I agree that a great coach — or great coaching staff — is a mix of both, good teachers of the game and good recruiters.
In my estimation, Weber’s problem was that he was too loyal to the assistants he originally brought on board, even after it became clear they weren’t good recruiters. If you are a good recruiting coach, you bring in assistants who can teach the game. On the other hand, if you are a good teaching coach (like Weber), you bring in assistants who can recruit. A good mix of both is the goal. I thing Brad Underwood (who appears to be an X's and O's guy) gets this, as illustrated by his choice of assistants.
Except for Jerrance Howard, none of Weber’s assistants were, to the best of my recollection, good recruiters. (Perhaps a reflection of the culture at Purdue under Keady ?) A good indication of that is what happened to them after leaving Illinois. Good recruiting assistants would have been picked up by other top flight programs; again, to my recollection, none (except for Howard) of Weber’s were.
He was (and is) a good, decent man and was a good ambassador for the University and I was sorry to see him dismissed, although probably inevitable by 2012. I think after a couple of desultory years post 2005 Guenther should have pulled him aside and told him to ashcan his assistants and go out and hire recruiters or else. That would have been at a time when good recruiters would still have been interested and the program could have been rejuvenated in a relatively short time. But now that’s all water under the bridge. I certainly wish him well.
