We know that Healy said he had assigned 10 local schools to each coach to focus on, and stay in regular contact with in an effort to reverse the Lambert Effect. Looking at 247 Sports they list 14 commits for our 2021 class, and the only âlocal-ishâ kids are from Independence - Charlotte and Statesville. Two of 14 doesnât sound like it is working as well as we had hoped. We also have commits from Mocksville, Fayetteville and Irmo, SC (Columbia), but those are probably not on the list of focus schools.
That was my concern. Seems like we still arenât recruiting Charlotte like we should be. May need to change the strategy. Maybe it was harder than he thought.
âWhat I did was, we have 10 coaches who each have eight schools in Charlotte and the six surrounding counties,â Healy said. "So I broke up all 80 and gave each assistant eight of those schools. And your job is, you have to talk to somebody on that staff every week for 52 weeks.â
Assistant coaches complete a call log with information from those conversations and turn it into Crutchfield every week.
Maybe we are finding better kids at other schools. I do not care if we recruit Charlotte or not if we continue to bring in higher potential recruits.
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This.
We seem to be doing a lot of damage in Tennessee, Georgia and some in SC, Fla, Va and now TexasâŚnot too shabby high school football breeding grounds to pull from either way.
Regardless of the recruits coming in locallyâŚthe staff certainly has much more respect locally and that will pay dividends in time.
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If you grew up in or around Charlotte do you want to go to college in Charlotte? That may be a harder sell than you think.
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Canât make a kid go anywhere. We havenât heard HS coaches talking shit about us like they did the last staff. I take that to mean we are doing the right things just havenât won the kids yet. As long as we arenât screwing ourselves locally and landing solid kids elsewhere I am happy. The issue was we were taking borderline kids from states away rather than taking that same quality of local kid that wanted to be here.
Maybe Atkins had a good relationship and it may have deteriorated after he left
Yeah sometimes the grass seems greener somewhere else. Sometimes you get there & itâs not a good fit. We are getting quite a few guys who moved away to transfer back home. If we start consistently winning it will make it easier to convince some of the hometown talent to stay home. To a lot of them Charlotte football has been a joke where kids from farther away may not have heard a lot about the program. That could be making it easier for Healy & his staff to convince non-local kids to come here when some local guys still have a not so favorable image of Charlotte football. Winning & Healyâs energy & attitude can eventually change that.
This. How many 17-18 year olds have been living at momâs house their whole life, then when an opportunity to go elsewhere comes along, theyâd rather only move across town?
Thatâs what you get paid $750k to do. Convince kids to come play for you.
You have to be able to recruit your backyard and the neighborâs backyard to be a great recruiter. You need local contacts you can count on to produce players. Itâs easier and much more efficient.
I understand the story about the call and call logs is likely anecdotal and probably doesnât happen but I am sure there is likely some emphasis on local recruiting. The fact that itâs not bearing fruit is concerning.
I think for football players its a big thing to stay close enough to home that your family can come watch you play.
If you are complaining about this staffâs recruiting you need to come to terms with reality and seek help.
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Amen!
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Iâd reverse the order!
And I quote:
I listened to some of his tape about culture building from a clinic, and so many things just struck a nerve with who and what we are as a program.
- Local recruiting should always be first
You have the same opinion as I do.
No. They are paid $750 K per year to recruit the best talent we can obtain, no matter their residence. I too love to see HSâers from NC come to Charlotte, however Iâm not going to dog the staff for finding talented players outside of NC. You have to realize that we are still in the infancy of a football program within a state monopolized by P5 programs. Some of those teams are bad and some are good, however that is all irrelevant since they are still in a P5 program. Outside of soccer and baseball, no one tells their friends, âdamn I hope that a CUSA team gives me the time of dayâ. So, if your preference is to put all of our cards into NC players that are 1 or 2 stars and continue to be mediocre in a embarrassing conference, I applaud your dedication to this state, however for me, I choose to take the path of all successful programs - meaning that you find the best talent period, no matter where they hail from. 
4 Life!!!
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Itâs funny that when Lambert couldnât get local talent he needed to be fired, and when Healy canât it is okay. I am not suggesting that Lambert didnât need to go, or that Healy isnât doing a good job, just that maybe we are moving the line. There are plenty of 3* and 4* players in the local area that we would love to have, and are not getting. Maybe the staff is filling in the hole that was already dug when they got here, and their efforts will pay dividends down the road. Who knows. If we win I donât care where the kid is from, but to focus your efforts on local schools and not do well does say something.
This. No doubt the talent being brought in is totally different but everyone was up in arms about Lambert not being able to recruit locally and that had to be one of the top issues to be addressed by the next hire. Well, here we are and now itâs different.
I personally think itâs still important. Extremely to provide consistent talent.
With all due respect, maybe those players donât want to come here. Iâm not on the recruiting trail, as most of us, so we are all speculating. My criticism of Lambert was more on the field less than off the field. We just arenât that shiny university on the hill yet. For those that want to stay in state are still enamored with P5 schools that they have grown up watching on their local stations and with UNC Carboro doing well, it makes it even harder. Again, as stated earlier, just recruit good players. I donât care if they are from Artic Circle growing up wrestling polar bears-
It seems helpful to be able to recruit your backyard when you want or need to. Ultimately I want the best team we can build,but that seems like an important part of your recruiting arsenal.
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