Recruiting is the life blood of a school that wants to see improvements on the field. The last coach sat back and took what was left after everyone else had finished recruiting which consistently left UNLV recruiting classes near the bottom of the rankings. I am not sure if this was his style of recruiting, or if he just felt UNLV could not compete for the better 3* and 4* recruits. While the rank of a recruiting class doesn't always guarantee the number of wins and loses, it does in most cases have a relative correlation with the success of a program. With the exception of one season, in which the stars aligned in regards to the strength of schedule, that recruiting was reflected in the results.
As for the record of a program leaving a program out in the dust in regards to recruiting high level recruits, this is not reflected by the fact the respected coaches and staff routinely move from one program to another, and have the ability to immediately upgrade the recruiting of the new program regardless of the past winning record of that school. Michigan was really bad last year, but with the new coach, they have instant credibility with the current batch of recruits. While coach Sanchez may not have the past pedigree of a top level college coach, many of the top high school players know what he did at Bishop Gorman, and do have a lot of respect for his coaching abilities. UNLV has won only 2 games in 4 of the last 5 seasons, but coach Sanchez has already been able to get many of the 3* and 4* to take an interest in what UNLV has to offer. Coach Sanchez can't sell UNLV on a past glorious history, he can't sell UNLV to them based on the number of wins they had last season or the season before, but he can sell them on his vision and his dream of what they can become.
It does appear that while recruits may not be coming to UNLV in droves, they are listening and paying attention to what is going on in regards to UNLV football. In a very short time frame, coach Sanchez was able to recruit a decent class of recruits that was a definite step up from the class recruited the season before. In the last few month, UNLV has been mentioned on the short list of numerous 3* recruits, and even some 4* recruits, which has not happened in over a decade since the Robertson era. In a sign of the potential ability of Sanchez to sell his dream, he has been able to recruit 3 3* players and a 4* transfer from Alabama for the 2016 class when normally UNLV does not get their first recruit until January of the recruiting season.
I expect that when all the dust settles, the first recruiting class for coach Sanchez and staff, will be listed near the top of the Mountain West Conference. This along with improved facilities is what will drive the improvement in the program not winning first and getting recruits later.
