Business as usual for Oregon State football recruiting

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When a head coach leaves a college football team, it has a real effect on recruiting as it leaves the program in a state of uncertainty. The recruits committed to that school are left wondering if the interim coach and his staff will be kept in place or if a new coach will come in and clean house.

There's also uncertainty for the staff in place. How do you recruit prospects to a school if you're not even sure that you're going to be there in a couple of months because of the head coaching change?

For the Oregon State Beavers, it's just business as usual with Gary Andersen leaving OSU and Cory Hall being his interim replacement.

"At the end of the day, my job here at Oregon State is to make sure football recruiting is running smooth and running to the best of its abilities," Assistant Athletic Director of Player Personnel Vince Guinta said. "We need to make sure we preserve what we've already accomplished and continue to move forward. I have the support of coach Hall and also the administration to continue with business and making sure we're still putting our brand out there in the recruiting world."

"Right now, the staff is fully intact," Hall added. "You don't worry about what could be or what may be. You continue to carry on those relationships and continue to reassure the student athletes because you made a commitment to Oregon State football. We'll continue to carry on what's been established."

The Oregon State staff can't just mail it in and stop doing their jobs to recruit the best student athletes to come to Corvallis. If anything, it's driving this coaching staff to work even harder.

"You have to keep working. You have to keep doing your job," Guinta said. "We love it here; we want to be here. We have an obligation to the kids we've already recruited, the kids on the team, the kids that are committed to play here, and the kids we've already offered scholarships to.

"I would love to stay here and continue on here because I'm so proud of some of the things we've built here. I want to do my best for these young men to make sure we get them in the best position to move forward."

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I've covered recruiting for years for schools across the country. I've been through coaching changes and there are always immediate decommitments. How Oregon State has kept the class together has been very impressive.

Oregon State's nine verbal commitments for the 2018 are still strong in their pledges and even take to Twitter to show the world that they are "100% Beaver Nation."

"There are some leaders of this 2018 class that are out there and pretty vocal on social media," Guinta said. "I think that they're sticking together well. There's always going to be attrition - I don't care if you're at the No. 1 school in America or you're at the smallest school - there's always going to be attrition.

"You're going to lose verbal commits or gain commits as the year goes on, but I know coach Hall has spoken with these young men and our administration has been communicating with these young men. They all expressed a very similar sentiment that they're very strong with their commitments here. Hopefully, this group of nine commits will stick together and we can finish it out strong as we move further in the process."

When athletic director Scott Barnes and Hall met with the media for their press conference to announce Hall as the interim coach, Barnes noted that he would be involved in the recruiting process to help keep the commitments solid. It wasn't just lip service either.

Anyone who works in the football department, which includes Barnes, is able to make contact with recruits. The head coach, nine assistant coaches, and designated graduate assistants are the coaches that actually make the phone calls, but anyone in the department can send text messages and write letters to recruits.

Barnes has aided the OSU football staff in recruiting - even before the head coaching change.

"He's very actively involved," Guinta said about Barnes. " He's met all of our official visitors during their visits. He is 100% invested in the recruiting success of this team. It's been awesome."

There is no one working harder than Cory Hall to keep the class together. He's reached out to every recruit committed to the Beavers and communicated with them through this process.

"Oh my gosh, the guy's work ethic and energy is amazing," Guinta said. "I think it's probably what made him such a good player and the kids love him. He's a genuine man, an honest man, and he has a huge heart. People gravitate towards him. It's really been fun to help him as he's making this transition into his new role."

The Beavers finished out the 2016 season strong by routing Arizona and knocking off the Ducks, and they finished the 2017 recruiting class very strong as well. Oregon State signed 25 recruits in what was ranked as the No. 45 class in the country, which ranked above the likes of Texas Tech, Missouri, Arizona State, and Washington State.

True freshmen such as wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins, linebacker Kesi Ah-Hoy, and safety David Morris have already made their presence felt on this year's team as key players.

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The Beavers have a promising crop of young quarterbacks in sophomore Conor Blount, true freshman Aidan Willard, and even redshirt freshman Mason Moran, who was moved back to quarterback in the last week. If the Beavers hold onto 2018 quarterback commits Spencer Petras and Jake Dukart, the future will be even brighter.

Across the board, the Beavs have a lot of young talent.

"I feel that the future is very bright," said Guinta. "When I look at the classes we've put together, we have some really strong talented position groups that are coming up with the youth. You look at last year's class, there are so many very talented young men at defensive back that had other Pac-12 offers and are going to be very good players. We have young offensive linemen developing, but all of those things take time. This is a developmental program.

"You invest in players you want to develop, and sometimes you don't get the instant reward. But we see the instant reward on a day-to-day basis. I see them working out in the weight room and on our scout teams, and I think, 'The future is so bright here.' That's why I want to be a part of it. There are so many good, young talented players on this team."

Andersen and Guinta go back 20 years to when Guinta was a video coordinator at Utah and Andersen was the Utes' defensive line coach. Andersen and Guinta reunited at Wisconsin for Andersen's two year stint as the Badgers' head coach in 2013.

For Guinta and others on the OSU staff, Andersen's departure was tough to swallow.

"No matter how many times you've gone through [a coaching change], it's always difficult," Guinta explained. "There's a lot of emotions involved initially when you hear there's going to be a change.

"Coach Andersen has known me and been in my life since I was 18 years old as a college freshman at the University of Utah. He has never been anything but gracious and a strong, positive role model in my life. It was hard and it was surprising, but it happened. It's never going to change the history I've had with him and I'll always look back on all of the positives times we've shared together in our careers. I'll look at those fondly."

But again, it's business as usual for the Oregon State Beavers' football staff on the field in terms of finishing the season strong and off the field on the recruiting front.

"The message to our recruits and their families is the same - Oregon State University is honoring any and all commitments and offers," Guinta said. "We stand by our word and no matter who the coach is, I'm sure things will always get worked through. I look forward to the future of the program because I think there is a bright future here.