You point out some very important factors.
1. Recruiting is all about relationships, and since the EIU staff has been there pretty much intact for 25 years, many on the staff have a long history with the coaches in the high school ranks here in Iowa. They have visited and met the coach, which goes a long way towards getting the kid interested in the school. ISU has struggled in that regard, every time there is coaching change, a new staff is brought in, and they have rebuilt those ties all over again.
2. It sucks for ISU but most of the better players have been from the eastern part of the state, and which makes it closer to EIU than Ames. Des Moines for the most part seems like a neutral recruiting area, this in an area where ISU should be doing well in, but we just aren't. Look at the highly ranked kids from SE Polk the past couple of years, neither went to ISU. Kids from schools like Solon, Winfield and other schools in the eastern part of Iowa are not coming to Ames if they have an offer from EIU.
3. Winning is important, the pillow soft Big Easy West conference has allowed EIU to rack up successful win totals over the past decade, which is helped out by the fact that more often than not, they have missed playing Ohio State, and Michigan. Lots of Rutgers and Maryland games on the EIU schedule. They also beat ISU 5 or 6 times in a row.
ISU will get another opportunity to change things during the next coaching change at EIU in the next few years, but we have to start winning at a high level for it to make a difference in the minds of high school kids.
