While Tommy Tuberville hunts, other coaches are busy recruiting. Nick Saban is chatting via web cam, and Ron Zook is on the road at coaching clinics.

So far, the NCAA sees the web cam conversations as good thing—or at least it meets the spirit of the rule change. The NCAA was quoted in the Washington Post this morning saying:

“You go back to the intent of pulling head coaches off the road — one part of that is the disruption [caused by having a famous coach in a high school] and part is the coach’s time,” said Kevin Lennon, NCAA vice president of membership services. “If you think about a Web cam and how you set that up, it is less disruptive. It is a type of phone call. It is something you can do on campus.”

Advertisement: Story continues below



Saban told the Tuscaloosa News the innovation was an answer to a new situation created by new times:

‘These are new circumstances, a new time, so we came up with a new solution,’ Saban said. ‘I enjoyed going out to see prospects.’

Saban said that when he left Michigan State to take over the program at LSU, he took advantage of the spring training rules for schools in Louisiana and visited prospects extensively.

‘I went to see the five or six best players at every position,’ he said. ‘I was like the cross-checker for our staff. I also thought that was part of what we needed to do to promote high school football and show the players that what they did was important.

‘The video-conferencing came up because it was something we’d used in Miami [with the NFL’s Dolphins].’

He explained that he used the technology to confer with doctors regarding a player’s medical condition.

Ron Zook’s coaching clinics are getting a different reaction. Apparently, one PAC-10 official views Zook’s clinics as violating the spirit of the law:

“It seems like it’s sort of a way to get around this no-evaluation rule in the spring,” said Jim Muldoon, associate commissioner for the Pacific-10 Conference. “Our rules expert here thinks if this is something that becomes common, the NCAA may interpret it as saying this is not permissible.”

The Post doesn’t quote a Big Ten official, but it would be interesting to know what rivals think of Zook’s recruiting efforts.

10 thoughts on “Saban, Zook push recruiting boundaries”

  1. Capstone-

    Do you ever get tired of mentioning Tubby duck hunting? I would think that it would be even more humiliating that Tubby is duck hunting and still spanking that arse!!! Oh, I forgot that Bammer won the recruiting battle last year. Congrats.

    By the way, do you think that Bammer will have another top 5 class next year? Do you think that Bammer will win the head to head recruiting battle with Auburn next year? Why?

    On another note, didn’t Tennessee have the #1 recruiting class per Scout in 2005? Think they will win the NC this year?

  2. Great questions. Want to write a guest column sometime?

    I like tweaking the duck hunting thing because it is a vivid image, and while not directly responsible for AU’s woeful recruiting class, it was indicative of problems within AU’s recruiting system.

    The last questions, I think deserve their own blog post. So, I’ll answer that later tonight or tomorrow. 🙂

  3. Sure, I am never at a loss for things to say:)

    Woeful class? Granted, it was nothing to write home about, but Auburn has had many classes much the same over the past 10 years. The only thing that made it LOOK worse last year was that Bammer got every top in-state prospect and Auburn missed on some guys on signing day.

    IMO, the reason so many Bammer fans constantly bring up the duck hunting trip is because it is one of the few ways they can throw a jab at Tubby. Honestly, I don’t blame Bammer fans….If a coach had beaten me 6 in a row and 7 out of 8….I would probably be looking to throw a jab too!!!

    Look forward to the future “head to head recruiting” blog.

  4. Wow Cap..it appears more aw-barn fans read your blog than any other fan base. Flattered? I didn’t think so…let’s get together and go duck hunting…I know a guy that has this place in Arkansas……..

  5. drmos, Most Aw-barn fans have a hard time reading and comprehending words as it is; especially those notorious sociology majors. Cap is doing a good deed by interacting with the Barnies and helping them piece the puzzle of the English language together. Way to be a good samaritan, Cap! You will be richly blessed in the hereafter for your good deeds! 😀

  6. Mike,

    Are you speaking precariously when saying, “If a coach had beaten me 6 in a row and 7 out of 8….I would probably be looking to throw a jab too!!!”

    Either that or you have no apparent sense whatsoever.

    Do you honestly think we throw jabs at a coach because we “fear” him. No, sir. Never will I fear a failure cleverly used a team’s weakened state to his advantage. I can’t believe you Barnies don’t have the proper common sense to realize this.

    For example: Had Ed Oregeron taken over the API football coaching job (leaving Ole Miss to do so) after Tator Tot stepped down, followed that up with a few mediocre seasons; was on the verge of losing his job and had been humiliated in two games against his cross-state rival. Then, all of a sudden, they undergo a myriad of coaching changes, NCAA sanctions, and top that off with a coach of Orgeron’s caliber (similar to being Shula to Tuberville), only without the experience and factor in he’s limited to how many players he can recruit (and being on probation drives the wish list of prospects else where), suddenly Orgeron’s setting on top of the mountain with 6* consecutive wins over Alabama and his retarted fan base is too caught up in their own, GIVEN success to see the true colors.

    Who am I speaking the facts to? In 2-3 years, Alabama will pick up the pace from where they left off in 2001. Then Tubby will be in the same boat, once again, that is unless he’s intelligent enough to realize this (which I thoroughly believe he is, hence why he flirted around with other job opportunities at the end of last season) and he runs off or retires, seeing how he’s already a legend in the crossed eyes of the Barnie faithful.

  7. I think we have lots of Auburn readers because they know they won’t get the truth from other outlets like Phillip Marshall or Charles Goldberg.

    Our motto should be Fair & Balanced…because we are Fox News to al.com’s CNN…only without the high ratings. 🙂

  8. In all honesty, I like visiting this site because it is entertaining.

    Cap writes some pretty good stuff even though it is extremely biased, which is not surprising since this is a Bammer site. Also, I understand why he constantly bashes Tubby and the Barn….if he didn’t half the yahoos on here wouldn’t read it!!!

    As for the Bammer posters on here…99% of the posts are the exact same things over and over and over regardless of the topic…Bammer will be back and Auburn fans are redneck trash!!! These are the posts that I enjoy reading the most because they show the REAL TRUTH!!!

    Cap-

    “Truthful” is not the word I would use to describe this site, but I won’t argue over small details:)

  9. 6 in a row.
    the 2004 season.
    Thats all you got.
    Other than that Auburn’s lot is 2nd place or lower in the SEC west. Big Deal….. no wonder beating Clemson was such an accomplishment.

Comments are closed.