LTBear19 said:
Let's be real.
Outside of that magical 2021 season with Aari McDonald, the chances of Arizona being able to sustain long-term success were slim.
Especially with the Wildcats no longer being able to pull in California recruits with the collapse of the PAC 12.
If SMU is committed to elevating their key sports (which appears to be the case), then now is probably the right time for Barnes to leave Arizona.
Especially since she'll now have a better chance of pulling in DFW recruits (along with other players in the State of Texas).
Other schools have figured out that recruiting well in the State of Texas will put you in a better position to win.
For some reason, we haven't quite figured that out yet (as witnessed by the fact that we only had one player on the roster from the State of Texas - Sarah Andrews). And she was a Mulkey recruit.
How successful a coach is in recruiting Texas depends on the coach and what type of player they are wanting to get. If you recall, when Jody retired at Texas, UT brought in Gail Goestenkors from Duke at a $1M+ contract, quite large at the time. Duke had been near the top of the heap for years before. It appeared UT had made a blockbuster hire.
It was a complete failure as however she recruited at Duke did not translate to Texas. Just being in Texas does not mean the coach can recruit in Texas. However, that was long before the days of NIL and during the period when you had to sit a year to transfer. SMU has shown the willingness for their donors to do whatever it takes to elevate the program, at least in FB and MBB. And going so far as to forego TV revenue to buy their way into the ACC. How much that extends to WBB remains to be seen. But they seem to certainly have the big money donors to make Barnes an eventual success at SMU even if it is because she is the coach or even in spite of her being the coach.
Goestenkors never had that opportunity (NIL) or UT would have bought whatever it took. But the point is that just being in the state does not dictate you should focus on the state or whether a more national perspective is the way to go to get what you need for your program. I just want the best players we can get. I don't care where they are from. If they are from Texas, great, but now with the portal and free agency your pool is nationwide. TCU has only 3 from Texas on their 2024-2025 roster. I don't think any of them were recruited by Campbell out of HS. One was a walkon last year. I don't think it matters where they come from. You get the best you can get.
