In Case You Didn't Already Know, Recruiting Is Insane

Sam Farmer has a great piece in the on the difference between coaching in college football and the NFL. He interviews guys who have done both, like Pete Carroll, June Jones, Barry Switzer, and Chip Kelly, but the breakout star is easily Jerry Glanville.

The coaches' analyses aren't surprising—a college job offers more power, focuses more on recruiting, and allows coaches to get close to players, while an NFL gig provides little wiggle room for losing, and often feels more like being a CEO than a coach. It's the recruiting stories that make for the best anecdotes here.

Glanville, who was an assistant coach for Georgia Tech back in the '60s and '70s, on barging into a recruit's house even if he's still meeting with another school's coach:

"I've sat in a living room talking to a kid," Glanville said, "and it's me and Woody Hayes. Me and Bear Bryant. Me and Shug Jordan. When I'm sitting in that room with Woody Hayes, I'm going to try and compete and kick his butt recruiting that kid. I got a kid to come with me instead of going with Bear Bryant. You know what Bear did the next year? Tried to hire me.

"You come to a recruit's house at a scheduled hour. Well, the good [recruiters], when their hour is over, don't leave. The [recruit's family] would say, 'He hasn't left.' And I'd say, 'Doesn't bother me. I'm coming in.'"

Glanville, on basically tricking a kid into committing:

"Sometimes you've got to get mad at a guy as you recruit him and you've got to close the deal. I can't tell you how many times I told a guy I'm glad that he committed and he never really did. I'd say, 'Let me go tell your mom!' And he'd say, 'You're telling my mom? Oh, God, I just committed?'"

Glanville, on snatching victory milkshakes from the jaws of defeat:

Then there was the recruit who informed Glanville that he had decided to commit to Tennessee, where the player's father was in the Hall of Fame, and that he planned to announce it at a news conference that afternoon.

"I said, 'That's nice. Let me take you for a milkshake and I'll bring you back for the press conference,'" Glanville said. "He got in my Buick Riviera, and I drove him to Atlanta and enrolled him at Georgia Tech."

This is uniquely college stuff. Bill Belichick would just roofie and kidnap a player he wanted.

The whole article is worth your time, especially the part where Pete Carroll comes very close to saying the NCAA is out to get everyone.

Coaching in NFL and college is the same, only WAY different [Los Angeles Times]