SEC Football Recruiting Budgets

June 13th, 2012 01:39 PM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink ║ Schools: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
Tags: Georgia, North Carolina, recruiting, SEC

ESPN.com has run the numbers to find the biggest-spending FBS schools in the country when it comes to recruiting budgets. You can read their full report right here. It’s worth a look.

But for those simply wanting an SEC-only comparison, below are the numbers for fiscal years 2011 and 2010. We’ve ranked the schools based on their combined spending for those two years:

School	2011	2010	2010-11
Tennessee	1,479,099	1,135,211	2,614,310
Alabama	980,882	870,438	1,851,320
Auburn	950,378	678,936	1,629,314
Arkansas	666,419	693,486	1,359,905
Georgia	623,224	634,386	1,257,610
Florida	602,929	466,145	1,069,074
Ole Miss	495,233	340,670	835,903
LSU	302,882	450,649	753,531
Missouri	363,545	349,734	713,279
Kentucky	336,035	279,006	615,041
Miss. State	306,469	244,024	550,493
S. Carolina	248,333	271,724	520,057
Texas A&M	240,619	240,422	481,041

Observations:

* Vanderbilt — as a private school — did not reveal its records.

* Like all budgetary numbers, schools can cook their books in different ways. What apples at one school might be avocados at another.

* It’s not surprising that the SEC’s traditional “big six” programs all rank in the top eight in terms of recruiting budgets.

* Tennessee has spent an enormous amount on recruiting the past two years, but it’s important to note the amount of roster attrition the school experienced in back-to-back coaching changes from Phillip Fulmer to Lane Kiffin to Derek Dooley. The Volunteers — due to a lack of in-state talent — will always be among the SEC leaders in recruiting budgets, but the last two years have been impacted by a lack of warm bodies as well.

* It’s not surprising that Tennessee and Arkansas — two of the SEC’s least fertile recruiting states — rank in the league’s top four for recruiting budgets. What is surprising is the lack of cash the University of Kentucky has given Joker Phillips to work with. Like the Vols and Hogs, the Cats will need to start spending more cash to get outside their own poor state and draw in players from neighboring areas — like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Until UK does that, Phillips doesn’t stand a chance.

* Missouri has ranked right alongside Kentucky in terms of recruiting spending, but that’s already changing this year with mail-outs and billboards being put up across the South from Texas to Florida.

* Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and Florida are all blessed with good in-state recruiting, especially UGA and UF. But all four schools still throw a ton of cash into the recruiting game, don’t they?

* At LSU, Nick Saban primed the pump. Les Miles has kept the pipeline running free and clear. Why spend to go out of state when you can cherry pick the best in-state players? While Florida must compete with Florida State, Miami, South Florida and others — and even Georgia must battle Georgia Tech and rival SEC schools located near Atlanta — the Tigers’ nearest competition comes from Tulane, Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana-Monroe.

* While Texas A&M has to go head to head with Texas and other Lone Star State raiders, it’s clear that the Aggies will year-in and year-out do the vast majority of their recruiting right inside their own state’s borders. Still, with SEC television money about to start pouring in, it will be interesting to see if A&M ups its recruiting budget in the years ahead.

* Perhaps most impressive on this list is South Carolina. The Palmetto State produces fine talent. So does North Carolina. And the Gamecocks can steal prospects from neighboring Georgia, too. But in terms of bang for the buck, has any SEC school gotten more out of its recruiting dollar than Steve Spurrier and Carolina? Makes one wonder if USC isn’t one of those schools that gets a little creative when it comes to bookkeeping.

* As for the Mississippi schools, gotta keep finding more money. Gotta keep spending more money. There’s a reason MSU and UM have traditionally chased a number of juco players… and it’s not just because there are about 500 junior colleges in the Magnolia State.

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19 comments

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CoolWater38

I think Miss State will rise just a little.We just had some big time players to sign...Kailo Moore is the fastest back in the high school....

nashorn99

And people wonder why UK gets out recruited year in year out. Been a sore spot with the fanbase for awhile now. Especially since the basketball team has essentially the same recruiting budget.

OverreactingVol

@sports180 @mrsec $2.6 MILLION SPENT ON RECRUITING THE LAST TWO YEARS & FOUR SEC WINS? FINALLY, SOMETHING WE CAN CALL OURSELVES NO. 1 AT!!!

hatenite

@OverreactingVol HANG A BANNER!

8yearsnorings

@sports180 @MrSEC and not much 2 show 4 it

MiloMoon

UT has always had the largest recruiting budget in the SEC, that has never been a secret. There is a hidden cost. How are the scholarships handed out. UTAD pays for the full cost of scholarships. Since the majority of the athletes are out of state kids - the UTAD is paying out of state rates for scholarship. When schools that can recruit the majority of kids in state - LSU, UGA and UF recruit in state and are able to pay in-state rates for the scholarships. That in addition to the fact that UT does recruit nationally more than other programs in the SEC. Remember Washington DC is closer to Knoxville than Memphis.

Be Real

@MiloMoon

DC is closer only if you get lost driving to Memphis :-)

John at MrSEC moderator

@MiloMoon

Tennessee's budget hasn't always been a half-million more than the #2 spender in the SEC.

Thanks for reading,John

viciousdawg

Look for A&M and Mizzou's budget to go way up now that they are in the SEC. I don't think they joined just to be here.

ChadMefford

@StewDoom UT spends over a million more than LSU on recruiting each year? Ray Charles could recruit better that the UT staff.

StewDoom

@ChadMefford Bottom line: UK bball was stuck in mediocrity; we found 38 mil for Cal. When we spend more in fball, we'll compete.

DAustinCooper

@StewDoom @chadmefford KY football isn't as important to the fans. Private donations between the two are grossly different.

StewDoom

@DAustinCooper @chadmefford This is true. Not sure what # is now, but few years ago K Fund had like 10 mil in it. Florida F Fund? 40 mil.

StewDoom

@ChadMefford UT hasnt recruited well, but they have to travel to recruit. Not enough D1 talent in TN. (Just like KY)

cmd

No John... There are rules to recruiting. Dooley and his staff get a FIXED number of high school visits and can have a FIXED number of people back on campus. The coach at UT has always (due to the supposed lack of players in TN) ALWAYS had to have those visits occur half way around the country (which yes, does drive up that price) but that has NOTHING to do with Kiffin or Fat Phil... It has to do with Tennessee. The UT coach will max out those visits every year...MAYBE Saban doesn't, but he's in a unique place. I can assure you Muschamp, Chizik, Richt and your golden boy at Vandy are, however. Chizik and Dooley are taking the same number of trips. You are flat wrong to suggest otherwise. Dooley's just cost more.....And Dooley will be taking his max trips long after he rebuilds his roster to 85.

And speaking of TN, Dooley is actually starting to pluck players out of there. Expect this year's class to be 30%-40% UT kids. There have always been more good players than TN got credit for. If guys like Reveiz, Kerbyson, Crowder, Downs and Young continue to pan out. Recruiting won't be so hard in Knoxville anymore, anyway...

John at MrSEC moderator

@cmd

Thanks for the tip on rules. Didn't realize there were any. (Sarcasm.)

Also glad you're more connected than I am. I'll be sure to pass your info along to the folks who actually handled some of the mail-outs for Tennessee.

At any rate, good argument on visits... unfortunately, I didn't say anything about visits (because I know the rules). I mentioned additional calls, brochures, questionnaires, school literature, etc. That stuff's pretty much all a go when it comes to getting a school's name out and letting prospects know a school is interested. Those things cost money. And the wider net you cast, the more the price goes up.

Also, when it comes to seniors after July 1st, calls can increase as well. In addition, coaches have hundreds of "evaluation days" a year. That means travel. And if you're helicoptering from one place to the next to "evaluate" as many prospects as possible or to be seen at high school games in the fall, that's more money.

But I'll stop here. You've arrived at your conclusion and won't listen to facts. And when I present an argument you don't like... you simply invent a new argument that I didn't bring up in the first place.

Thanks for reading the site,John

cmd

Your conclusion on Tennessee makes zero sense, Mr. Pennington sir.... If Rivals is correct, Tennessee signed approx 27 players in 2010 and 21 last year. So they signed 49 people. COULD have signed up to 54, with back counts. So while it is true that Kiffin and Dooley had to run off a lot of Fulmer's crap, TN did not go out and sign more recruits than anyone else in the league after going through that. And had they run NO ONE off, I can assure you that Dooley would have taken just as many visits, had just as many players come in, and bought just as much video and scouting footage as he will this year or next. They all do the same amount (all out) regardless.... It's just that in Knoxville, you correctly point out, its a plane trip and rental car to Chicago or Baltimore to see a recruit when all Nick Saban has to do is drive up to Birmingham or for Richt down to Atlanta or for Chizik over to Columbus...

John at MrSEC moderator

@cmd

Ah, no one can disagree without saying my argument makes "zero sense."

Actually, not only did Kiffin "run off a lot of Fulmer's crap," as you say, but Kiffin's signees made up arguably the biggest bust of a class in Tennessee football history. Add to that attrition the fact that Tennessee had to fend off a pervasive feeling that its ship was sinking and you begin to understand that Dooley and company had to cast a much wider net than either Fulmer or Kiffin. You're looking at signees. Good for you. But how many recruits did UT call (at long-distance rates)? How much more summer camp brochures, news letters, recruiting questionnaires, and educational information about UT did the school send out? How much more travel was involved?

Tennessee's recruiting budget has been on the rise. There's a reason it's jumped the last two years and while distance is part of the equation -- always has been, which is why we mentioned it -- the number of prospects Tennessee has had to try and jump on has gone up post-Kiffin.

Some schools can cherry pick players. Others have to go find players. And Tennessee since Dooley arrived has had to work hard to get in on as many players as possible, as though starting from absolute scratch. I say this because I've been told this by more than one person in the University of Tennessee athletic department... and that's not exactly the kind of message you would WANT to put out if it weren't true.

If we were to see Vanderbilt's numbers, I would bet that its recruiting budget has jumped in the past year as well. Why? Because James Franklin is making offers by the bushel. You don't make offers if you haven't spoken to or corresponded with recruits. That means more money spent.

Hugh Freeze is also making offers galore at Ole Miss. Expect to see UM's recruiting budget take a jump next year.

Thanks for reading the site,

John

TheN8tureBoy

@John at MrSEC Wow. I've criticized you for whining when you defend yourself, this time you laid the smack down. Thank you for pointing out the fallacy in the "So while it is true that Kiffin and Dooley had to run off a lot of Fulmer's crap". What a load. Over half of Kiffin's recruits are off of the team. Morons like cmd ran off Fulmer.

I'm a high school history teacher so I have the authority to give this post an A+.

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