Baylor coach: Team will not recruit schools that take prep stars from Texas

New Baylor head coach Matt Rhule made a bold statement this week saying that the Bears will not recruit from schools that take players out of Texas.

As one of the new guys in town, Baylor head coach Matt Rhule has the extra difficult job of trying to rebuild the program’s good graces despite the growing public relations crisis that came from the lack of leadership from its previous coach, Art Briles, and other members of the school’s administration over the past few years.

Like any good politician, Rhule knows he has to say the right thing and keep everyone happy in the Lone Star State, especially since he comes to town from coaching at Temple. One of those ways is to take a shot at anyone who dares mess with Texas.

In the case of college football, that means high schools and prep schools who recruit players from the state of Texas to come play there – for example, the well known IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida that takes players from all over the country.

The Baylor coach told a gathering of high school coaches from Texas that the Bears are going to not recruit from schools that do such a thing:

But there are few things to take into account with this one.

First off, the Bears are not the Baylor team they were in the early part of the decade when they were actually competing for the Big 12 title. Rhule is going to eventually walk back this statement and recruit from anywhere to find players who actually want to go to the toxic area that is the Baylor athletic program.

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Second, Rhule is just jumping on the bandwagon driven by Texas head coach Tom Herman, who made comments recently questioning why a player would want to leave their state to go play elsewhere. But Herman is smart, and knows to rebuild a program, you take what you can get.