ragtimejoe1
Well-known member
The tiers are based on models and recruits' responses. They simply build a hierarchy of factors involved in recruits' decision processes. Laramie's main disadvantage is distance to recruits. Most of the factors in tier 1 and 2 are somewhat in our control but are failures of people in charge. In other words, we are in control of most of the variables we need to be successful. TB and WYO like to sell it like the things that are out of our control are most important. They aren't.
For your reading pleasure (read all not hyperfocused on a single line or datapoint):
Dumond, Lynch & Platania. 2008.
An Economic Model of the College Football Recruiting Process.
Mirabile & Witte. 2017.
A Discrete-Choice Model of a College Football Recruit’s Program Selection Decision.
Huffman. 2012.
I’m Taking my Talents to…” An Examination of Hometown Socioeconomic Status on the College-Choice Factors of NCAA Division I FBS Football Players. Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics.
Link (open access PDF): https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/jiia/vol5/iss1/12/
Klenosky, Templin & Troutman. 2001.
Recruiting Student Athletes: A Means-End Investigation of School-Choice Decision Making. Journal of Sport Management, 15(2):95–106.
Czekanski & Barnhill. 2015.
Recruiting the Student-Athlete: An Examination of the College Decision Process. Journal for the Study of Sports and Athletes in Education, 9(3):133–144.
Al-Fattal, Walker & Gust. 2025.
From Recruitment to Enrollment: Understanding Student-Athletes’ College Choice Decisions. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 7:1652581.
Pitts & Evans. 2016.
The Role of Conference Externalities and Other Factors in Determining the Annual Recruiting Rankings of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Teams. Applied Economics, 48(33):3164–3174.
Pitts & Evans. 2025.
Show Me the Money! The Immediate Impact of Name, Image, and Likeness on College Football Recruiting. Journal of Sports Economics, 26(3):316–335.
Owens, Rennhoff & Roach. 2025.
The Impact of Name, Image, and Likeness Contracts on Student-Athlete College Choice. Applied Economics, 57(22):2822–2838.
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