My impression was recruiting was in decline. This possibly due to several reasons one of which was the above mentioned issues with Cuff leaving the program and the perception that Coach Reid was favoring his boys over superior players. (I don’t believe this was actually true however, his boys were good. Seemed to have a little too long of a leach at times though) There seemed to be some apathy r regarding recruiting, especially about the time his sons joined the team. It seemed that it was difficult recruiting quality big guys with BYU having a 7 foot six player on the team already (coming back from his mission). Then Bradley leaving the team after only his freshman year and they didn’t have any bigs. Coach Reid also had made public statements such as telling Burgess he just disappointed 10 million Mormons. Bradly left, Randy & Robbie Reed left, Cuff left, and suddenly the best players were gone when one of the best players was dismissed. They just had a major lack of talent. Tony Ingle did not have a prayer coaching that year. However, he was a really likable guy and was very successful after he was dismissed.

Coach Cleveland appeared to be a much more energetic and successful recruiter. He was able to gradually build the program back up with recruiting. It seemed Roger was a great X’s & O’s coach (gradually becoming a poor recruiter) and Cleveland was a good recruiter. Built the program back to a good team.