I give you Texas A&M. Winning doesn’t always equate to recruiting and losing doesn’t always kill you. Aggies were a play against Bama away from what a 7 win season? Lucky to beat Colorado. And they didn’t really impress many. And it’s not like those teams that beat them out recruited them. ESP early in your tenure and esp if a coach (and their staff!) have a proven record it’s not a straight line between outcome on field and recruiting off. You can win and lose in recruiting and you can struggle and have success in recruiting. Its not like Mario or Steele or Gattis can’t credibly point to their career to talk abt what they will do. But it sure helps to win. But as I said, sometimes you win and lose on recruits too lesser teams. It’s just one of many factors.