Chizik Separates “Tiger Prowl” From Recruiting

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This time last year, Auburn coaches were getting quite a bit of publicity for their outside-the-box recruiting style inside the state of Alabama.

Gene Chizik and company hit the road in limos and stretch Hummers to evaluate area prospects.  Coaches can’t chat with players during the spring evaluation period, but they can meet with coaches, guidance counselors and the like.

Chizik and his assistants realized that while they might not be able to talk with recruits, they could be SEEN by recruits.  Thus the over-the-top nature of the limos and Hummers.  The trips were called the Tiger Prowl.

“We knew it would get a little attention.  It probably got more attention than we originally had thought.  But the bottom line is, we wanted to make a statement to the 17-year-old players in this state who are coming out next year that it’s important to us to be at their school.  We wanted to make that statement to the high school coaches in the state of Alabama.”

The plan worked brilliantly.  Probably because it was a brilliant plan.

Fans at other schools mocked the Tiger Prowl (especially those Crimson-clad fans who share the state with AU), but all would be quite happy if their coaches had thought of it first.

The results were a Top 10 signing class for Auburn in 2010 and the unexpected ability to actually hang with Nick Saban on the recruiting trail.

So what to do for an encore?

This year Auburn has painted a big bus (seen at left) with images of AU athletics and the words “Tiger Prowl.”  While coaches are visiting a town’s high schools in their Hummers, the bus zips around that town as a rolling billboard for the Tiger athletic program. 

In the evenings, when all of the high school visits are done, the Tiger Prowl turns into a caravan stop, complete with coaches from various AU teams meeting and greeting fans. 

Here’s the interesting part — Chizik tried yesterday to make it very clear that the Tiger Prowl is NOT connected to his recruiting efforts.

“Tiger Prowl has nothing to do with recruiting.  Tiger Prowl is basically a fundraising event that we do in the evenings.”  That’s the message Chizik sent in at least two separate interviews on Thursday.

So why is Chizik now saying that the two aren’t linked?  Probably because he doesn’t want the NCAA to draw a connection between recruiting visits and booster events.

Last year — shortly after the Tiger Prowl tour — Auburn hosted what it called the “Big Cat Weekend.”  Prospects visited the AU campus and — what do you know — several hundred students and fans turned out to roll Toomer’s Corner with them.

That resulted in several NCAA secondary violations and it even required assistant coach Trooper Taylor to be taken off the road for a few months.

Boosters and fans cannot be involved in a school’s recruiting efforts. 

It sounds like Chizik is trying to make it clear to everyone (NCAA investigators included) that there is no connection between the Tiger Prowl fan events and his coaches’ recruiting visits.