Reminiscing On Past Signing Days

[Chaotic_zx 1,044]

1 hour ago, bigbird said:

When was the last time we were in it this late for major recruits?

This is what makes recruiting fun and addictive 

Losing them in shady ways is what turned me off of it. 

[bigbird 60,566]

10 minutes ago, Chaotic_zx said:

Losing them in shady ways is what turned me off of it. 

Yeah, the string of Cyrus, Calloway, Yeldon, Evans, Foster, Pickens et.al really stung. 

[Chaotic_zx 1,044]

1 minute ago, bigbird said:

Yeah, the string of Cyrus, Calloway, Yeldon, Evans, Foster, Pickens et.al really stung. 

Kwon Alexander also. It pissed me off because I was told by a Oxford coach that he was going to Auburn. 

[bigbird 60,566]

1 minute ago, Chaotic_zx said:

Kwon Alexander also. It pissed me off because I was told by a Oxford coach that he was going to Auburn. 

He was, then it became anywhere but Auburn. 

[tinman1 487]

5 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Yeah, the string of Cyrus, Calloway, Yeldon, Evans, Foster, Pickens et.al really stung. 

My biggest was Cornelius Bennett.  On the Tuesday night before Wednesday signing day, he told his high school coach he was signing with Auburn and Pat Dye.  Next morning at school he was seen getting out of a big Ford car that had 2 older white men in the car also.  You know the rest of the story.

[Chaotic_zx 1,044]

13 minutes ago, bigbird said:

He was, then it became anywhere but Auburn. 

The reason for anywhere but Auburn was what turned me off. Kids change their minds all the time. I never found out why it happened but I suspect to this day it was nefarious. 

I was also told by that same Oxford coach who was pissed off about it that Ruben Foster was set to play for Oxford but Auburn High came in with an offer. Thus he went there for high school. It is why I have no doubt that bama got him with money.

Edited December 15, 2023 by Chaotic_zx

[bigbird 60,566]

3 minutes ago, Chaotic_zx said:

The reason for anywhere but Auburn was what turned me off. Kids change their minds all the time. I never found out why it happened but I suspect to this day it was nefarious. 

The REC pushed the anywhere but AU 

[LPTiger 5,167]

17 hours ago, AUGoo said:

Still don't understand why he wasn't fired for cause.

Here is my take: (1) reputational risk -- from an outsider's view, i.e. a potential new coach and his agent, Auburn has a quick trigger -- we fired Chizik after winning a NC, Gus after some success and Tater after 2 years.   Having a quick trigger is not as bad as a look as long as you pay the buyout.  If you get a reputation of quick trigger and no buyout, it is hard to attract future coaches. (2) Legal risk -- for cause provisions are usually written to very much favor the coach i.e. the conduct must be egregious -- not fan egregious but jury of your peers egregious. -- and would likely require AU to pay Tater's legal fees if he won.  The fact we launched an investigation with outside counsel 9 months before he was term'd could give the appearance that we were looking for a reason and thus lacked clean hands 9 months later.   (3) Dumbassery -- I don't know another way to put it but the outside counsel investigation becoming public, particularly the alleged affair parts, made us look like a bunch of dumbasses or worse an institution willing to stoop to whatever levels necessary to solve a problem.    Public litigation over his contract dragging on for years risked more damage to our brand than simply paying him $15MM. 

[bigbird 60,566]

9 minutes ago, LPTiger said:

Here is my take: (1) reputational risk -- from an outsider's view, i.e. a potential new coach and his agent, Auburn has a quick trigger -- we fired Chizik after winning a NC, Gus after some success and Tater after 2 years.   Having a quick trigger is not as bad as a look as long as you pay the buyout.  If you get a reputation of quick trigger and no buyout, it is hard to attract future coaches. (2) Legal risk -- for cause provisions are usually written to very much favor the coach i.e. the conduct must be egregious -- not fan egregious but jury of your peers egregious. -- and would likely require AU to pay Tater's legal fees if he won.  The fact we launched an investigation with outside counsel 9 months before he was term'd could give the appearance that we were looking for a reason and thus lacked clean hands 9 months later.   (3) Dumbassery -- I don't know another way to put it but the outside counsel investigation becoming public, particularly the alleged affair parts, made us look like a bunch of dumbasses or worse an institution willing to stoop to whatever levels necessary to solve a problem.    Public litigation over his contract dragging on for years risked more damage to our brand than simply paying him $15MM. 

He was told after February to do the absolute bare minimum as to not get fired for cause and collect the buyout. He did exactly that.  

[Viper 3,132]

10 hours ago, Cardin Drake said:

Freeze is the best recruiter Auburn has ever had.

He’s certainly the best offensive recruiter we’ve had since Troop & Lupe. 

[au1985 55]

42 minutes ago, tinman1 said:

My biggest was Cornelius Bennett.  On the Tuesday night before Wednesday signing day, he told his high school coach he was signing with Auburn and Pat Dye.  Next morning at school he was seen getting out of a big Ford car that had 2 older white men in the car also.  You know the rest of the story.

Pat Dye spoke to our fraternity shortly after singing day that year.  He flat out said "Cornelius was bought by Alabama".  "He was committed to Auburn."  

[Viper 3,132]

Wasn’t there an AU legacy kid that signed with Clemson?

[yngwie1995 2,229]

21 minutes ago, Viper said:

Wasn’t there an AU legacy kid that signed with Clemson?

It wasn't Spencer Region was it? He was one that we took from bama, then he went to Clemson. Although, I don't think he had any Auburn ties.

Edited December 15, 2023 by yngwie1995

[Viper 3,132]

1 minute ago, yngwie1995 said:

It wasn't Spencer Region was it? He was one that we took from bama, then he went to Clemson. 

Nope. That guy was a clown. 

Was an AU legacy. Maybe he went to South Carolina?

Edited December 15, 2023 by Viper

[Viper 3,132]

12 minutes ago, Viper said:

Was an AU legacy. Maybe he went to South Carolina?

Maybe I’m thinking of Stephen Davis Jr. He transferred from AU to SC after one season. 

[aucanucktiger 1,794]

13 hours ago, Cardin Drake said:

Freeze is the best recruiter Auburn has ever had. And he may be the best recruiter in the country period. His focus on recruiting is constant and amazing.  He actually enjoys it, unlike most coaches.  I don't think it's a big deal if you are 8th or 7th or 2nd or whatever, but consistent top ten finishes is what puts you in title contention. We appear to have found the guy who can do that.  Right now, he is landing big name recruits by selling smoke and mirrors but they see that the tide is shifting. It's really quite remarkable. 

Good points. History will divide college football recruiting into two phases: pre & post NIL. IMHO Dye was our best pre NIL, Bear Bryant type, recruiter. Mario Cristobal is an example of an awesome pre NIL recruiter struggling with the recruitng-by -committee that is NIL. Everybody's still figuring it out a bit but Freeze was a ore NIL star that seems to have made he transition from silent films to talkies.😉

Edited December 15, 2023 by aucanucktiger

[aucanucktiger 1,794]

Tubberville was a master at scaring the crap out of me then pulling together decent classes the week before signing day. He'd be out hunting early February and Al.com would be laughing, then we'd find out Tubbs had been hunting with recruits or their family member.

[toddc 13,194]

4 hours ago, au1985 said:

Pat Dye spoke to our fraternity shortly after singing day that year.  He flat out said "Cornelius was bought by Alabama".  "He was committed to Auburn."  

When is this singing day you speak of? I would love to see the players singing for their scholarship offers. 😝 I hate it when my phone thinks it knows what I want to say better than myself.

Edited December 15, 2023 by toddc

[AUwent 3,754]

Didn't we mainly lose RF because we fired Troop and Lupe?

Edited December 15, 2023 by AUwent

[tinman1 487]

2 minutes ago, AUwent said:

Didn't we mainly lose RF because we fired Troop and Lupe?

Trooper, not Luper.  Trooper and Foster were almost like father and son in their relationship.

[AUwent 3,754]

4 minutes ago, tinman1 said:

Trooper, not Luper.  Trooper and Foster were almost like father and son in their relationship.

That's how I remembered it.

"You may think [recruit X] is a lock but just remember that a guy who got an Auburn tattoo signed with Bama!"

[Chaotic_zx 1,044]

21 minutes ago, tinman1 said:

Trooper, not Luper.  Trooper and Foster were almost like father and son in their relationship.

That is the prevailing thought. I didn't subscribe to it. I've always felt(and may be wrong) it was bama paying. 

[bigbird 60,566]

That's why you will see a lot of staff changes occur after ESD

[aujohnson 299]

6 hours ago, bigbird said:

He was told after February to do the absolute bare minimum as to not get fired for cause and collect the buyout. He did exactly that.  

Told that by his agent?

Either way do your bare minimum is pretty low character stuff. 

[Viper 3,132]

3 hours ago, aucanucktiger said:

IMHO Dye was our best pre NIL, Bear Bryant type, recruiter.

And as I said in another thread, Dye came in when bahr was retiring, making it an even bigger shift in recruiting momentum.

If bahr had been young enough and healthy enough to continue an extra 10 years, I don’t believe Dye would have had the superb recruiting success he ended up with.

The same (or similar) effect can be predicted for the Freeze intro / Saban outro.