According to the legends, the practice was first instituted in the 1960's by Bear Bryant at Alabama. His Bear's Angels became a staple of the college recruiting landscape, and in their own way, became more famous than the recruits themselves. The groups were usually created and organized by school officials—these days they are often attached to the school admissions office—but operated in a shady netherworld as a vital part of any large program, yet detached from the athletic department in an intricate web of plausible deniability.

The groups are particularly popular in the Southeast and West and while they are sometimes affiliated with sports like basketball and baseball, they tend to focus on football recruits, which are greater in number and more valuable. Since coaches can't spend more than a few minutes with any single recruit and his family when they come for their 48-hour campus visits, it's up to the hostess to give tours, answer questions, and—in the evening when the parents go back to their own hotels—provide entertainment.

The practice went mostly unquestioned and under the radar for years, but two incidents earlier this decade brought these groups into focus. In late 2001, a female student at the University of Colorado claimed she was raped by football players and football recruits at a party she was hosting on their behalf. (It was the second such incident at CU in five years.) Then in 2003, a campus newspaper's investigation into Arizona State's all-female recruiting group revealed that members routinely supplied underage recruits with wild parties, alcohol and occasionally sex while serving as hostesses.

The ASU article revealed intriguing details about the structure of these groups and their relationships to the teams they support. The Sun Devils coach and athletic director at the time essentially admitted that they knew very little about how the group worked—and that was the way they liked it. According to then-AD Gene Smith:

"When you begin to formalize a relationship based upon a contract — that's why my wife and I don't have a prenup[tual] — you are actually challenging whether or not you have trust in that relationship. I trust our student athletes. I trust the young ladies who have volunteered to be a part of this program. I am not an individual that believes in setting up structure, setting up contracts to make an organization successful."

The team may have been responsible for the recruits' well-being while on campus, yet once they turned them over to these other students the kids were no longer in their jurisdiction. The hostesses were never given orders about what to do—remember the trust?—but they were also never told what not to do. One of the group members told the paper that the hostesses were never given guidance about what constituted a recruiting violation. After all, if they knew what the rules were, then the girls might have to follow them.

Similar tales came out of Oregon and other programs, with many women saying that while the school didn't ask them to do inappropriate things, the recruits themselves often felt entitled to more than just a nice meal. ("One high-profile recruit, she says, tried to lure her to his hotel room, saying, "The girls at Kentucky and Georgia did it.")

There are also two essential facts that every hostess group shares. One, is that they are almost universally female-only. The groups were all given cutesy names like the Texas Angels, the Hurricane Honeys, the Bengal Babes, the Stately Ladies, the Black-Eyed Susans, the Tigerettes, the Crimson Courters (Bear's Angels eventually became the 'Bama Belles) and recruit heavily from the school's sororities. (Those ladies are very big into public relations!)

And the second truth is that if they work for another school besides the one you attend, then they are all whores. (Your girls, on the other hand, are wonderful, fresh-faced ambassadors for goodness and chastity.) No one is ever told to have sex with a recruit or get him drunk or promise him that ménage à trois is basically a freshman seminar, but when a bunch of attractive horny college-age kids get together with a pony keg, nature will run its course. It doesn't take much for a recruit to fall in love with his host and, by extension, her school.

As a result of the ASU and Colorado stories (and other lurid tales of strip clubs and sexual assaults) the NCAA began to crack down on these groups, although obviously they still exist as official organizations at Tennessee and many other places. The NCAA instituted new guidelines in 2004, stating that such groups could not officially be gender specific, although they are still heavily weighted toward the ladies. Shortly after that ruling, the original 'Bama Belles were disbanded.

Risky behavior not policed in ASU football recruiting [ASU State Press, Dec. 2002]
Oregon defends recruiting practices [The Register Guard, 2002]
Doing The Legwork [Sports Illustrated, Jan. 2003]
College recruits and "hostesses": where is the line drawn? [Star Tribune]

Let's just get right to it, shall we?

A significant part of the investigation is focused on the use of recruiting hostesses who have become folk heroes on Tennessee Internet message boards for their ability to help lure top recruits.

[...]

In one case, hostesses traveled nearly 200 miles to attend a high school game in South Carolina in which at least three Tennessee recruits were playing.

Marcus Lattimore, a running back who made an unofficial visit to Tennessee but said he would not enroll there, said multiple Tennessee hostesses attended a game at James F. Byrnes High School in Duncan, S.C., in September. He said they brought signs, including one that read, "Come to Tennessee."

"I haven't seen no other schools do that," he said. "It's crazy."

That's about about as far as the Times article is willing to go, but clearly there is more going on than just some kids holding signs. The NCAA is interviewing current high school seniors about their interactions with the hostesses—it's quite unusual for them to instigate an inquiry on players who haven't committed to a school yet—as the girls would be considered representatives of the university and subject to all recruiting rules.

And what about those message board folk heroes? Well, there was at least one thread on VolNation.com earlier this year, paying tribute to these ladies of football mercy. It is now mysteriously missing, but a tipster was able to snag a few snippets from it. The thread was titled "Meet Your Vol Hostesses" and began with pictures, names and Facebook links for a squadron of Volunteer ladies, along with some veiled thoughts about what these girls are willing to do for their school. The first message on the thread, begins:

These are the unsung heros of recruiting. Just ask Bryce Brown.

Most of the Facebook links are dead (or private pages) as well, but at least one of these girls is not shy about her role in the recruiting process. One is Lacey Pearl Earps, whose name is well known on SEC message boards. (That's her above, with current UT freshman Bryce Brown.) According to her MySpace page, she is a student at University of Tennessee and she "recruits champions." There are numerous photos of her hugging what appear to be Tennessee football players and/or recruits. (The pictures are small, but clearly taken on a football field.)

And the most recent comment left by a friend, is from a young man named Chaz Green, saying that he "had a great visit." Chaz is a 17-year-old offensive tackle from Tampa, Florida, who is listed on Rivals.com with his top choices being Florida and ... you guessed it, Tennessee. He made his on-campus visit in October.

The Volunteers are certainly not the only school to employ these types of "hostesses" or "hospitality" girls, but the school has drawn increased scrutiny from authorities since Lane Kiffin took over the program. They've committed at least six secondary violations in less than a year and Kiffin's habit of boasting about recruits in public—and attacking the recruits of other schools—has made a lot of folks unhappy. This investigation will only shine more light on the practice, not only at UT, but across the country.

Because as Mr. Lattimore puts it, "You don't want to go to a college where they ain't pretty." Ain't that the truth?

N.C.A.A. Is Said to Inquire Widely of Tennessee's Recruiting [NY Times]
Tennessee under NCAA investigation over use of recruiting hostesses [Vol Nation]
[Top photo via Clay Travis]

UPDATE: Miss Earps and the other hostesses are actually in the Tennessee Football Media Guide. She's a captain in Orange Pride, "a group of students whose primary duty is to promote the University and its strong academic programs, rich traditions, and winning athletics program to campus visitors and potential student-athletes." (Click to enlarge the photo.)

UPDATE 2: Clay Travis, who actually knows things like "rules," breaks down what this actually means for Tennessee, specifically what it would take for any of this to be an actual recruiting violation (and how they were likely ratted out by another school.) [FanHouse]

Nu'Keese Richardson, Janzen Jackson and Michael Edwards were the three Volunteer football players who got busted around 2:00 a.m. Two of them are accused of pulling a pellet gun on three guys sitting in a parked car outside a Pilot on Cumberland Avenue and Volunteer Boulevard, which is basically the heart of the UT campus. The gang was spotted a short time later in a car driven by one of their girlfriends—who then took a collar for drug possession when (in a shocking turn of events) marijuana was found in the car. Chivalry is not dead.

Nu'Keese, as you may recall, was the player involved in the "recruiting violation" kerfuffle between Tennessee and Florida, when Kiffin accused Urban Meyer of cheating in an effort to land Richardson, a claim that turned out to be not at all correct. He recently missed a practice before the Memphis game because of "personal issues," while Jackson was already suspended from that game for allegedly failing a drug test and was reportedly considering a transfer. This should speed up that process.

To be fair to the gentlemen accused—one of them was reportedly wearing a UT-branded Adidas shirt with the slogan "Impossible Is Nothing," but they did cover it up with an excellent disguise: A black hoodie. I don't know how anyone saw through that facade. And as a final capper on this stupid caper, the armed robbers collected exactly zero dollars from their victims, because they had nothing to steal. I'm guessing Urban Meyer isn't too upset about letting that one get away.

Three UT football players arrested on attempted armed robbery charges [GoVolsXtra]
2 Vols football players arrested for alleged armed robbery [VolunteerTV]
Tennessee Football Players Arrested for Armed Robbery [MSF]
Three Tennessee Volunteers players arrested, charged in robbery [ESPN]

It seems Lane Kiffin rewarded those players who kept in shape over the summer by letting them pose for the team poster. It also seems that bare chests and muscle cars are mandatory in Kiffin's "gift." Honestly, if it weren't for Layla Kiffin's existence, I'd question whether there really is a team poster at all.

Since I know you watched the video the whole way through, I don't need to tell you that's SS Eric Berry up front wearing the Junkyard Dog chain and waxing that puke orange Lamborghini with his ass. I'm sure that's some kind of recruiting violation.

It's good to see the 2010 ambiguously gay recruiting wars have started up early. Urban Meyer's going to have to counter by having his quarterback pose with countless gorgeous women, but publicly admit he hasn't slept with a single one. Oh wait.

Tennessee Football Players Pose With One Big Orange Hot Rod [WVLT]
(God, even that headline's suggestive.)

Evan Berry, the brother of Eric Berry, announced that he has committed to Tennessee, even though Kiffin technically hasn't offered him a scholarship because that would be a violation. Berry is the first member of the Volunteers' Class of 2013 — that's high school, not college — and he's presumably looking forward to breaking in with the varsity this fall. Again, high school.

Somehow, though, he's already talking to the press:

"It's the only college I know right now and it seems the best for me," Berry told Rivals. "My dad went there and my brother is there now. I know I can do the same things there. I have a real friendly relationship with the coaches there. I don't know them too well, but I know I will have plenty of time to get to know them."

So he doesn't know any other colleges, he doesn't know the Tennessee coaches too well and he hasn't played a snap in high school. Also, his father admits that "things happen, and four years is a long ways away." Coupled with the fact that Kiffin's staff is forbidden from offering him a scholarship — those damn "rules" get in the way of everything — this commitment seems about as real as Kiffin's chances of being in Knoxville in 2017, when Berry would be a senior in Neyland Stadium.

Meanwhile, the Berrys just "have to take it one day at a time." Start the countdown to Mini-camp 2013.

Eric Berry's brother, 13, commits to Vols [GoVolsXtra]

By Tennessee's own self-reported count, Kiffin has already committed five secondary violations since being hired by the school in January. (I don't have statistics to back this up, but I'm sure this is not an egregious number for a major program.) But his controversial reign has people buzzing, which is why ESPN decided to do an "Outside The Lines" segment on him—a segment that included a few seconds of Kiffin having a sitdown meeting with couple of recruits. And guess what ... that's another violation!

Why is that a violation? Because the media may not observe a coach having contact with a recruit. So in a story that discusses Kiffin's recruiting violations, ESPN helps him commit one, airs it on television, then calls him on it after the fact. (Bob Ley pointed out the possible violation at the end of the segment.) Even though the camera crew may not have been aware that it would be a violation when they filmed it, the producers clearly knew that it was before they aired it. So what's up with that? Isn't tWWL essentially complicit in this rule breaking?

At least they were able to clear up the controversy over Lane's gas pumping comment:

I wouldn't say anything like that. First of all, if you look at, I don't think that anybody pumps gas because everything is self-serve nowadays."

Touché. But if ESPN hadn't done enough dogpiling, they got the Oakland Raiders to chime in with their opinion of their former non-employee of the year:

Lane Kiffin is a flat-out liar. He lied to the team, he lied to the fans, and he lied to the media. He will try to destroy that university like he tried to destroy the Raiders, and will eventually clash with (Pat) Summitt and (Bruce) Pearl. Other than that, the Raiders can say nothing further."

I think they said plenty.

OTL: Kiffin's Wild Start At Tennessee [ESPN]
ESPN may have caught Kiffin in another secondary violation; Raiders take another shot at ex-coach [Go Vols]

Actually, his 140-character ramblings are incredibly dull. (Let's watch more game film!) Also, the offending Twit in question was actually sent by one of his assistants, because Twitter is filled with nothing but liars. But it did mention a committed, yet unsigned player by name—coaches are not allowed to discuss any unsigned player—and since UT is completely devoted to transparency and fair play, they called the cops on themselves. This may be the first ever Twitter-based recruiting violation and it is certainly the most boring.

However, I think we can learn something constructive about Lane as a result of this snafu. Kiffin has 4,600 people following him, but he has only found three fellow Twits that he are interesting enough to follow himself: THE_REAL_SHAQ (obviously), Bruce Pearl (sure, why not?) and ... Matt Leinart? Of all his former players, that's one he choose to keep tabs on? (The guy hasn't even updated since the Super Bowl.) Is Lane is still hoping to be introduced to Paris Hilton?

Tennessee plans to self-report another NCAA secondary violation [ESPN]
Lane Kiffin (LaneKiffinUT) [Twitter]

One of the players Kiffin is bringing to Tennessee next year is Daniel Hood, a 6-foot-5, 240-pound defensive end from Knoxville Catholic High. He is 19 years old, and a "model student on and off the field," with high grades and higher test scores. However, when Hood was 13 he was convicted of kidnapping and raping his 14-year-old cousin. His 17-year-old accomplice was tried as an adult and got 10 years in prison. Hood has been in the care of the state ever since.

Kiffin, the Volunteers, Hood's father, the dean of his Catholic school, the principal, his coaches, his teachers, the athletic director—all of them say that Hood is a stand up guy. The proverbial "nicest kid you'll ever meet," who even paid his own way through private school. He did a terrible, unconscionable thing, but has spent five-and-half years trying to make up for it. Even his victim wrote a letter to the university asking them to admit Hood to their school. But does he deserve that second chance? Would he get that chance if he wasn't so good at playing football?

Catholic Principal Dickie Sompayrak said, "Daniel's just been incredible. Football aside, as just a student and a school citizen at Knoxville Catholic … he's been a blessing to our school."

Sompayrak also went on to say, "We'll put our school's reputation on our recommendation for Daniel Hood."

His father says Daniel had 27 Division I offers, although many pulled their interest when they found out about his past. It probably doesn't help Tennessee's cause that Kiffin is already getting a reputation for playing loose with the rules. However, it's hard to argue that Hood is still the junior thug-in-training who did that awful thing over five years ago. People do grow up and I'm sure fans all over the SEC will be perfectly understanding and supportive should Hood make it into any games next year. Kiffin and the school will continue to catch heat for this, but for once, they might be doing the right thing.

Oh, one more thing: Would you be surprised to learn that Daniel Hood is white? I'm a little ashamed to admit that I was, and did not realize that fact until most of this post was written. Do you think the situation would be any different if he wasn't? More importantly, do you feel a little dirty right now?

Catholic star gets UT football scholarship despite troubled past [Knoxville News Sentinel]
Vols catch grief over football scholarship to Kingsport native convicted of rape as juvenile [Kingsport Times-News Online]
[Photo via]

Update: Since you're dying to know, here's Super Vol Clay Travis' take, along with some more grisly details about the crime itself. You make the call. [FanHouse]

The artist formerly known as C'la Travis writes that the excitable men's basketball coach was asked at a UT alumni reception how he's been getting along with UT football coach Lane Kiffin, who was also in attendance, and Pearl, god bless his horny little heart, had this to say:

"I'm trying to date his wife. But that's not working out too good."

Now, ordinarily, this type of off-handed remark might be taken as good-natured ribbing, but remember how annoyed Lane was when Layla was Google-searched en masse by professional internet masturbators soon after he was hired. Will Pearl get a complimentary Lane Kiffin Schnozz Smash for his comment? Can't say we'd blame Kiffin for that one. But they appear to be getting along swimmingly and apparently received a standing ovation at the event.

Another factoid: As a Florida Gator undergrad, Layla was a member of the notorious Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, which counts America's Sideline Princess Erin Andrews as one of its members.

Layla Kiffin Appeals To Bruce Pearl [Fanhouse]

You may remember the unpleasantness between Kiffin and Alshon Jeffery, the wide receiver who told the media that Kiffin called him on Signing Day Eve to explain that Jeffery would be "pumping gas for the rest of his life" if he went to South Carolina. Kiffin responded by calling Jeffery back, after the report came out, in order to clear up the matter. Kiffin even says that he got Jeffery to admit that no such statement had ever been uttered. There's no proof that either the insult or the retraction ever took place, but that would probably ruin the story so whatever.

There's just one problem. By calling Jeffery after he had signed his letter of intent with South Carolina, Kiffin violated NCAA rules. Tennessee reported itself to the NCAA this week. Oh, Lane. Your blatant disregard for proper procedure and decorum is so adorable.

Kiffin flap still not out of gas [The State]

All the bizarre recruiting stories—like the shirt ripping and the fake texting—plus all those insults to everyone in the SEC and those huge assistant contracts are just part of Kiffin's plan to get Tennessee's name in the paper. His theory is that when it comes to recruiting, there's no such thing as bad press.

It seems like the joke is on everybody else. Shortly before the spring presser, someone showed Kiffin a cell phone picture of one of his famous quotes now hanging in the Gators' new Heavener Football Complex.

"I'm really looking forward to embracing some of the great traditions at the University of Tennessee," Kiffin said the day he was hired, "for instance the Vol Walk, running through the T, singing Rocky Top all night long after we beat Florida next year. It will be a blast."

Glancing at the phone picture, the coach smiled and said, "Beautiful. Awesome. Wonderful. They even put our logo on it. Free advertising and we didn't have to pay for it."

I'm not sure how much "reach" advertising in the Florida locker room gets you, but I guess I see his point. Of course, the crux of this strategy depends on the fact that top players will want to play for a coach who seems a little off-kilter—and that the kind of player who seeks out instability and chaos is the kind of guy you want to recruit in the first place. I just can't believe this guy didn't fit in better with the Raiders...

Just Lane crazy? Actually, there's method to Kiffin's madness [CBS Sports]
Lane Kiffin boasts about success of Tennessee's topless recruiting [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Eh, maybe not.

Yesterday it emerged, via CBSSports.com's Gregg Doyel, that the Raiders of Al Freaking Davis found Kiffin, former Oakland coach and current walking gift to sports blogging, a touch too Machiavellian for their tastes. Doyel had gotten his hands on a letter that the Raiders wrote in January to Kiffin's new employers at Tennessee. The letter accused Kiffin of undermining his old team and referred to his "personal agenda in his apparently on-going efforts to damage the Raiders," ignoring for a moment the Raiders' on-going efforts to damage the Raiders — not to mention the unseemliness of a company slagging its former employee in front of his new bosses. (Aren't there laws against this sort of thing? Why, yes. Yes, there are.)

Here's the letter:

Kiffin, who filed a grievance with the NFL over two months' pay, will be deposed Monday by the Raiders, and that will doubtlessly bring this whole episode to a quiet and sane close.

Raiders Depose Kiffin, Attack Former Coach In Letter To Tennessee [CBSSports]

Kiffin denies that he told future Gamecock Alshon Jeffery that he would be pumping gas for the rest of his life if he chose South Carolina over Tennessee. So does that mean Jeffery and his coach (who also says he heard the remark) are liars? Because that does sound like something Kiffin might say....

"I never said that to Alshon, nor would I say anything like that," Kiffin said, ESPN reported. "That's just not something I would say."

Fair enough. But given that Kiffin is already on record with multiple, uh ... distortions of the truth, I'd say this high school kid that no one has ever heard of has slightly more credibility than the Volunteers coach. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding or a bad phone connection or something, but did anyone who heard the story really believe that that's not the way Kiffin does things?

"That's not the way we're going to do things here, and it's something I don't condone," Kiffin said, ESPN reported. "Things get said all the time in recruiting, but I don't know where (the pumping gas comment) came from."

Maybe he really said "pumping gas into to your shiny new Acura Legend," but the rest got cut off or something? By the way, Florida is already using his quotes for bulletin board material so, yes, I think everyone would just prefer that Lane stick with "no filter" strategy.

This time, Lane Kiffin says he's innocent [ESPN]
Kiffin denies "pumping gas" comment [USA Today]
Lane Kiffin Quote Now Displayed in Florida's Locker Room [Fanhouse]