That's a great question.
No doubt, winning is the fix-all. You win, no matter what the sport, you can get dudes.
When it comes to recruiting, sometimes I see us (especially in football) leave our roots. We are not at the level to recruit nationally, so why try? Even that, in most cases, we don't have to leave ETX.
I see an awful lot of football players from the immediate area NOT signing with SFA, but going to Texas State, North Texas, Directional School, Random Louisiana school.
Maybe it's our recruiting method,I'm not sure.
It's my opinion that we focus on too many "stat getters" from the Houston and Dallas areas that are on mediocre or bad teams, instead of the really good players from the exceptional East Texas schools that constantly win state championships or are making long playoff runs.
For example, we have ONE kid from Carthage signed in 2018. And he's a transfer from JUCO. They are the dominant power in East Texas...and we didn't get one kid?
I doubt any billboards or marketing materials helps recruiting athletes, but this I know does:
In football: Winning games and having players go pro.
In basketball: Winning games, winning championships and playing NCAA Tournament on national TV.
That's the way to get kids.
And if we still have that insane ratio of girls to guys...probably mention that.