Chad Bowden's approach for USC focuses on building relationships over rankings

When an important decision-maker's words age gracefully, regardless of what happened afterward, it tends to be a good sign. This is the case for USC GM Chad Bowden. While discussing with Josh Pate about his role with the Trojans, the rankings of the future recruiting classes came up.

As shared by Nico on X, Bowden has made it fairly plain and clear for anyone willing to listen as to how the Trojans are doing so well in recruiting. The staff has done a good job of prioritizing those they have a good feel on and then consistently working toward building a relationship with the player and his family.

There isn't a quick-fix solution or monetarily driven factor. Instead, the pull of coming to USC resides in how this team is able to make the case and then show that they will be committed to the players as Trojans and that the best path for their career resides in Los Angeles in the Cardinal and Gold.

The conversation in question was shared in April. Bowden's approach and that of the staff as a whole remain true now and will continue to win out more often than not for many months to come.

Too much emphasis is placed on the role that money plays in these types of decisions. By all means, it would be naive to suggest that financial aspects do not factor in to an extent. A lot of programs have money and are backed by people willing to see a team spend in pursuit of a championship. To a large degree the money becomes something of a zero-sum game.

Even in the case where a program gets edged out by the slightest of margins, it was probably not going to be a good fit anyway if more or less the same offer was going to dictate a decision one way or another.

Main focus for USC

Fit, feel, and the plan within the program to develop and compete on the field will always be the main factors when making a decision. To this point, that is what USC has done a good job of presenting to prospects, and as long as that element remains, the Trojan success on the trail will continue.

As Bowden stated:

"I don’t care where the ranking finishes. If we finish 15th, that’s fine. We are going to have the right kids."

The rankings can fluctuate. Staying interested and continuing to be involved in a player's life early on is something that remains. This is more of a reason as to why USC is seeing an uptick in recruiting success. They are spending their time on those they are excited to see come to campus.