I didn’t want to start a separate thread on this, but at the same time didn’t want some important details to get lost in the mix since there are some points that need to be reiterated on this topic.
Having Antonio Pierce’s social media scrubbed, so to speak, from ASU references really goes back to a decision that was made around late August. The decision was driven by Ray Anderson and Jean Boyd and wasn’t one that Michael Crow handed down, although Crow, as University President, was naturally apprised of this action.
And this was an action where both Anderson and Boyd felt that it was prudent to protect Pierce and protect ASU from the incredible negative narrative in the press that painted AP in 10,000 different shades of negative light. If you want to say that Pierce is a highly driven, motivated, even cutthroat recruiter in a football recruiting world that, by the way, that is cutthroat by nature, I’m not going to argue with you on that. But there’s definitely has been, in my opinion, and in my experience, a very unfair chronicle of events of him being some kind of totalitarian dictator. Were there differences in opinion and recruiting philosophies between him and various staff members? Absolutely. But ultimately, it’s hard to deny that ASU's recruiting did not pick up considerably in terms of the caliber of players landed with Antonio Pierce at the helm as recruiting coordinator. So props go out (yes being sarcastic) for staff member X or staff member Y, who doesn’t exactly have the same track record and pedigree in recruiting, and who doesn’t offer any credibility to oppose Pierce’s philosophy and were butt hurt enough to want to burn down the entire program by snitching.
I’m not going to argue that AP wasn’t overly aggressive in his tactics. But that’s the methodology any program needs to employ to be successful in recruiting. Otherwise, why would Alabama, the mother of all blue bloods, still has to pay recruits to sign with them? (and yes, I know that for a fact). So I will definitely defend aggressive recruiting approaches and echo the fact that what happened at ASU happens at the majority of power five schools, and as I said a million times over, ASU just had the bad dumb luck of a whistleblower airing out the dirty laundry, a “luxury” that other power five schools did not have (and perhaps never will).
Back to the decision by Anderson and Boyd, they did not want Pierce to go on the road and be subjected to a lot of uncomfortable moments. constant questioning, etc., when he enters a certain high school. An hour before Pierce’s arrival or an hour later, they’ll be coaches (hypocritical in some cases) from other Pac-12 schools or other power five schools bad-mouthing AP to the hilt with really no real knowledge other than what was portrayed there in the media in some one-sided articles, let alone selectively forgetting what their school and they co-workers do as well.
Pierce, I was told, wasn’t happy with that Anderson/Boyd decision but he did accept it, and as time went by, he did truly realize that this was the right thing to do. Pierce and his duties in terms of on-campus recruiting have not changed one iota. He’s involved in this recruiting class, involved in future recruiting classes, and doing as much as he possibly can on-campus in terms of recruiting operations. This is true for the 2022, 2023 classes and beyond.
Another thing to keep in mind, and again I know this may be sound monotonous, but there have been no new developments with the NCAA investigation. I had my doubts when there were reports out there that NCAA investigators were going to start talking to ASU staff during the month of October and barring unforeseen circumstances that is not going to take place and that certainly has not taken place in the first few weeks of this month. And again, as mentioned, the decision to keep Pierce off the road and the decision to alter his social media to keep a lower profile was done back in August and was not a result of any developments that didn’t happen anyway during the last few weeks.
Something that I mentioned many times before and yet another item that is definitely worth repeating is that the makeup of this 2022 recruiting class is going to be heavily composed of the transfer portal players. This really puts in perspective how many resources you need to dedicate, to begin with, to have coaches visit various high schools and, in some cases, junior colleges this weekend and beyond. True, you definitely have to start, if not continue, 2023 recruiting class efforts, and many of those off-campus contacts by some of the ASU staff are undoubtedly concentrated on future recruiting classes. But the point I’m trying to make here is that when you are staring at a recruiting class that I had already said could easily have a dozen players or more from the transfer portal, having as many assistant coaches as possible on the road this weekend is not a good use of your resources.
To be clear, I never have or never will paint a picture of this 2022 recruiting class being one the better ones in recent memory. Once those NCAA allegations came to light, it was a given this 2022 class would greatly suffer in terms of high school prospects. So, whatever did or didn’t happen to Pierce’s social media profile, him staying on-campus to recruit, etc., wasn’t going to alter that fact.
Having Antonio Pierce’s social media scrubbed, so to speak, from ASU references really goes back to a decision that was made around late August. The decision was driven by Ray Anderson and Jean Boyd and wasn’t one that Michael Crow handed down, although Crow, as University President, was naturally apprised of this action.
And this was an action where both Anderson and Boyd felt that it was prudent to protect Pierce and protect ASU from the incredible negative narrative in the press that painted AP in 10,000 different shades of negative light. If you want to say that Pierce is a highly driven, motivated, even cutthroat recruiter in a football recruiting world that, by the way, that is cutthroat by nature, I’m not going to argue with you on that. But there’s definitely has been, in my opinion, and in my experience, a very unfair chronicle of events of him being some kind of totalitarian dictator. Were there differences in opinion and recruiting philosophies between him and various staff members? Absolutely. But ultimately, it’s hard to deny that ASU's recruiting did not pick up considerably in terms of the caliber of players landed with Antonio Pierce at the helm as recruiting coordinator. So props go out (yes being sarcastic) for staff member X or staff member Y, who doesn’t exactly have the same track record and pedigree in recruiting, and who doesn’t offer any credibility to oppose Pierce’s philosophy and were butt hurt enough to want to burn down the entire program by snitching.
I’m not going to argue that AP wasn’t overly aggressive in his tactics. But that’s the methodology any program needs to employ to be successful in recruiting. Otherwise, why would Alabama, the mother of all blue bloods, still has to pay recruits to sign with them? (and yes, I know that for a fact). So I will definitely defend aggressive recruiting approaches and echo the fact that what happened at ASU happens at the majority of power five schools, and as I said a million times over, ASU just had the bad dumb luck of a whistleblower airing out the dirty laundry, a “luxury” that other power five schools did not have (and perhaps never will).
Back to the decision by Anderson and Boyd, they did not want Pierce to go on the road and be subjected to a lot of uncomfortable moments. constant questioning, etc., when he enters a certain high school. An hour before Pierce’s arrival or an hour later, they’ll be coaches (hypocritical in some cases) from other Pac-12 schools or other power five schools bad-mouthing AP to the hilt with really no real knowledge other than what was portrayed there in the media in some one-sided articles, let alone selectively forgetting what their school and they co-workers do as well.
Pierce, I was told, wasn’t happy with that Anderson/Boyd decision but he did accept it, and as time went by, he did truly realize that this was the right thing to do. Pierce and his duties in terms of on-campus recruiting have not changed one iota. He’s involved in this recruiting class, involved in future recruiting classes, and doing as much as he possibly can on-campus in terms of recruiting operations. This is true for the 2022, 2023 classes and beyond.
Another thing to keep in mind, and again I know this may be sound monotonous, but there have been no new developments with the NCAA investigation. I had my doubts when there were reports out there that NCAA investigators were going to start talking to ASU staff during the month of October and barring unforeseen circumstances that is not going to take place and that certainly has not taken place in the first few weeks of this month. And again, as mentioned, the decision to keep Pierce off the road and the decision to alter his social media to keep a lower profile was done back in August and was not a result of any developments that didn’t happen anyway during the last few weeks.
Something that I mentioned many times before and yet another item that is definitely worth repeating is that the makeup of this 2022 recruiting class is going to be heavily composed of the transfer portal players. This really puts in perspective how many resources you need to dedicate, to begin with, to have coaches visit various high schools and, in some cases, junior colleges this weekend and beyond. True, you definitely have to start, if not continue, 2023 recruiting class efforts, and many of those off-campus contacts by some of the ASU staff are undoubtedly concentrated on future recruiting classes. But the point I’m trying to make here is that when you are staring at a recruiting class that I had already said could easily have a dozen players or more from the transfer portal, having as many assistant coaches as possible on the road this weekend is not a good use of your resources.
To be clear, I never have or never will paint a picture of this 2022 recruiting class being one the better ones in recent memory. Once those NCAA allegations came to light, it was a given this 2022 class would greatly suffer in terms of high school prospects. So, whatever did or didn’t happen to Pierce’s social media profile, him staying on-campus to recruit, etc., wasn’t going to alter that fact.
