April 15 was the beginning of the spring evaluation period in college football, giving coaches until the end of May to evaluate the upcoming high school seniors.
However, this off-season, for the first time ever, head coaches will be staying on campus and away from the potential recruits.
This is due to a new rule passed by the NCAA and originally brought to light by coaches of the SEC.
The new rule states that head coach can no longer go evaluate recruits on the road during the spring. The idea is to prevent “bump-ins” between coaches and recruits when the coaches are out talking to the high school coaches.
Not only can coaches no longer hit the road, but they are now restricted to only one phone call to prospects during this time period and only one evaluation of athletic ability.
The rule also prevents coaches from checking up on the player’s character and personality with teachers, coaches, and counselors, something that each coach is roasted about when a player is arrested or gets suspended.
This rule is believed to have been put in place to prevent two SEC coaches, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer, who have both had No. 1 recruiting class in the past, from “gaining an advantage” on the recruiting trail. Both coaches used to travel furiously during the spring to go to as many schools as possible to evaluate as many kids as possible.
The rule rewards coaches who did not want to put forth the effort to get recruits and hurts those who put in all the time and effort to gain recruits.
There is no definite answer as to whether or not coaches gained an advantage through this aspect of recruiting, but many coaches are not happy about this new rule.
“I don’t want to sound like a jerk,” USC head coach Pete Carroll said, “but other coaches…are just lazy."
Nick Saban wasn’t as brief as Carroll this morning when asked about how the rule will affect him this off-season.
“I think it’s ridiculous that we’re doing what we’re doing,” Saban said. “When you're talking about developing relationships and knowing players and meeting guidance counselors and talking to principals and all those kind of things, I think we're put ourselves at a tremendous disadvantage in terms of evaluation.
“I think we’ve really limited ourselves by what we’ve done, and I totally disagree with it.”
There is no doubt that Saban, Meyer, and Carroll will have to change their recruiting methods.
But the other coaches will now reap the benefits of being able to stay at home like they always have in the past and not worry about losing any ground.
Rest assured, though, the above three will still continue their dominance on the road, and opposing coaches will find the next excuse to pursue and get the NCAA make a rule against it.
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2 months ago
Good explanation of the Saban Rule. It's sort of a reverse work ethic, where it rewards laziness as opposed to determination. Basically, the NCAA instituted it to cut down the effect that high-spirited coaches like Pete Carroll would have in other coaches' backyards. I believe it was initiated by coaches in the SEC to prevent other coaches from horning in on their territories.
Last year on signing day, Carroll nabbed Joe Mc Knight out of Louisianna and Broderick Green out of Little Rock. This year, Carroll got Nick Perry out of Michigan and T. J. Bryant out of Florida. Both could see a lot of PT their first year if not winning starting jobs outright.
But what these other coaches don't realize is "Where there's a will, there's a way." Saban, Meyer, and Carroll will somehow find ways to evade the new rule.
from 2 months ago
Yea, the SEC coaches did try, and succeeded, to get this rule passed. I know Saban is finding ways around the rule already and he is just going further north to go after recruits.
from 2 months ago
Saban has already found a way aroung it by having cameras recording practices and meetings, following Saban and his staff everywhere. They will be filming A-Day activities today on campus, and Saban and three players - Rashad Johnson, Antoine Caldwell and John Parker Wilson - will wear microphones during the game.
2 months ago
Good stuff, Nic. Next thing you know they are going to eliminate any "recruiting" at all and tell these high school kids to just pick a team.
All this is going to do is create shallow relationships, false hope, and either player transfers or bolting to the NFL just to get away from teams they really didn't want to attend, all because the NCAA is scared that a select group of school will dominate.
NCAA really knows how to destroy things that are successful!!
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