This is lifted from Ari Wasserman’s Q&A today on The Athletic:
“The Ohio Bobcats had a lot of recruits on the sideline for the win against Iowa State. How much does a Power 5 win at home help them or any other Group of 5 team in a similar situation help in recruiting? Just a peek ahead at the future schedules and the Bobcats will host West Virginiaand Cincinnati when those recruits would be playing.” — Ryan M.**
“So much about recruiting is proof of concept. If you can sell your vision to a recruit and that recruit can see the early stages of that vision beginning to take shape, it is powerful. So much of what we believe is what we can see, hear and feel. Optimism and faith play a part in these recruitments, but going to a place like Athens, Ohio — a place I’ve been to many times — and seeing the Bobcats beat a Power 5 team is huge. Also, this Power 5 team does a heck of a lot of recruiting in the state of Ohio, so that’s another plus.
“I truly believe being a coach in the MAC has to be very difficult. All of those schools are similar as it pertains to money, facilities, fan buy-in and location. It’s got to be so hard to evaluate MAC-level players because thousands of them aren’t even rated. I also can’t begin to fathom how difficult it must be to separate one program from another. Heck, there are six MAC programs in the state of Ohio alone. Some have prettier campuses than others, but if you’re Akron’s coach, what’s the sales pitch?
Beating a Power 5 opponent is a nice place to start”