Everyone, it seems, has an opinion on looming deregulation in recruiting. Georgia A.D. Greg McGarity, Georgia basketball coach Mark Fox and Tennessee football coach Butch Jones have all come out in recent days voicing concern on that proposals that would lift restrictions on communicating with recruits and allow schools to hire as many people to help with on-campus recruiting as they like.
And then there’s the 800-pound gorilla in the room – Alabama. South Carolina recruiting coordinator Steve Spurrier, Jr. specifically mentioned the Crimson Tide when asked about recruiting changes earlier this month. Nick Saban’s decision to bring in Kevin Steele as director of player personnel and bring in an army of experienced heavyweight recruiters has caught the attention of competitors – in and out of the conference.
Texas coach Mack Brown is the latest to take note. The Longhorns football coach said Thursday he’ll create a director of player personnel that will oversee recruiting. Like Spurrier, Jr., he specifically mentioned one SEC team in his decision-making process.
“Alabama is ahead of all of us with the number of personnel they’ve hired, and that’s something everybody’s looking very closely at…
“I can’t blame Alabama for doing what they need to do to be successful. The thing you’ve got to look at, if you’re looking at college football, is can everybody do that? And is that fair? It’s fair for Alabama because they’ve made it work for them. I would not be critical of them at all.”
Brown adds he expects that analyst/quality control positions will eventually be restricted by the NCAA. ” I don’t think we’ll have unlimited numbers this time next year.”
