(11-05-2021 11:43 PM)Converted Rice Wrote:  Joey Mc Guire would be a great hire for Rice. He is liked in Texas High School circles and is ready to move up. I would hate losing him at Baylor, but he deserves a shot. I think he would win at Rice.

Bringing in Joey McGuire and David Wetzel was a brilliant first (or at least early) move by Matt Rhule when Baylor hired him. McGuire won 3 state championships in 14 years at Cedar Hill (a school that had never won a playoff game before) and is a member of the THSCA Hall of Honor. Wetzel is a Baylor grad and past president of the THSCA. Rhule was from out of state and had virtually no Texas connections. Hiring them boosted his Texas profile immediately. Even when he was losing to Liberty, I was saying he would turn it around because of those moves.

In the discussion about Patterson above, I mentioned a Texas Football poll where HS coaches across the state were asked which FBS head coach they trusted most. Patterson was the winner. Rhule was second, and that has to have been because of McGuire and Wetzel. You better believe that had a huge impact on his ability to turn that program around as fast as he did. Aranda understood the dynamic, and kept them both onboard for a reason.

Bloomgren came to Rice in a situation similar to Rhule as far as Texas connections. He did not hire the equivalent of McGuire and Wetzel. Note that he did not get similar results to Rhule.

I believe that Rice should, and in fact must, recruit nationally. The academic requirements reduce the number of fish in the pond that we can go after. But we have to build off a solid Texas base. And building solid relationships with the THSCA is step one.