2022 Big Ten football recruiting budgets
Michigan: $2,240,064
Rutgers: $1,609,032
Penn State: $1,486,521
Maryland: $1,380,974
Ohio State: $1,292,799
Illinois: $1,157,460
Minnesota: $1,127,389
Nebraska: $1,020,050
Michigan State: $955,303
Purdue: $878,651
Wisconsin: $857,490
Indiana: $826,713
Iowa: $577,589
Average annual recruiting budget, 2017-22
Michigan: $1,353,431
Penn State: $1,240,848
Nebraska: $937,279
Minnesota: $904,139
Rutgers: $879,494
Ohio State: $845,113
Illinois: $749,850
Michigan State: $721,879
Maryland: $683,200
Indiana: $606,147
Purdue: $602,360
Iowa: $459,128
Wisconsin: $392,724
Big Ten and national recruiting rankings, Class of 2023
Ohio State (5th nationally)
Penn State (13th)
Michigan (17th)
Michigan State (23rd)
Nebraska (24th)
Maryland (36th)
Iowa (40th)
Illinois (43rd)
Minnesota (44th)
Northwestern (46th)
Rutgers (57th)
Wisconsin (58th)
Purdue (67th)
Indiana (72nd)
Iowa: The ultimate bang for your buck
There’s a line from The Music Man that feels pertinent to Iowa’s recruiting budget. From the song “Iowa Stubborn”:
What the heck, you’re welcome
Join us at the picnic
You can have your fill of all the food you bring yourself
Some 65 years after that was written, the nature of Iowa hasn’t changed much. Nice place. Just don’t expect anybody to splurge to impress you.
The Hawkeyes spent 12th of the 13 available schools in 2022, and are dead last in the category over the 5-year average. No word on whether recruits had to pack their own sack lunches.
Yet Kirk Ferentz still turned that into the Big Ten’s No. 7 signing class in 2023. And Iowa has never finished worse than 8-5 in the past 5 years. You can always count on the Hawkeyes doing more with less.
Though you can’t help but wonder what might happen if Iowa ever tried doing more with more.