relationships," both in coaching and recruiting.
But, when he arrived at VT, he found recruiting to be disorganized, haphazard and lacking resources. The lack of a HUDL account is well-documented, but there was no "intel" organizationally by the staff. I've told this story on here a few times, but here it goes again:
Tapp and Fuente flew on the school jet to Tidewater to recruit. Unfortunately, it was a teacher work day, so no one was available. No one had bothered to check! Duh!!
Fuente flew on to Texas, Tapp rented a car, and went on a swing through Virginia, NC, SC and GA. He literally had a list of 22 players to see/visit, and the info was summarized on three (3) sheets of paper.
One of the places he visited was Pace Academy, outside Atlanta. When he got there, he met the coach, and both sized each other up, and realized they knew of each other. The coach was Chris Slade, who played at UVA and Tabb HS on the peninsula. No one on staff had made the connection with Slade. It was only after they met that they realized their connection.
Slade said no one from VT had visited Pace in his years there. Tapp also heard this from the coaches of many/most of the places he visited on this trip. There were no relationships.
When Tapp got back, he let me make copies of the three sheets, and I put together a prototype of a spreadsheet for recruiting. It was by no means exhaustive, but there were cells re: parents, coaches, background of each, telephone accounts, social media accounts, addresses, HUDL videos, etc. Most of these cells contained hyperlinks, so you could review them in real time before entering the school. I gave it to him, and he said he presented it to the staff. After that, it was "cricket city."
Again, there was a lack of staff, but also a lack of organization and purpose to recruiting. Recruiting was, haphazard, at best.
Upon Tapp's arrival at VT, he put together sheets for defensive players, including their pictures. He didn't know them yet, but he wanted to know them, and familiarity with each one was key. He was printing the sheets the next day, and the LB coach saw them, and asked for copies. As @laphroaig , recruiting was a "cluster."