Big Time SEC Recruiters Blame Randy Edsall for Auburn Tiger Prowl Rule

The plot has thickened in what has become known as the Tiger Prowl rule in college football.

On May 5, the Jox radio station and the Paul Finebaum show, the most often used venue of the Alabama Crimson Spin Machine, laid responsibility for the rule squarely at the feet of Randy Edsall and the University of Connecticut.  

This comes after another program on Jox laid initial blame on the University of Tennessee the Thursday and Friday before. It is quite obvious that one of them is certainly wrong, if not both.

In the same show they spun the “conspiracy” theory that the relationship between Nick Saban and Mark Emmert had nothing to do with the rule. They have yet to come out and declare that neither Nick Saban nor the University of Alabama had anything to do with the development of this rule.

They did have an audio comment by Saban that explained why he did not agree with the premise of Tiger Prowl. He also stated that the University of Alabama did not choose to use these tactics as they had prior knowledge of the ploy being banned on April 28^th .

The original intent of Tiger Prowl was to bring the Auburn name and brand into the forefront of college sports. This latest twist in the saga is bound to create more national exposure for the Auburn program. The majority of fans seem to think it was ridiculous for the NCAA to become involved in this at all.

What is blatantly obvious is the Auburn tactic was a well planned and highly effective tool that shook the foundation of big time college football recruiting. It was a simple, yet creative tactic.

Auburn would get an appointment to evaluate an athlete at a school. They would show up decked out in a dressed up limo with four or six coaches.  These coaches would then go into the school and review records and speak to guidance counselors, administrators and coaches.

Contact with the athlete is forbidden with the exception of a polite greeting. Therefore, we can assume the NCAA thought that grown school administrators were not capable of protecting themselves from the influence of four or six coaches as opposed to two.

While it has been assumed that this rule kills Tiger Prowl, the rule does not explicitly ban the use of limos and matching shirts.

In fact the only thing the rule prohibits is the number of coaches visiting a school during one calendar day. Even though the explanation by Mr. Mark Emmert did specifically mention the use of busses and limos, the rule does nothing to limit the use of these items.

Many sports news venues have speculated that the rule will only accelerate the spread of Tiger Prowl tactics. They seem to think that instead of six coaches showing up at one school, in a stretched limo and matching shirts, it could mean three stretched limos showing up at three schools, two coaches at each one, with matched shirts.

It is seriously doubtful that Coach Randy Edsall and the University of Connecticut cared about buses or limos that grabbed headlines in Mark Emmert’s statement. One can assume what they want about the influence of Emmert's friendship with Saban on the operations of the NCAA.

One thing is certain in all of this, Auburn is the big winner.

The more the NCAA and other major Universities try to deflect responsibility for this rule in other directions, the more national attention Auburn gets. The majority of the young athletes in the country look upon such rules by the NCAA negatively. This is sure to make playing for Auburn an attractive choice.

It is also bound to hurt all major recruiting powers that do not come out and disassociate themselves and their university from responsibility for collusion in such an asinine ruling.

What will be next out of the NCAA? The next big issue could be those matching shirts. They seem to be such a frivolous way of drawing attention to the coach instead of the evaluation process.They might see fit to make a rule requiring those two coaches to wear two different colored shirts.

Once this is tackled, next up is disallowing matching socks.

 For those that wish to listen to the Alabama spin machine that is the Paul Finebaum show,The Blame Lies Here .