel spend with be roughly $125K. We treat our customers very well when we take them out as well. Throw in executive travel which does not fall under me, our total spend would be $160K. This included a lot of Asia travel to factories. 

[outoftown]

These numbers are completely uncomparable from one school to the next. I bet that the personnel that coordinates recruiting, including the guy who does twitter and insta graphics are not included in this for the NT budget. Those folks cost money though, and their quality and number matters towards recruiting though. Once you add all of that in, I doubt NT is that much below average in G5.

Edited December 28, 2019 by outoftown

[Side Show Joe]

2 hours ago, GreenN'walinsVet said:

I think it primarily boils down to the fact we can recruit, Texas (DFW, West, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, East), Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas, and even Mississippi without having to pay for flights for our coaches.   

I disagree. FAU spend more than twice what we spend, and they focus on recruiting locally in Florida, and would have few flights also. What are they doing that we are not?

[Venson]

2 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

It clearly states budgets.   

Spending more obviously would help, but probably not as much as you might think.

Many recruit visits are non-official because of NT's location and that substantially reduces the expenses.  

Spending more obviously would help, but the concept of diminishing returns heavily factors in., 

 

I got what you are saying. The title of this thread uses budget, but the Stadium article it refers to does not. It only says expenditures.

[Venson]

40 minutes ago, Side Show Joe said:

I disagree. FAU spend more than twice what we spend, and they focus on recruiting locally in Florida, and would have few flights also. What are they doing that we are not?

Putting people up in beachfront hotels is probably significantly more than putting people up in the new Embassy Suites in Denton. Haha.

[Charlie NT 73]

Side note on the  Embassy Suites.

i have friends that travel to Denton to see the home games. I know for a fact my friends have paid over. $300 per night. One time the rate was $500 per night. The rate varies with any booked business conference going on at the Embassy too, and with no rooms available.

Weddings at Embassy Suites are huge business for the hotel. One game day weekend there were 16 weddings taking place!

If there are no conferences booked or no big events going on in Denton the room rates do drop to the $100 per night rates.

i do not know if the AD’s office books visiting recruits and families here or not, but one thing for sure is the place can be very expensive.

My friends well stay at some of the other hotels at more reasonable rates and have very good accommodations.

 

 

[UNTFan23]

11 hours ago, DeepGreen said:

If that is our strategy then I think that is our Achilles heel.  The rest of the country recruits DFW for football talent too.

I'd like to know what Louisiana Tech spends on football recruiting.  They seem to recruit all of Louisiana(naturally), and find talent in Texas wherever it may be.

Edited

[wardly]

22 hours ago, GreenN'walinsVet said:

I think it primarily boils down to the fact we can recruit, Texas (DFW, West, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, East), Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas, and even Mississippi without having to pay for flights for our coaches.   

FAU can say same about recruiting in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama but they lead CUSA both in budget and results.

[Aquila_Viridis]

I think you meant to say 'sad numbers' instead of 'interesting numbers'.

[UNTLifer]

I would like to see an itemized list regarding what is included in these expenses. Also, regarding Embassy Suites, I would assume the AD works with a meeting planner and negotiates a rate regardless of the weekend, etc...

[Monkeypox]

On 12/28/2019 at 2:11 PM, Side Show Joe said:

I disagree. FAU spend more than twice what we spend, and they focus on recruiting locally in Florida, and would have few flights also. What are they doing that we are not?

Strippers ain't cheap. 

[97and03]

13 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

I would like to see an itemized list regarding what is included in these expenses. Also, regarding Embassy Suites, I would assume the AD works with a meeting planner and negotiates a rate regardless of the weekend, etc...

State rate perhaps.

[El Paso Eagle]

It would probably be all but impossible to make an apples to apples comparison between the schools. Like so much of what happens in college athletics, for the most part there is not a "standard" system to measure. Schools have flexibility where they budget activities and we might be allocating a portion of the fixed cost to other areas while other schools allocate the same type of expenses towards recruiting. 

[GMG24]

On 12/28/2019 at 2:11 PM, Side Show Joe said:

I disagree. FAU spend more than twice what we spend, and they focus on recruiting locally in Florida, and would have few flights also. What are they doing that we are not?

One thing to think about is the way they are sending out their mailers and what those look like.  Typically UNT sends hand written letters to kids, while FAU may be sending some expensive 2/3 dollar printed out mini poster or something like that.  Some schools spend a lot of money on stuff like that others don't.  Kids typically throw them away or rarely look at them anyway. 

[wardly]

Well it wouldn't hurt for us to drink some of their cool aid because they seem to get results.