All of what you're saying may well be true but do you really think social media and "back office" people are why Texas is popular among high school kids? Texas has been popular along high school kids for about 100 years and will continue to be for the next 100 years because they're Texas.
The constant woe is me act by some on here (I'm not saying this to you 8 it's just general people) about recruiting is so tired. TCU blows away pretty much every similarly sized school in recruiting every year and blows away many schools much larger in recruiting every year. I'd recommend looking at all the programs who wish they could've done what TCU has done over the last 10 years (that includes every program in this state) instead of constantly wishing we could get every single recruit that schools with 10X the enrollment and 100X the alumni get, all while losing to TCU's recruits just about every time they play each other.
i think you are under estimating the impact of the texas support staff in their recent recruiting success again in certain parts of the state they have not been able to penetrate.
samples was hired at smu as a wide receiver coach and has never coached why? his connections in dallas.
when mensa left uh, lsu made a big push to hire carrington. why? his connections in the houston area.
it isn't simply about knowing the high school coaches, but also the personal trainers, sponsors for 7-on-7 etc....and these connections matter in recruiting.
in response to the utilization of the social media platforms i think many of us on here are viewing this from our perception and not the mindset of teenager who basically are who you are targeting in recruiting.
my kids are on their phones all the time keeping in touch with friends etc... and that is the norm for them. you put our son on the phone and you might get 2 minutes out of him as opposed to if you text or message him.
go back and read the comments in the article a few weeks back about what some of the kids didn't like about recruiting.
what tcu has done is great, but i do not agree that the benchmark going forward is we have done better than schools are size with our resources.
if that is the attitude we are to take going forward lets start counting the day for this to end. anyone who makes their living know off commission knows that each day you have to get up and start the process all over. that nothing stays the same and when your competition changes around you and gains and edge you either try to keep up or lose ground.
if the ultimate goal for tcu is to compete for big 12 titles then that means we are gong to go head to head with ou and texas for recruits. yes, they have big advantages, but this current roster includes a number of kids that were signed by tcu and sought by those schools.
in the end it is gary's choice how his program is run be it recruiting, coaching staff, players etc.....he also has made mistakes at times and there are areas that can be improved.