I don't think anybody seriously believes it's either 100% coaching or 100% recruiting... OBVIOUSLY, those are just two factors in what it takes to be a successful football team.
Pretty much any big-conference D1 football team has great athletes on the field and coaches who know the game inside and out. On any given year, basically any team is capable of getting the right combination of players and doing well or, having a few unlucky breaks, and doing poorly. Where coaching and recruiting come in is over time. Over time, teams with better recruits will do better. Over time, teams with better coaches will do better. And, obviously, recruiting is a big component of coaching. The best coaches will get the best guys possible for their system.
So I really don't see why everybody's getting all worked up about this. It's very possible to care about recruiting while at the same time thinking Kelly can develop 3* talent and do well with it. It's not a debate. Both are important. So is chemistry, work ethic, schedule, lifting programs, training table, etc etc etc....
Again, the recent decommits will not kill ND's program, but they're not good either. Kelly has the maximum ability to develop talent when he has a lot of talented kids in his stable. We just lost two talented athletes. That sucks. It would be nice to get a few more studs to close out this class. Fair enough?
