After spending the better part of the last decade as college football's punching bag, the Big Ten broke out in 2016 and established itself as the best conference in the country—putting four teams in the Top Eight of the final playoff rankings.

Much of that directly correlates with the fantastic head coaching hires that teams around the league have made in recent years. It started in late 2011, when Ohio State brought Urban Meyer home to coach the Buckeyes. It continued when Penn State stole James Franklin away from the SEC, and Michigan made an emphatic return to prominence when it made Jim Harbaugh its head man.

But recruiting played just as important a...

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