Photo by Frank Couch
A stretch Hummer with Auburn football coaches inside pulls in front of Hoover High School.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Bobby Parrish has seen plenty of famous college football coaches stroll largely unnoticed onto Williamson High School’s campus over the years.
Seven big guys piling out of a stretch limousine is hard to ignore, though. Auburn has had seven assistants carpooling around to a few dozen state high schools this week to evaluate prospects and get acquainted with prep coaches.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” said Parrish, head coach at the Mobile school. “Nick Saban, Tommy Tuberville and Bobby Bowden have come here.
“They’ve never come in grand fashion like those guys did the other day. If you come up in a limo like that, it was definitely eye-catching.”
It’s an attention-getting move by coach Gene Chizik and his staff. The Tigers have been overshadowed on the recruiting trail lately with Alabama’s Saban pulling in the top-rated classes nationally the past two years.
Instead of having seven individual coaches — the maximum allowed by the NCAA out on recruiting trips at one time in the spring — crisscross the state and visit a couple of hundred schools, Chizik is sending them en masse to 35-40 hot spots.
“We want to saturate the state of Alabama,” Chizik said. “We want it to be every time you turn a corner, there’s an Auburn coach. We really want to show the significance and the importance that we feel about this state and about having players from the state of Alabama. We want to go around the state and kind of show up in force with our guys.”
In force, and in style. A Hummer limo pulling into a school parking lot tends to create some buzz. And when it comes to in-state recruiting, the Tigers could have used some of that in the past few years.
Auburn hasn’t been able to land many of the most coveted recruits from inside state lines the past two years. Saban & Co. snared the top five state recruits in 2008, including receiver Julio Jones, according to Rivals.com.
The Tide signed the top seven in-state prospects this year.
Chizik recalls the amount of talent from Alabama and neighboring Georgia on the 2004 Auburn team that went 13-0 when he was defensive coordinator, including Carnell Williams, Ronnie Brown, Carlos Rogers and Marcus McNeill.
“In the years that I was here and we were really good, we had a lot of great Alabama players on our football team,” Chizik said. “That goes back to us realizing and understanding the importance of having Alabama kids here on our roster and recruiting the best kids in this state first before we move on to the other states.
“It’s really, really big for us to be able to recruit this state very, very hard. The high school coaches and the players in this state are very, very important to us. That’s the message we’re sending.”
Colleges coaches are allowed to have up to seven coaches on the road at one time during the spring evaluation period from April 15-May 31. They aren’t allowed to have extensive contact with a prospect, and head coaches aren’t allowed on campus at all during that period under the so-called “Saban Rule.”
Auburn is hoping a fancy ride and a group visit create a bit of an edge over the competition.
“The limo didn’t have nearly the effect of seven coaches on your campus at one time,” said Davidson coach Fred Riley, whose campus received a visit early in the week. “Their mode of transportation, I think, was fun for the media and fun for Internet bloggers. But as far as the kids were concerned, it was having seven coaches on your campus all at one time.
“That certainly carried some impact.”
Auburn recruiting coordinator Curtis Luper and receivers coach Trooper Taylor approached Chizik with the idea. It meant visiting a few dozen schools as a group this week instead of the normal 200-plus individually.
Luper said the feedback has “been absolutely phenomenal.”
“At a couple of schools, we pulled up and the mayor’s there, city councilmen, superintendents, principals, coaches, media,” Luper said. “It’s been a really, really good experience for us. More than we would have imagined.”
The limos do have some practical purpose in addition to the flash since the average SUV won’t allow enough legroom for seven coaches.
“We’re a first-class organization and we’re going to do things first-class,” Luper said. “The limousine gets the headlines. The true headline is we’re sending seven coaches and saturating high schools in the state of Alabama with seven coaches.”
The message, he said: “We’re here to stay.”
Tennessee's signing class for 2012
Tennessee defeats Georgia 3-2 in…
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 51
Ironcity writes:
Its the toot your own horn period of recruiting. I look forward to getting real news again in the summer
KJVol writes:
Chizik's war chickens must be gettin' desperate to pile into a stretch Hummer to visit recruits.
Waitaminit, we might want to try that too, JoJo!
vol4gzus writes:
Hey mr. limousine driver......Old Grand Funk Railroad song. ON TOPIC, Auburn trying to catch old saint(ain't) NICK down bammer way any way he can. Did he let Trooper drive?
buzz29 writes:
Well, at least they're trying to look the part........
andy112382#209793 writes:
Alright, any guesses on how long Chizik will be at Auburn?
Keep in mind his record at Iowa St. 5-19
(And just a disclaimer to the gator fans who like to be Vol wannabes and hang out on here, that is not comparable to Lane Kiffins record given that was NFL (and AL Davis infested) versus Big 12, so shut up before you even begin)
SignalMtnVol writes:
Hey, more power to 'em. Most of the kids playing ball want to live that lifestyle. Big car, big house, tons of women waiting at their beck and call. I haven't known a 16 - 17 year old young man that didn't. When I was that age, I wanted the little red sports car (Porsche 925 Carrera, too be exact), and the hot Motley Crue video women to go in it. Now it's a 4Runner and Forester, because they have room for the kids LOL!
CrankE writes:
Coach: Someday (insert recruit's name here), all this could be yours. In the hallowed tradition of honest student athletes before you who happened to play football and not lacrosse, you too could be rolling in a stretcH2.
Recruit: But Coach S already offered me two hundred thou..Hold on a second, It's Urban Meyer on the cell.
Yah, ... Yeah, I can hear you coach. Doing great. Nick's offering $200k, Aubie's offering a limo service to all student athlete. What you got?
Yeah coach, I'm in the limo right now. Sorry, you broke up right there, can you say it again?
SignalMtnVol writes:
935, even. geez.
Hey Andy, I agree with the Iowa St comment to a point. They haven't won anything since Troy Davis was there, though, so it's kind of hard to make that call. Chizik was a fine DC at Auburn and Texas, though.
CrankE writes:
I saw Alabama's stretch limo the other day. It was still on cinder blocks, but I think Bear Bryant might have leaned on it once.
CrankE writes:
Or maybe it said, "Jim Clayton" on the side and had little wheels in the middle. Sorry for the confusion.
TommyJack writes:
Limos. Very cheesy.
andy112382#209793 writes:
FYI - That made no sense.
NashvillePreds writes:
You are truly an idiot.
The athletic budget was overstated by less than $2 mil.
There are discrepancies when a university is raising over $1 BILLION in cash.
I understand that you couldn't possibly comprehend this figure.
You're a want-to-be Vol, and cheer for a school that could never match that figure.
Go back to the swamp.
yeavols#228407 writes:
Can you imagine what Florida and Alabama and everyone else would be saying if Kiffin was doing this? It would be all over ESPN, every BLOG in the country, and posted in every household in Gainesville. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea..go ahead KIFF..make it happen..
bobbarbilly writes:
An Auburn stretch limo is just a modified old school bus with Tony the Tiger cereal boxes duct-taped on the side.
IBleedOrange444 writes:
It has been 35 minutes since the Gayters' last grammatical error. gatorz4, you are a tool. Win or lose, that is something we can never take away from you... punk-azz!
Voluvr writes:
This is akin to putting lipstick on a pig.
Voluvr writes:
Who's the first school to get NCAA sanctions besides Alabama this year? The one in the limo.
Voluvr writes:
Now, I could see this stunt working if all the coaches got out of the limo shirtless.
Seriouslyorange writes:
The limo had the coaches wives along also, you could tell by the 'backer juice down besides the windows on both sides.
golfballs03 writes:
A little late on this story
FWBVol writes:
I was watching Around the Horn on ESPN on Wednesday and they talked about it for about 30 seconds. The talking heads on the show didn't seem to think it was too big of a deal. But I think you are correct, if Lane had his UT staff pull up in a Hummer Limo it would be on every discussion board in the country.
golfballs03 writes:
How does a limousine convey the message "We're here to stay?"
101st_AIRBORNE_VOL (Inactive) writes:
It's been 23 minutes since Teblow touched a little boy's naughty place.
It's been been 3 hours since I took a dump that looked like lil-Urbie.
It's been 175 years since anyone here gave a darn about the Gators.
It's been lord knows how long since a drunk hick clapped his hands together like a retarded walrus at a UF football game and the other mongoloids thought it had something to do with an alligator opening and closing it's mouth, thus, the Gator chomp was born.
It's been...well, okay, I forgot. They've never gone undefeated in a season that lasted more than 7 games.
It's been fun!
andy112382#209793 writes:
gatorz4 = 40 yrs old, Livin' in his parents doublewide in a Florida swamp?
andy112382#209793 writes:
Get over it, man. First stop posting the same stuff over and over, second - the guy has never lost a game in high school and has only thrown 11 picks in 648 pass attempts compared to 69 tds and rushed for another 21, and holds two state titles.
You wish the gators could have him follow after Tebow, but insetad you'll try to degrade him because you want to make yourself feel better. So chill.
andy112382#209793 writes:
Look around your home, that is called a mobile home.
Remember you live there with family....these guys:
http://forums.palmettofootballtalk.co...
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Dupree told me hot wings and bar hopping worked the best.
Not very PC, but effective.
andy112382#209793 writes:
Ok, ok, those instructions may have been too complicated for you, you want to see a gators doublewide, go here and scroll to the bottom:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgur...=4&um=1&tbnid=8LzAUuKIERLCdM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=111&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgator%2Bmullet%2Bfan%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1
tennezz writes:
Florida has got one just like it, only its got training wheels so erbie can drive it!
andy112382#209793 writes:
Well, it is to save money in these tough times....like the other thing they are doing to save a buck is sharing a single room at the holiday inn among the seven of them. The least said about that, the better.
dvols writes:
lane just rolls up on some 24's
i'm just sayin
Coach_Joe writes:
Andy,
Man that was freakin' hilarious! I was not expecting to see that. I almost threw up. If I hadn't laughed so hard I probably would have.
the10sevol writes:
War pimp eagles, too funny...
Tough to sell the message "we're here to stay" while riding in a hummer, though. Guess they couldn't fit in a Prius.
On a different front, seriously, how much of a cheater are you if there's a recruiting rule named after you? The "Saban Rule"? Classic.
Anybody know what the "Meyer Rule" is? I'm sure there is one...
Voluvr writes:
gatorz4 thank you for your continued show of respect and fear by your presence in here.
One thing for sure. Two years from now, the last thing we will be worrying about after our NC season is 5-7 Florida and their new coach.
Voluvr writes:
This thing rings of that movie, Varsity Blues.
old_number1 writes:
So did they land any recruits? And if so, are any of them worth stealing? [like we did with Fla]? LOL
old_number1 writes:
sorry, but I had to comment. That is too f**king hilarious!!!
MiserableFloridaVol writes:
Limo's aren't going to help this staff. Auburn is in trouble!
pms151 writes:
I can see this working in Memphis.
old_number1 writes:
I think the loper is counting the days 'til the Fla game. He must be wanting to come out and play.
SFOrange writes:
Hysterical redneck excess pimpmobile.
If UT rolls a piece of ship out like that--its a sure sign of the apocalypse for our program.
Voluvr writes:
Urban Meyer = Notre Dame's coach in 2010.
Voluvr writes:
This gimmick was brought on by Lane Kiffin. Period. Face it: Kiffin is recruiting with the power equivalent of two teams. Lance Thompson owns south Alabama and Alabama is far ahead of them. They have to do something or they risk being the next Vanderbilt of the West.
This is a result of the pressure they feel. Unfortunately, it will only work with players that wear grills. Limos don't get thugs qualified.
stormblast writes:
This is shocking. The name "Coach Chizik" alone should strike fear into other coaches. Auburn is really missing a sure bet by using the limo...just not the same.
andy112382#209793 writes:
Nice. But you know gator fans will be in denial about that until long after the Urban Cryer has jetted up north for notre dame.
the10sevol writes:
"Vanderbilt of the West". Classic!
illinoisvolfan writes:
Last I heard, Urban has been doing his recruiting from a police car. I guess he feels the need to show recruits what to expect when they get to Gainesville. And who says he doesn't care about his players...
Colliervol writes:
Doesn't have spinners and low rider tires. Not to mention the diamond in the back window and a human hair roof.
panties4tebow writes:
What cryer meyer should be talking about and trying to explain is why his players keep getting arrested. There have been over 25 arrests in less than 3 years at the University of Felons under the watch of the lying, corrupt and unethical meyer. Jeremy Foley, who is also corrupt should force meyer to do something before the N.C.A.A. drops the hammer with the DEATH PENALTY which could very well lead to the total demise of the entire athletic department.
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