How to recruit South Florida: 11 coaches dish on how ‘Big 3’ can own the region again

In the 2021 NFL Draft, no part of the country was better represented than South Florida.

Florida, including players from Bradenton IMG Academy, led the way with 37 players drafted. Texas was second with 33, followed by Georgia in third with 21 and California in fourth with 21.

South Florida alone — Miami-Dade County, Broward County and Palm Beach County — had 17, more than 46 other entire states, plus Washington.

Of those 17, only five played for the Miami Hurricanes, Florida State Seminoles or Florida Gators. Former five-star recruits left to play for the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs, but former two- and three-star prospects left the state, too, to become stars for conference rivals.

It’s a time of great upheaval for the state’s three Power 5 Conference programs. Both Miami and Florida fired their coaches in the past month and have found replacements. Florida State just finished its second season with a new coach and he will go into 2022 on somewhat of a hot seat after failing to qualify for a bowl game in each of his first two years.

Their perpetual problems don’t all boil down to one issue, but their in-state recruiting failures — particularly in South Florida — might be at the top of the list.

As should be expected, no one combs South Florida more thoroughly than the Hurricanes, who signed 17 blue-chip prospects from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties in former coach Manny Diaz’s three recruiting cycles, but Alabama ultimately reigns supreme.

In this three-year window, the Crimson Tide’s five blue-chip signings ranked third behind only the Gators and the Hurricanes, its three top-100 signings were second behind only Florida and it did as well as anyone at pillaging the top-ranked players from the region every year. Among the top-five South Floridians in each class, three wound up at Alabama — as many as Miami and the Gators.

All these numbers include IMG Academy players originally from South Florida.

Ahead of the early signing period, the Miami Herald talked to 11 coaches from Miami-Dade and Broward counties — all of whom have or have had at least one blue-chip recruit in the Classes of 2021, 2022 or 2023 — about how the state’s “Big 3” recruit the region, what they’ve done well and how they can fare better, particularly against out-of-state powerhouses like Alabama and Georgia.

The coaches — six from Miami-Dade and five from Broward — were all granted anonymity so they could speak freely about the recruiting process.

What did former coach Manny Diaz do well at Miami and what should new coach Mario Cristobal do differently?

Coach 1: “Manny had great relationships with most of the high schools down here, the ones that really mattered. Manny is a phone call away. Any time you needed something, he’d pick up the phone, not like some other coaches. I have Manny’s personal cell number myself. He wished me luck almost every big game I had, so the relationship he built here — Manny had the relationships, I can definitely tell you that. To really get over the hump, they’re just going to have to upgrade the facilities to win these recruiting battles because high schoolers — they want to go where it looks good, it looks pretty. I just think Miami’s just missing the facilities, to be honest with you.”

Coach 2: “Manny has great intentions when it comes to connecting with players and coaches, and within our community. He’s a genuine person. … I think one of the drawbacks that kind of hurt them is losing some of their prominent players to schools outside of the Florida area that have a tremendous reputation, so it was easy for them to recruit, however it’s tough to project and Manny is a person of integrity, so he didn’t want to create a relationship where you’re just putting offers out to kids at a young age, and then the high school coach comes in and says, Hey, you offered that kid. And now there’s a pullback. He didn’t want to get into that type of unhealthy relationship.”

Coach 3: “I think you just continue what Manny and those guys started. … If he can just follow that blueprint of what they did last year in getting that 2021 class with [James Williams, Leonard Taylor and Kamren Kinchens], they have some viable options, especially in this year’s class to get this thing rolling back and get the U back to where it needs to be, obviously. He’s going to have to keep some of those guys on the staff who has a strong ties to this area and has a relationship with the high school coaches. He hasn’t filled out his staff yet. I heard he’s bringing a couple guys over, but we’ll see. But Mario’s a master recruiter. He’s done it his whole career. I think he had the No. 5 class in the whole country at Oregon, so imagine what he can do at UM.

Coach 4: “Mario’s always been very accessible to high schools, so I think that’ll help tremendously and he’s familiar with the area more so than anybody, probably, because he’s here, he went to school there, he’s coached there, he’s been the head coach at FIU and he’ll bring people in that really understand the landscape. I’m a firm believer that Miami’s going to get whatever they want from recruiting from down here.

“I definitely think Mario will get the pick of the litter.”

Coach 5: “The only thing with Miami I think was the winning. Kids want to go to the programs that’s winning. I think that was hurting them in the recruiting process of these South Florida prospects.”

Coach 6: “Knowing Mario, the one thing you don’t have to worry about him is he’s going to be a bulldog with recruiting. It’s something he loves to do, he’s a tireless worker and he’s going to grind. Like he said in his speech, that’s what he is. He’s a grinder, he’s a go-getter and he’s going to do whatever he can to try to make sure he gets the right guys.

“I just hope [assistant coaches Stephen Field, Ishmael Aristide, DeMarcus Van Dyke and Travaris Robinson] will be able to get retained because it’s an unfortunate situation they’re in. ... Those guys there, along with even Diaz, do a good job recruiting the South Florida area.”

Coach 7: “What [Cristobal] did so far is he came down and he visited the schools. He didn’t wait until he got settled in. He came down. … That was a plus because he let us know that he wanted to be a part of our kids and he wanted us to be a part of his success at being successful at UM by getting our kids, and he came to the schools and he showed his face. And that was a plus. That’s a big plus.”

Coach 8: “I think it was a lot of hype, so, in the end, you were attracting hype guys as opposed to hyping up or shedding light on the hard work. ... I think if you sell that hard stuff, you will attract the right guys, not just the hype because some people will run to the hype and what happens when the hype is gone?

“Having DVD on staff ... that’s done a lot.”

Coach 11: “I think Manny Diaz struggled to connect his personality in recruiting, but his staff was great. I think he struggled with building relationships with his own personality. His staff was great and the only thing that was stopping them in recruiting is just that they wasn’t getting the results they wanted on the field.”

What does coach Mike Norvell do well at Florida State and what does his staff have to do better?

Coach 1: “To win the state of Florida, you’ve got to have guys that pretty much [cover] different areas. You’ve got to have a guy that has connections in South Florida, you’ve got to have a guy that has connections in Central Florida, you’ve got to have a guy that’s connected in the Panhandle and you’ve got to have a guy connected in North Florida, so I think Florida State, honestly, with putting Randy Shannon as the linebackers coach right now they’ve got pretty much their whole bases covered right now.

Coach 2: “Their recruiting department, led by Ryan Bartow, is really active within their recruiting process, something he’s extremely passionate about, so he makes an extra effort to connect with the high school coaches on a personal level.”

Coach 3: “I’ve met Mike a couple times, man. He obviously did a great job at the Memphis program, and I think he’s a great recruiter. I think that he’s put together a staff that can recruit this state and has shown some signs.”

Coach 5: “What they do well is just making contact with the kids early in the process. I think if they like a kid, they kind of go ahead and pull the trigger, as far as giving an offer.”

Coach 6: “He’s made a valiant effort to get to South Florida and try to cherry pick a few guys out of South Florida to help their program because when Florida State was pretty good he realized that South Florida was an area that they had to recruit, but he really didn’t have any South Florida-tied guys ... so hiring Randy Shannon can’t do nothing but help him.”

Coach 7: “Florida State came and Mike came down here, introduced himself when he first got the job, which was good because as coaches, people want to see the head man first. We don’t want to see the guys you send out. We want to see the head man first, so he came down here and they spoke to us and they talked to us and a lot of local coaches like that and responded well, so whatever kids he thought could play in his program it was no problem for us coaches to allow the kids to seek that way if that’s what they wanted to do.”

Coach 9: “I feel like they recruit well. They recruit in numbers. … I think they’re going in the right direction.”

Coach 11: “Coach Norvell did a great job coming down himself — that’s what I like that they did. He was very present, so I did like that, but I’d like to see his assistants be a little more present and that’s about it. Other than that, I think they’re doing a good job recruiting.”

What did former coach Dan Mullen do well at Florida and what should new coach Billy Napier do differently?

Coach 1: “They have no clue right now. That’s just my honest opinion. The reason I say that — high school coaches, we talk a lot, so for a kid to be committed to Florida all year, shut down his whole recruitment and tell a kid you’ve got to send a workout tape — what hell are we doing here? This is a kid that’s closed his recruitment up and you tell this kid that he has to send a workout tape for your commitment to be honored? I really don’t think Florida has a clue of what’s going on right now. I understand that might be the way you do things, but you just can’t do that. You can do that next year moving forward, but I think you have to save this class right here, then next year you put your stamp on how you do things. I know a kid who’s been committed all year and you tell a kid you’ve got to send a workout tape in? That’s bologna, if you ask me.

“They were getting kids because of the logo on their polo.”

Coach 4: “With Florida, the lure is getting the kids on to campus to get them to see the facilities because Florida probably has the best facilities, as far as the in-state schools, so I think that’s their biggest lure and they do a great job once they actually get the kids up there to see.

Coach 6: “I didn’t see Florida as much. I didn’t think they did a good job coming to my school. … Florida, one thing I know they do is they come in late like, We’re Florida, so we want to come in and we like a guy. Some guys they didn’t have on boards that I thought should’ve been on their boards, but who am I? I’m not the guy in the recruiting room, so that’s why I guess they didn’t do as well with my guys.”

Coach 7: “Mullen didn’t work his way down here. He signed his guys. He never would come around, so as far as we was concerned we wasn’t important to him, or our recruiting area or our kids. Nobody had no big favor toward Florida when they came to recruit because we had never seen Coach Mullen came down here. Coach Napier — he got the job, he didn’t come down here as of yet, either, so if they do that they’re going to keep the same kind of atmosphere that they want with the South Florida coaches because if we don’t see you, we think you don’t want our kids.”

Coach 8: “I understand that the SEC is kind of people would say that’s the toughest brand of ball to play in, but he would basically limit himself to I guess the exclusive recruits. We may have guys who we think can play there, and especially after some development, but I feel like it was that all of our players that we felt could help didn’t get a fair shot.”

Coach 9: “I think them hiring Corey Raymond — I don’t think you could’ve did a better hire.”

Coach 11: “I think the people [Mullen] had in South Florida — they just wasn’t South Florida guys, so I think they struggled in South Florida. In my opinion, whoever Coach Napier brings in and whoever he puts in South Florida, it’s got to be a notable person. It’s got to be somebody with a South Florida tie that knows that landscape and can come in here and seal some of these deals.”

What pitches work best?

Coach 1: “The game has changed. I’m going to say whoever has the best NIL deals … that right now is playing a major role into things right now.”

Coach 4: “For kids from our area, it’s all about being able to play. You get our guys that go to these other areas and when they’re not playing it’s very, very tough, especially when it’s an environment unlike South Florida where maybe it’s really cold or maybe it’s not quite as busy as they’re used to as far as like social life and stuff like that. Playing usually takes all that stuff away.”

Coach 5: “What I can see right now is just the early communication, as early as they can, obviously, within the rules of the NCAA. The earliest they can get to the kids and be able to communicate with them, and just showing them the love.”

Coach 6: “Just be honest and talk about your program. Don’t talk about anybody else’s program. Sell what your program has to offer. I think the programs that talk about other programs kind of hurt themselves because I tell their kids, ‘If someone has something to say about another program, then they don’t have nothing good to say about theirs.’”

Coach 8: “Kids are most interested in the coach actually having a plan, saying what their plan is for the young man and what development they can force.”

Coach 9: “It’s just having that rapport, being able to just walk in the room and talk about anything, and that’s where I think a lot of college coaches go wrong with having these older coaches come in that can’t even relate to a kid and think that it’s all dependent on the logo of the school.”

Coach 10: “With my guys, it’s just being genuine, being able to contact them and talk to them. I think that does more than what most people think. If you came out to see me today and then in a couple days you text me on Twitter or stuff, hit me up or DM me, ‘How you doing?’ That weighs a lot.”

Coach 11: “Kids are getting a little bit smarter as far as how they’re going to be used and they’re also interested in the NIL stuff and how that works. Kids trying to figure it out, parents trying to figure it out, everybody’s asking questions about it, so everybody’s trying to figure out the NIL works and how can they take advantage of it.”

How much is name, image and likeness part of the pitch?

Coach 2: “They’re using that to an advantage. Obviously, there’s always been some matriculation at some of these bigger SEC schools that are eliciting illegal funds and you always here those type of rumors. Now they can use that to their advantage because it’s legal and those are prominent programs.”

Coach 4: “Basically, what the good recruiters have been doing is just explaining what it is, so the kids have that in their head like, Oh, so I have this opportunity, which, really, that’s all it is. ... I think it’s even better for the kids because they can get, I think, some things that they deserve and whatnot through how well they are liked or played. The scholarships are really awesome and stuff like that, but some of these kids need a little extra money for food and things like that.”

Coach 6: “If you can make a dollar off your name, in a big marketplace that can’t do nothing but help you. One thing Miami has over the other two is it’s a big city.”

Coach 8: “If it’s not 1A, it’s 1B. Everybody’s acting about that type of stuff and those aren’t so much included in the pitches that I hear, but once they talk to the kid ... it’s almost like they’re negotiations taking place now. Well, so and so said I can get a $10,000 deal with this, and that’s per year and it’s like, Wait a minute: Now we’ve got kids and money. And that’s not ordinarily the best mix.”

Coach 9: “It’s not as hard this year for some certain individuals. I think it’s going to get bigger as the time goes because that’s going to be a lot of ways that teams are able to lure guys on a money basis. That throws a wrinkle in it.”

What does the ‘Big 3’ need to do to keep the best kids from leaving the state?

Coach 2: “The best advice I can give our ‘Big 3’ — UM, Florida and Florida State: Listen to us, the ones that you have a personal relationship with, the more dynamic programs in the area. We’re always going to have players that develop at the nontraditional place, those that don’t typically have a prominent program because we have so much talent in South Florida, but it’s pretty evident over the past, I would say, decade what schools are your programs that are nurturing Division I or Power 5 talent, so if those coaches are telling you that this freshman’s good or this sophomore’s good ... you’ve got to start recruiting these guys as a kid and trusting the high school coaches that there’s a good player that you need to keep a close eye on.”

Coach 3: “Winning cures all. Bama is Bama. Bama’s going to get the kids that they want, but the thing they can’t do — they can’t come here and get the top three kids from here. They may get one, but they can’t get them all. Kids are going to go ‘Bama because the brand and the way they put guys in the first round and the way they win — that’s the gold standard, so kids want to go to the gold standard, but at the same time there’s enough talent down here in the state where it can be dispersed throughout the three state schools and I think these guys will do a good job of doing that.”

Coach 4: “It’s winning. Miami, Florida, Florida State — when they’re really good, I think college football is better and I think it just keeps the kids in tune to the state of Florida, but, yeah, I think it’s winning. If those three programs are nationally in the top 10, top 15 every year in and year out, they’re going to just keep all the kids.”

Coach 5: “It’s a combination of it all, meaning communication, facilities, being in the top 10 year in and year out. … Once our Florida schools get back to their winning ways, that’ll help significantly.”

Coach 7: “What they need to do is keep our kids in the state of Florida. I think they go to these recruiting services and say this guy in Michigan is a five-star who does not play the competition that we play down here in Florida. In actuality, he won’t be a five-star if he was in Florida. … The five-stars from them little towns — they don’t play five-star competition. They just be the biggest and the fastest in the town. They be playing golf players and badminton players, kids who play the game for a hobby. Down here, these kids play kids who play this game for a living, so they’re playing the best competition.

“When you’re 6-5, 230 and you’re playing golf players, of course you’re going to be the [expletive] best.”

Coach 8: “NIL is going to play heavy. You’ve got to have a plan with that. Honestly, that’s moved up to No. 1.”

Coach 9: Three [things]: winning, having an opportunity to the league and playing early. That’s what they want to hear and you’ve got to have a resume of it.”

Coach 10: “It’s the contact, just being in contact, being here because, like I told you before, it’s one thing to offer one of those kids. ... When they’ve already got 30 offers. It don’t mean as much. I need somebody that really cares.”

Coach 11: “They’ve got to create some real excitement. I think they’ve got to change the narrative. They’ve got to change the narrative. Right now, the narrative is Alabama, Clemson, LSU, Ohio State. Those guys are stealing all the kids, but also the huge problem is stability. Stability is one of the biggest issues. Those programs got stability. Right now, none of the Florida schools have any stability. That’s the biggest problem.”

This story was originally published December 14, 2021 at 1:53 PM.

David Wilson

Miami Herald

305-376-3406

David Wilson, a Maryland native, is the Miami Herald’s utility man for sports coverage.