He has been an abysmal recruiter.
False.
Top-100 recruits during Groce's tenure (and yes, I'm counting Malcolm Hill - plenty of kids decommit when there's a coaching change; it took work to retain him). 247 Composite rankings given, along with national class rank.
2013 - National Ranking #14
Kendrick Nunn - #56
Malcolm Hill - #70
(Additional top-150: Austin Colbert - #125)
2014 - National Ranking #55 (only two recruits in class)
Leron Black - #42
2015 - National Ranking #16
Jalen Coleman-Lands - #37
DJ Williams - #78
(Additional top-150: Aaron Jordan - #117)
2016 - National Ranking #100 (only recruit in class - Kipper counts as 2015)
Additional top-150: Te'Jon Lucas - #142
Two top-20 classes, five top-100 players, and eight top-150 is above average for a P5 program. Mike Thorne was also a big get as a transfer and Finke looks like a gem given his ranking (#196). You can talk all you want about his PG misses, but recruiting hasn't been as big of an issue as pure, dumb bad luck the last two years. I get that it's a results-driven business where coaches make millions to win games, no ifs ands, or buts. The crowd that insists on casting Groce's tenure and the state of our program in black and white has an ironclad argument: who cares what intervening circumstances there have been? Groce is paid to win games and hasn't won enough. I can appreciate that perspective.
However, I, and many others here, choose to see the situation as more nuanced. I also think the pitchfork crowd is underestimating how much more damage would be done if Whitman chose to burn it down without giving Groce another year. If he'd let him go three months ago like a lot of you wanted, it would have been a disaster in terms of job desirability, program stability, athletic department stability, recruiting, team psyche, etc. Seriously, try to get this through your head: NO ONE IS HAPPY with how things have gone. Some of us are just thinking bigger picture than others. I'm all for Groce turning it around. If he can't, I'm all for replacing him. It just hasn't been the right time yet. If you disagree with that assertion, you're not seeing the forest for the trees.