why cant auburn recruit

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

tigergrowlin:

I've heard from several guys who coach which school or at small colleges who are around the AAU stuff all the time and they have all said something about Auburn having some kind of restriction with AAU teams, tourney, etc... due to something with their agreement with UnderArmour, I find it odd if all said things about this independent of each other and it not have some truth to it.

[Weegle777 78]

If this is the case with UnderArmour, then we need to chicken kick and curbstomp UnderArmour. If it's affecting our recruiting then somebody screwed the proverbial pooch with this deal.

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

I played highschool and junior college basketball, and every AAU team I came through or against during the early 2000's was affiliated with NIKE.  I don't know if it is that UnderArmour just isn't involved as much that hurts us, or something else.  But if you look at JJ's statements it seams as if he is fine with not recruiting the AAU circuit and that worries me.

[Weegle777 78]

Being that almost every great player plays AAU ball or some form of summer league ball, he better get unfine with it. Pardon my crappy grammar.

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

I completely agree.  Even if we want to keep the self imposed ban on the Huntsville AAU area, there are so many good players in Birmingham, Atlanta, Mobile and the Panhandle that we can go after without issue.

[auclong 1]

tigergrowlin:

I've heard from several guys who coach which school or at small colleges who are around the AAU stuff all the time and they have all said something about Auburn having some kind of restriction with AAU teams, tourney, etc... due to something with their agreement with UnderArmour, I find it odd if all said things about this independent of each other and it not have some truth to it.

The UnderArmour agreement isn`t the only sticking point with the AAU teams but with other apparel and shoe folks dominating the scene it does add another layer to our problem of working with the AAU.

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

I agree that there are many other factors.  Maybe the new arena is a sign that the administration lack of support of the program won't be a problem any more.

[Mikey 16,654]

I agree that there are many other factors.  Maybe the new arena is a sign that the administration lack of support of the program won't be a problem any more.

I don't think the AAU ban reflects a lack of support by the administration. If the basketball program should fall prey to the NCAA again the problems and punishments could spill over into other sports.

I don't know all the details and I've seen nobody that does know that is willing to talk. But there's certainly more to it than what's available on message boards, even this one!

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

Didn't mean that lack of administrative support was dealing with not recruiting AAU guys in North Alabama.  I meant pushing the basketball program in general.  I live in Birmingham, and we saw billboards all around town for Auburn Football during the season, most had a general message about supporting Auburn, but they had football imagery on them.  No such boards appeared during basketball season, nor were other marketing efforts made that reached me.  Do we need to market football or basketball more?  Just a small example of the administrative support I'm talking about. 

[Mikey 16,654]

Ok, I see what you are saying. One of the big problems with Lebo was his lack of activity outside the arena, including marketing. There is tremendous room for improvement!

Hopefully the next coach will at least accept speaking engagements.

[auclong 1]

aau southeast elite,i know there is a reason but i cant recall it 

Guys, just go Google the Name Mark Komara and read the articles from CBS sports and other sites. You will get a lot better insight into why Auburn hasn`t lately and might never recruit through Komara. Since he was declared an Auburn representative once; it would be very easy and not above the NCAA to do it again. As I have stated before; the NCAA made Auburn the whipping boy over their dislike for AAU basketball and there coaches. Komara has had players at over 40 colleges on scholarship but Auburn was the only one put on probation.

[Weegle777 78]

So Komara was getting paid by Auburn boosters to steer good players to us? If that is the case then we deserved punishment, but if we were simply using a contact to get more info about an athlete, what is the big deal? What rules did we break? Because I am ignorant on what happened with this guy.

[auclong 1]

So Komara was getting paid by Auburn boosters to steer good players to us? If that is the case then we deserved punishment, but if we were simply using a contact to get more info about an athlete, what is the big deal? What rules did we break? Because I am ignorant on what happened with this guy.

The NCAA dropped anything about payments. The only thing they really had was the 1,100 phone calls between our assistant coaches and him. We were placed on probation as they declared him an agent of the University. That`s why I say we were used as a whipping boy. NCAA hated then and still does the AAU system. It was a joke. AU has been reluctant to deal with Komara ever since. The players they originally accused us of paying went to other schools but they never looked at them.

[Weegle777 78]

This sounds like the biggest bunch of crap I have ever heard. We called a guy and got hit by the NCAA? Yet Calipari in his first year at a new school is a #1 seed and may win it all. Makes perfect sense to me........  :dunno:

[auclong 1]

This sounds like the biggest bunch of crap I have ever heard. We called a guy and got hit by the NCAA? Yet Calipari in his first year at a new school is a #1 seed and may win it all. Makes perfect sense to me........  :dunno:

Sounds like the NCAA to me. Komara has had over 40 players to sign schollies to a number of schools but onlt AU got hammered. A guy that had worked with him got his drawers all twisted when Komara reduced his use of this guy and Auburn had barred him from campus. The guy is named Don Walker. he leveled accusations of cash and cars that were proven false and all the NCAA had to save face was declare Komara an Auburn representative due to all the phone calls. As was stated by a paper in Texas after a Texas player was forced to sit awhile again due to unfounded allegations, the burden of proof should fall to the accuser, not the accused.

[NoALtiger 3,868]

A lot of these AAU guys are kinda shadowy so to speak, but to get the elite players, you gotta go through the AAU. There has to be some way we can start recruting the elites again, I'm tired of getting beat by guys who should be playing for us!

[auclong 1]

A lot of these AAU guys are kinda shadowy so to speak, but to get the elite players, you gotta go through the AAU. There has to be some way we can start recruting the elites again, I'm tired of getting beat by guys who should be playing for us!

You are right. I`m sure we could probably do that again but be very careful to dot every i and cross evry t. Shouldn`t have to be that way but probably is. The shadowy part of these  guys and the fact that a lot of NBA players sponsor AAU teams and pump a lot of money into them makes the NCAA very nervous I`m sure.

[Tiger Growlin 0]

Because our head coach got his recruiting degree from Tubbs University.

When our O-line is mowing them down this year, remember that at least four, and possibly all five were Coach Tuberville's recruits. 4 & 5 * linemen. #1 O-line class in the nation in 2007.

If only our new BB coach can do as well as CTT did!

Yeah he did and that was about the last time he recruited O-lineman to  the school. He recruited well at times but just wasn't doing it anymore later down the line.

[Mikey 16,654]

Because our head coach got his recruiting degree from Tubbs University.

When our O-line is mowing them down this year, remember that at least four, and possibly all five were Coach Tuberville's recruits. 4 & 5 * linemen. #1 O-line class in the nation in 2007.

If only our new BB coach can do as well as CTT did!

Yeah he did and that was about the last time he recruited O-lineman to  the school. He recruited well at times but just wasn't doing it anymore later down the line.

Well, since that was his next to last Auburn recruiting class, why not say what I do, he had a bad recruiting year in '08? It's not like there was an ongoing trend of classes like the '08 class. Just like the regular season, '08 wasn't Coach Tuberville's year.