[Bernini]

GoRU, Wisconsin has coaches who have ties to the northeast, but nobody has been assigned that region outside of Randolph, who covers western PA. The defensive line coach Charlie Partridge was stolen from Pittsburgh. At Pittsburgh he landed Tyler Tkach from Slatington, PA; for their 2006 class. Rivals doesn't track back further so I don't know if he was an anomaly or not. I'd imagine during his 5 years in Pennsylvania he developed some relationships. However, right now, he's only been assigned Florida. He's one of two assistants designated to help pick up some of the Big 3's and elite school's scraps.

If nobody on the staff has strong enough ties to the northeast, that's a factor Bielema failed to consider when he transitioned to head coach and selected his staff. We basically have 2 coaches who don't help in recruiting much at all - QB coach Paul Chryst and RB coach Jon Settle. Chryst's offensive mind is of great value, but I can't exactly attribute the running back's success to John Settle. He didn't start as a coach at Wisconsin until 2006. Previously our running backs were: Brian Calhoun, Anthony Davis, Michael Bennett, Ron Dayne, Brent Moss, etc. Settle's ties to the southeast don't help us out at all. You think they're biased toward their schools and style of living in the northeast? Everybody in the southeast thinks that the SEC is God's gift to football and Wisconsin might as well be Antarctica weather wise. At least they're already acclimated to the cold in the northeast. And even if they're biased toward the programs in the northeast, at best that makes a UCONN, Pitt, or Rutgers (if they slide for another year) offer; comparable to a Wisconsin offer. If the northeast was parochial beyond repair, we wouldn't have been able to pull so many out of the region during the later years of the Alvarez era, no matter who was doing the selling, and even if the assistant was related to every head high school coach.

Notable earlier alumni- Ron Dayne, Troy Vincent, Anthony Davis, Tarek Saleh, Lee Deramus, Bill Ferrario

2001:

Antajj Hawthorne (CN) over everybody
Matt Bernstein (NY)

2002:

- Lamarr Watkins (NJ) over Virginia Tech, BC, Pitt, Syracuse, MSU, Va.
- Levonne Rowan (PA) over Clemson, Iowa, and Cuse
- Alex Lewis (PA) over Maryland, West Virginia, Cuse
- Elliot Goode (NY) over Cuse

2003:

- Andrew Weiniger (NY) over Pitt, Michigan St., Maryland, Zona, Cuse

2004:

- Bryan Savage (PA) over Notre Dame, Maryland, Iowa, Indiana
- Chris Pressley (NJ) over Tennessee, Maryland, Stanford
- Jameson Davis (CN) over Maryland, Michigan State., Cuse, UCONN
- Dave Peck (PA) over Cuse, Minnesota

2005:

- Jon Casillas (NJ) over Illinois, Kentucky, UCONN
- PJ Hill (NY) over Cuse, Vandy
- Garrett Graham (NJ) over Rutgers, Ga Tech, South Carolina, West Va, Cuse
- Jeff Stehle (NY) over Cuse, MSU
- Matt Shaughnessy (CT) over BC, UCONN, MSU, Purdue
- Jerry Butler (PA) over West Va., Indy
- Jarmal Ruffin (PA)

2006:

- John Moffitt (CT) over Rutgers, BC, MSU

I'll trust your opinion that it's a down year for talent in the northeast, but I see no logicial explanation for that to be the case long term. Ebbs and flows.

Hire an assistant with ties to the Northeast or just sell the recruit on the strength of the program alone relative to the others in the area.