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Assistant coach recruiting territory reassignments


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Auburn reassigns assistant coach recruiting territories

Auburn didn’t have much coaching change this offseason, but it was enough to adjust the recruiting territories. The Tigers flipped Herb Hand for J.B. Grimes, who is familiar recruiting on Auburn’s behalf. They added 10th assistant coach Marcus Woodson, who has strong ties to a few previous destinations.

Here is how Auburn plans to split up the Southeast for recruiting purposes in the 2019 class.

Offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey

  • Northwest Alabama
  • Southwest Georgia

Running backs coach Tim Horton

  • Northeast Alabama
  • Northwest Georgia
  • Cobb County (Atlanta)
  • Tampa Bay
  • Arkansas

Tight ends coach Larry Porter

  • Dekalb County (Atlanta)
  • Broward and Miami-Dade counties (South Florida)

Offensive line coach J.B. Grimes

  • South Georgia
  • Southeast Alabama
  • Tallahassee, Fla.

Wide receivers coach Kodi Burns

  • Orlando metro
  • New Orleans metro

Defensive coordinator Kevin Steele

  • Montgomery, Ala. to Mobile, Ala.
  • Florida panhandle west of Tallahassee
  • South Carolina

Defensive line coach Rodney Garner

  • Birmingham metro
  • Fulton County (Atlanta)
  • West Georgia
  • Middle Georgia

Defensive backs coach Greg Brown

  • Palm Beach County (Florida)
  • Bradenton, Fla.
  • Sarasota, Fla.

Defensive backs coach Marcus Woodson

  • Mississippi
  • Memphis, Tenn.
  • Northwest Alabama
  • Central Alabama

Linebackers coach Travis Williams

  • Gwinnett County (Atlanta)
  • Jacksonville, Fla.
  • South Carolina

 

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Steele has Mobile. It was stated somewhere, I think,  that assigning a coordinator there as opposed to a position coach is a big statement from us. 

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Leaves a big part of the US with no coverage at all....I'm hoping that we are not limiting our contact efforts to just those areas.   Our major rival(s) seem to be bringing in top talent from across the nation. 

Nobody in Texas?..  or anywhere west of the Red River?..... .or maybe Gus took my suggestion and hired an "agent" out there to make contacts on behalf of AU.

 

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34 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Leaves a big part of the US with no coverage at all....I'm hoping that we are not limiting our contact efforts to just those areas.   Our major rival(s) seem to be bringing in top talent from across the nation. 

Nobody in Texas?..  or anywhere west of the Red River?..... .or maybe Gus took my suggestion and hired an "agent" out there to make contacts on behalf of AU.

I doubt it means we're not recruiting elsewhere at all. There's probably just no point in actually assigning guys specific territories that far away. If you're "assigned", say, Dallas, then how much time do you have left for, say, Mobile? Guys can't be everywhere at once. Once we get outside our region, we're probably choosing staff on a case-by-case basis. Also, and perhaps more importantly, guys take certain areas often because they have solid relationships in those areas. It's simply not feasible to establish those relationships 1,000 miles away. 

Brand name recognition has a lot to do with certain other schools recruiting nationally. We don't have that.

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1 hour ago, McLoofus said:

Steele has Mobile. It was stated somewhere, I think,  that assigning a coordinator there as opposed to a position coach is a big statement from us. 

Yeah I saw that, just didn’t see anyone else attached to the area. Surely he has some help for such an important region. 

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54 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

I doubt it means we're not recruiting elsewhere at all. There's probably just no point in actually assigning guys specific territories that far away. If you're "assigned", say, Dallas, then how much time do you have left for, say, Mobile? Guys can't be everywhere at once. Once we get outside our region, we're probably choosing staff on a case-by-case basis. Also, and perhaps more importantly, guys take certain areas often because they have solid relationships in those areas. It's simply not feasible to establish those relationships 1,000 miles away. 

Brand name recognition has a lot to do with certain other schools recruiting nationally. We don't have that.

Our football brand name is pretty good I think...but I understand not assigning districts but hoping some of those GAs are scouring the areas for prospects and that someone is making contacts.  Like in any aspect of sales, if you don't make the calls you are  not going to make the sale. 

Thing is, not long ago we were on the forum about the need to make a mark in Texas......and was just thinking that we might actually come out and say that Texas was a recruiting target.   We have half our staff recruiting in a state with 5 or 6 guys in the Rivals top 150.  But good to see we are putting a push on south Florida.

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10 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Our football brand name is pretty good I think...but I understand not assigning districts but hoping some of those GAs are scouring the areas for prospects and that someone is making contacts.  Like in any aspect of sales, if you don't make the calls you are  not going to make the sale. 

Thing is, not long ago we were on the forum about the need to make a mark in Texas......and was just thinking that we might actually come out and say that Texas was a recruiting target.   We have half our staff recruiting in a state with 5 or 6 guys in the Rivals top 150.  But good to see we are putting a push on south Florida.

Oh, our brand name is good. But we aren't a brand name program. There are only a handful of those, and bama is at the top of the list right now. 

Upon further reflection, it is interesting that at least Houston isn't listed. Tons of Katrina transplants there in addition to all the existing talent. Maybe Texas kids really are that much more state-loyal than Florida kids, or maybe there's just too much competition for the recruits. But Houston is the same distance from Auburn as Miami.

Ugh. So much for sticking up for Gus. Get busy, jerks. 

 

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15 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Oh, our brand name is good. But we aren't a brand name program. There are only a handful of those, and bama is at the top of the list right now. 

My first reaction was "we are a brand-name", but I think when we say "brand-name" we are talking about the upper-tier, most recognizable schools, and not necessarily the most successful schools in the past 10 years. 

These are the teams that I immediately associate with being brand names, but I think there are good arguments that some of these schools are not or are no longer brand names:

Ohio State, Alabama, Texas, Michigan, Notre Dame...maybe USC?

Second tier would include teams like Oklahoma, Miami, Florida State, Penn State, maybe Florida?

Third tier would include Auburn, Clemson, LSU, Oregon...

I don't even know, because I can't make up my mind on the criteria. I wonder how a 20-year-old would answer the question. 

 

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2 hours ago, AU64 said:

Leaves a big part of the US with no coverage at all....I'm hoping that we are not limiting our contact efforts to just those areas.   Our major rival(s) seem to be bringing in top talent from across the nation. 

Nobody in Texas?..  or anywhere west of the Red River?..... .or maybe Gus took my suggestion and hired an "agent" out there to make contacts on behalf of AU.

 

they say john wayne was a great football player..............lol

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7 minutes ago, Barnacle said:

My first reaction was "we are a brand-name", but I think when we say "brand-name" we are talking about the upper-tier, most recognizable schools, and not necessarily the most successful schools in the past 10 years. 

These are the teams that I immediately associate with being brand names, but I think there are good arguments that some of these schools are not or are no longer brand names:

Ohio State, Alabama, Texas, Michigan, Notre Dame...maybe USC?

Second tier would include teams like Oklahoma, Miami, Florida State, Penn State, maybe Florida?

Third tier would include Auburn, Clemson, LSU, Oregon...

I don't even know, because I can't make up my mind on the criteria. I wonder how a 20-year-old would answer the question. 

It's a fun conversation. I actually typed and deleted that exact first tier, although I'd add Oklahoma to it. No matter the specifics, though, you stated my point better than I did.

We are not a team that a kid in California thinks of immediately along with the big national names in football. We're not going to pull a 5* QB from Hawaii. That's not LBS or envy. It's just honesty. 

That said, I really hope we don't rush the field if we beat bama in JHS in 2019 or beyond. Totally made sense in 2013. Not so much this past season IMO. That was an example of us viewing ourselves as a level below. 

 

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6 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

That said, I really hope we don't rush the field if we beat bama in JHS in 2019 or beyond. Totally made sense in 2013. Not so much this past season IMO. That was an example of us viewing ourselves as a level below. 

Yeah it was a bad look. Understand students wanting to experience something similar to 2013, but c'mon man. 

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Seems that we blundered into guys like Carlton and Braden Smith ....and maybe Stidham too.   Check our basketball, softball, baseball and soccer rosters.....players from all over the country. 

I was in international sales for about 10 years and learned that even "shi***** countries" needed textile machines and you had to go there to see the customers and sell the machinery.      I'd just like to see us fishing more actively in some other ponds....:dunno:   Especially when our closest pond is somewhat fished out.

 

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1 hour ago, Barnacle said:

My first reaction was "we are a brand-name", but I think when we say "brand-name" we are talking about the upper-tier, most recognizable schools, and not necessarily the most successful schools in the past 10 years. 

These are the teams that I immediately associate with being brand names, but I think there are good arguments that some of these schools are not or are no longer brand names:

Ohio State, Alabama, Texas, Michigan, Notre Dame...maybe USC?

Second tier would include teams like Oklahoma, Miami, Florida State, Penn State, maybe Florida?

Third tier would include Auburn, Clemson, LSU, Oregon...

I don't even know, because I can't make up my mind on the criteria. I wonder how a 20-year-old would answer the question. 

 

What is funny is that if you ask a UGA mutt fan the same question, they think of themselves as a top tier brand name football school.  They have a high opinion of themselves.

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7 minutes ago, NorthGATiger said:

What is funny is that if you ask a UGA mutt fan the same question, they think of themselves as a top tier brand name football school.  They have a high opinion of themselves.

One more reason I believe that the lesser of two evils prevailed this past season. I don't want to live in a world where they actually have something to boast about. 

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1 hour ago, McLoofus said:

That said, I really hope we don't rush the field if we beat bama in JHS in 2019 or beyond. Totally made sense in 2013. Not so much this past season IMO. That was an example of us viewing ourselves as a level below. 

I'll give it to them just because we pulled off the back-to-back beating of #1.  You're right, it shouldn't happen again.

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Just now, lionheartkc said:

I'll give it to them just because we pulled of the back-to-back beating of #1.  You're right, it shouldn't happen again.

That's fair. 

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1 hour ago, Barnacle said:

My first reaction was "we are a brand-name", but I think when we say "brand-name" we are talking about the upper-tier, most recognizable schools, and not necessarily the most successful schools in the past 10 years. 

These are the teams that I immediately associate with being brand names, but I think there are good arguments that some of these schools are not or are no longer brand names:

Ohio State, Alabama, Texas, Michigan, Notre Dame...maybe USC?

Second tier would include teams like Oklahoma, Miami, Florida State, Penn State, maybe Florida?

Third tier would include Auburn, Clemson, LSU, Oregon...

I don't even know, because I can't make up my mind on the criteria. I wonder how a 20-year-old would answer the question. 

 

I think if you ask an 18 year old recruit, Clemson has worked their way in to tier 1, Miami and LSU are barely in tier 3, Texas and Notre Dame might not even be in tier 3, and Oregon isn't even in the picture. While a lot of these kids are lifelong fans of X school, they also very much live in a "what have you done for me lately" world and tend to gravitate toward whichever name is dominating social media.  While the talking heads do their best to give credence to the old guard, they have trouble keeping their name at the forefront when they aren't doing anything of note on the field.

Auburn may not be winning championships, but at least we have 1-2 games each year that get us some seriously positive buzz, and end up close to the top of the conference.

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Just now, lionheartkc said:

I think if you ask an 18 year old recruit, Clemson has worked their way in to tier 1, Miami and LSU are barely in tier 3, Texas and Notre Dame might not even be in tier 3, and Oregon isn't even in the picture. While a lot of these kids are lifelong fans of X school, they also very much live in a "what have you done for me lately" world and tend to gravitate toward whichever name is dominating social media.  While the talking heads do their best to give credence to the old guard, they have trouble keeping their name at the forefront when they aren't doing anything of note on the field.

Auburn may not be winning championships, but at least we have 1-2 games each year that get us some seriously positive buzz, and end up close to the top of the conference.

Yeah based on recent results, I think your top tier would probably be Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Oklahoma. 

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3 minutes ago, Barnacle said:

Yeah based on recent results, I think your top tier would probably be Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Oklahoma. 

Yup, plus Penn State for the kids in the North East and maybe USC for the kids out West.

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4 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

Yup, plus Penn State for the kids in the North East and maybe USC for the kids out West.

agree....probably is still somewhat of a regional sport except for a few like  bama and Ohio State and maybe Michigan just because Harbaugh seems to find his way into the news so much.   

Get very far from the gulf coast and I'm thinking that we have as good a shot as any.....great campus and facilities and atmosphere for football....just need to get the kids and their family to campus for a visit....and we don't need to take a back seat to anyone. 

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Just now, AU64 said:

agree....probably is still somewhat of a regional sport except for a few like  bama and Ohio State and maybe Michigan just because Harbaugh seems to find his way into the news so much.   

Get very far from the gulf coast and I'm thinking that we have as good a shot as any.....great campus and facilities and atmosphere for football....just need to get the kids and their family to campus for a visit....and we don't need to take a back seat to anyone. 

Yea, if the kids haven't been a fan of the top regional school, it's anyone's ball game. If they have... well good luck.

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The way recruiting in far distant places used to work, somebody there clues AU into the fact that a good prospect is interested. If the staff is also interested, they take it from there. It's been a while, but that's how it went back when. It's really not reasonable to cover the entire nation with assigned areas. To continue the fishing analogy, there's not much sense in keeping a line in the water in places where they ain't biting.

If we could get 1/4 of our top targets in Alabama, Georgia and Florida we'd be perennial playoff participants. We're already fishing where the big fish live. I'd rather see an improved percentage of kids from those three states reeled in. Then we can leave Texas to TCU or whoever.

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