Farley still thrives on recruiting for UNI

CEDAR FALLS — The last hours before signing day are a scramble for college football programs across the country.

That's certainly no different for Mark Farley and his Northern Iowa football staff. As they prepare another Panther class, it's been one more year of the craziness that is the recruiting cycle.

Farley has been doing this since he became a full-time assistant coach at UNI in 1989, and has seen just about every version and every situation in those 27 years. Whether it was recruiting against Gateway/Missouri Valley Football Conference programs or Big 12 programs (when at Kansas), his method now is an amalgam of it all.

He knows who he wants, and better yet, knows how to judge who he has the best chance of getting.

'We try to adapt because the game has changed and recruiting has changed. Recruiting needs have changed. So we do have to adapt to who we're recruiting,' Farley said. 'Really I want the same player the University of Iowa wants. I want the same ones. I just have to know which ones that will be tougher to get in on. I have to sort that out quickly.

'We hit a five-hour radius from St. Louis to Omaha to Minneapolis to Milwaukee and Chicago. Most of our players will come from that circle. By doing so, we want to find the best players in that area by August 1st. Through elimination — Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa and all their early commits — now we know who we should be keyed up on and who to zero in on from there.'

Farley's strategy as a head coach in 2016 has come from years of learning — both from good and bad experiences.

He doesn't work the transfer market like some FCS schools, as he said preferring to use that market as the chief recruiting strategy creates inherent inconsistency within a program. Trying to hit the lottery with a transfer doesn't build a consistent winner, he said, because, 'I think you're a hit and miss program when that happens.'

Instead his recruiting philosophy is based mostly on developing high school players within the aforementioed radius who FBS programs overlook, but still have FBS talent. He said UNI is up against 'MAC programs every day of the week,' as well as perennial MVFC and national contenders North Dakota State and Illinois State.

'We have to find those guys who are Division I-A players, because there's more I-A players in that region than there are I-A schools,' Farley said. 'We have to take those players and do a better job developing them because the key to our program is to get that level of player — like a David Johnson — and to be able to develop a guy like David Johnson for when he's a senior.

'To remain consistent on top, I believe you have to take the high school player, develop them because those are the ones that become the big names. They're the David Johnsons, the Brett McMakins, the Deiondre Halls. You don't get those guys to come from junior colleges to our place — they're long gone by then.'

Farley also relies heavily on instincts. When he sees a frame he likes and knows can develop, sometimes he'll take a risk on a player who others might pass over. He cited Xavier Williams as one of those, and said if Williams hadn't come in to UNI's camp, he wouldn't have ended up a Panther.

Tapes are a dime a dozen, Farley said, and it's got to be about more than that. When he saw how hard Williams worked, it erased the worries some had when watching the now Arizona Cardinal on film in high school.

'It's hard to figure out who's good on a highlight tape,' Farley said. 'I try to use my instincts in saying, 'That's a frame that will develop into something three years from now.' When I look at someone, I don't necessarily look at the position they play today, but what they'll play for us, two or three years from now.'

It's a cutthroat part of the sport, but it's one that's just as — if not more — competitive as the actual games themselves.

Getting the paperwork on a recruit that's signed, and maybe was considering the Bison or Redbirds, produces just as much elation and relief as beating NDSU or ILS on the field. Some coaches thrive on it, others suffer through it.

Farley still thrives on it.

'The competition on the field and the scheming on the field is split-second choices and one week of prep. Recruiting is sitting in homes, listening to what people say while we try to tell them about us,' Farley said. 'We think we have a pretty great product to sell.

'The best thing you can do, and the guys who last the longest, are the guys that tell the truth. And I think people sense the truth when you're telling it.'

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