College football is the ultimate "What have you done for me lately?" game, and not just because of the constant pressure from the boosters and the message boards. It's baked into the DNA of the sport, given that those playing it are between 18 and 22 years old, those being recruited to play are usually between 15 and 17 years old, and many in those groups aren't hyperaware of what happened before them.
Take Vince Young's iconic run to win the 2005 national championship against USC. For many players, that play might as well be the moon landing -- something they're aware was a significant event, but that they didn't see happen with their own eyes. A current 17-year-old recruit was 5 years old when that happened. What memory do you have of the national title game when you were in kindergarten?
If there's one exception to this, though, it may be Eric Crouch. The 2001 Heisman winner, Crouch was the leader of Big Red Nation the last time Nebraska was NEBRASKA.
And so when Midland University, an NAIA school in Fremont, Neb., announced Crouch as an assistant coach, it was if a statue came to life and walked in the room. When's the last time a school made such a big deal out of hiring an assistant coach?