I would also point out that he recruited those players for the old CUSA and not the current league we are in. Conference affiliation matters in terms of the type of players you attract.
I believe that the effect of our conference on recruiting is overstated by many fans.
Sure, playing in a large conference, against well known, quality opponents, is a draw. For many recruits it might be a high priority factor in making a decision. There are, however, multiple factors that each recruit considers, and there are also several schools who have had tremendous success despite the fact that they don't belong in a major conference.
Since we're talking about CUSA, let's take a quick look at our conference brother MTSU. They have an excellent roster, are currently ranked in the top 25, and have won games in each of the past two NCAA Tournaments. Somehow they have been able to recruit much better than we have, despite belonging to the same conference. And it's not only MTSU. La Tech, ODU, and WKU consistently out recruit the Miners, despite the fact that we have the biggest budget for our coaches, the biggest recruiting budget, the best facilities, and the best fan support in the conference. To blame our lack of recruiting success on the conference is ridiculous.
Staying close to home, let's look at rivals a little ways down I-10. We share the same geographic region, have the much bigger city, and the local airport is in our town, not theirs. Oh, and what conference do they play in again? Yet they have killed us in recruiting for years now, as their domination of us on the basketball court makes abundantly clear.
There are many more examples that I can point out, but let's go for one more. Does anyone else here remember when Gonzaga was only known as the answer to a trivia question? The question: where did John Stockton go to college? The answer of Gonzaga was always a surprise, as no one could believe that an NBA great came from such a small program that no one had ever heard of. In fact, prior to 1999, they had only made the NCAA Tournament one time in their history. Despite playing in a conference that no one thought twice about at the time, they were able to put together some nice recruiting classes starting in the late 90s, classes that allowed them to make and have success in the NCAA Tournament. They now have made the NCAA Tournament every year since 99, have made the Sweet 16 eight times in that span, the Elite 8 three times, and played for the championship last year. They are one of the absolute best programs in college basketball. But it wasn't that long ago that they were a little school that no one had ever heard of in a crappy conference that no one cared about.
Like I said above, the conference you play in is a factor that a recruit considers when making a decision. But it's not the only factor. Relationships with the coaching staff, impressions of the school, impressions of the city in which it's located, the quality of the facilities, expected playing time, perceived ability to win, and proximity to home are just some of the other factors that a recruit has to consider when making a decision. And the weights given to each of these factors is different for each recruit.
Tony Barbee is a key member of the most elite recruiting staff I have ever seen in college basketball. He has recruited to this school and this city before. I can understand someone telling me that they have reservations towards Barbee because they found him aloof, or because they didn't like his perceived attitude towards El Paso, or because he appeared to make it so obvious that UTEP was just a stepping stone, instead of pretending, as each of this post Haskins predecessors did, that he was happy to be here. What I can't understand is an assumption that he wouldn't be able to recruit to UTEP again. He would not have any problems doing so.