We have been here before though. Smith will have an impact similar to Dick Bennett. Dick basically had Marcus Moore and Thomas Kelati as returners with Pac 12 talent. The rest of the roster included Chris Schlatter, Shammi Gill, Randy Green. I am not suggesting we have a "Pac 12" roster currently but it's better than what Dick inherited when the conference was probably better overall as well.
Time will tell who sticks around and who they sign. The other piece to consider is Smith will have 7 scholarships to work with this spring (2) and next year (5) pending departures. He can remake the roster relatively quickly.
Any more then 7,8 scholarships will be almost impossible to replace with Quality Replacements
Heck even 6,7,8 is going to be hard to to replace with Quality Replacements.
But that said I do NOT think getting Quality replacements is not doable.
I think that Smith can, would be able to get about 3,4,5,6 Quality Replacements.
I define a Quality Replacement as either a 3,4,5 star recruit, that is not soft, that is not overhyped, that is talented, skilled, athletic, and is teachable, good fit, etc.
Or
A 2,3 star that is underrated, under radar, raw, diamond in rough, talented, skilled, athletic, chip on shoulder, works hard, developable, competitive, etc.
After Smith getting 3,4,5,6 Quality Replacements, any additional scholarships to replace, would likely be the bad 1,2 star NON, NO quality replacents, the type of players that would play at whitworth, etc.
So because of that, its in the best interest of WSU, Smith, to only have to replace 3,4,5,6 scholarships, instead of 6,7,8,9,10 scholarships.
Those advocating that it would be a good thing if 10,11 scholarships to replace, left, and that the reason is because Smith would supposedly be able to turn over the roster with his guys quicker, are wrong.
The reason its wrong is because it does no good to turn over the roster quicker with Smiths guys, if half, 1/3 of his roster are whitworth college level non quality replacements, which is likely what would happen.
The BEST would be for Smith to only have to replace 3,4,5 scholarships. Smith should be able to find, get 3,4,5 Quality replacements.
If that happened, I predict Smith would with the current players plus 3,4,5 Quality Replacements, win about 12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19 games, 12 at minimum, 19 maximum, his first year.
Then if 2,3,4 more Quality Replacements 2nd year, then 14,15 wins minimum, 20,21 wins max.
Then if 2,3,4 Quality replacements next year, then 16,17,18 wins minimum, and 21,22,23 wins max.
By the 3rd year, the whole Roster would be turned over, all replaced by Quality Replacements, Would be all Smiths guys, and WINNING.
But if 10 scholarships first year to replace, then 2,3,4,5 Quality Replacements, 4,5,6,7 Whitworth types, non quality, roster completely turned over, almost all Smith's guys. 5 to 10 wins
2nd year: Because of how bad 1st year, many leave again. So 5 to replace. 2,3 Quality Replacements, 2,3 Whitworths. 7,8 to 13,14,15 wins.
3td year. 2,3,4 Replacements, 1,2,3 Quality Replacements, 1,2 Whitworths, 11 to 17 wins.
Year 4. 1,2,3 replacements. 1,2 Quality, 1 Whitworth. 13,14 to 19 wins
Year 5: 1,2,3 replacements, All Quality no Whitworths. 16, 17 wins, 20,21 wins.
Year 6 same as Year 5 replacement wise. 18,19 to 22,23 wins.
So clearly only replacing 3,4,5 to start with Quality replacements, turns over the roster, Smith's guys, by year 3, is more successful by year 3, in HALF the time, the other way.
Where replacing 10 with 3,4,5,6 Quality Replacements, and 4,5,6, Whitworths, turns over the roster faster, gets Smith his guys, wins by years 5,6, takes Twice as long, not as good as the other way.
That is why you dont want a lot of departures, replacements, high turnover, etc.
That is why you only wanr 3,4,5 replacements, to fill with Quality Replacements.
If I was Smith, and got stuck with 9, 10 Replacements. I would recruit as many Quality Replacements as I could, probably about 2,3,4,5, then instead of filling the rest with Whitworths, I would pocket any whitworth scholarship for next year, to be filled with a Quality Replacement instead of a whitworth. If that meant I only had 6,7,8 players on team, instead of 12,13,14, then so be it.
If that happened, then next year I would again save any whitworth scholarships until next year, to be filled by Quality Replacements, instead of Whitworths. Hopefully by year 3, there would be no whitworth scholarships to be carried over to next year to be filled with Quality replacements instead of Whitworths
But I would do my darnedest to only have 3,4,5 to replace first year, and would fill them with quality replacements, because should be easy to get 2,3,4 quality replacements out of 3,4,5 replacement slots
Anybody advocating for 8,9,10,11 replacements, or saying that many replacements will lead to wins, better then only having 3,4,5,6 replacements is wrong, does not know what they are talking about.
I think Smith will only have to replace 3,4,5,6 spots instead of more then that, and thst he will replace with Quality Reolacements, and win within, at 3 years.
If Smith has to replace more then that, I think he will take any whitworth scholarship spots, and save them until next year and fill them with Quality next year, instead of filling them with whitworths now.
But I dont think Smith would be in thst situation, and think he would only have to fill 6 at most, and would fill with Quality instead of Whitworths, and will be successful, win by, on year 3, year 4 at extreme latest.
