I would bet that you lost this person much earlier in the process than you imagine. If your candidate backed out late, they had thoughts early. Recruiting exceptional team members is a discipline that recruiters and hiring teams struggle with. A recruiter is trained to ascertain what the candidate's motivations are to leave their current employer and what their buying points are. For example: is the person bored with the work, does the person hate their boss, does the person feel like they would be happier if their company sent them to the conference their friends go to or did they have to work two weekends in a row to make up for the lost time and have to pay out of pocket, or is it just about money or commute frustrations. These things are the tip of the iceberg. If you assume that the dialogue is the only factor then you are missing critical details. If someone wants to work on your team, for your company, etc. they will make their move to your team.

Even if you get it all right, people are people and they make decisions that are emotional or rational to them based on where they are at any given moment. You are right on the money when you talk about needing to spend an hour a day. If they are important then you should consider spending more than an hour in one day early in the week and then plan to do some follow-on time before Friday rolls around.

Duncan's comments suggest that someone has an inner control freak tendency that isn't healthy. The solution is easy: hire a decent recruiter or teach them to be one. If neither of those options is possible then you simply need to learn how to network. If I had an engineer or other employee on my team who was taking the time to read every single resume that arrived to check the work of the recruiter then I would have serious questions about their ability to focus on their own work. You can't do the work for others on your team. Teach your recruiter, don't assume they are going to be as savvy as you without some mentoring in your area.