{"id":14636,"date":"2019-12-12T09:16:27","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T15:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/?p=14636"},"modified":"2020-03-24T13:00:47","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T18:00:47","slug":"breaking-down-nick-sabans-recruiting-methods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/breaking-down-nick-sabans-recruiting-methods\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking Down Nick Saban’s Recruiting Methods"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recruiting can be a challenging road for a lot of college coaches.\u00a0<\/span>However, Nick Saban<\/a>‘s recruiting methods help him keep the Crimson Tide on top.<\/span><\/p>\n

University of Alabama\u2019s Head Football Coach is one of the greatest recruiters in the Southeastern Conference. Some would argue he’s the best in college football. <\/span><\/p>\n

But like all college coaches, Saban’s recruiting methods have experienced their fair share of challenges. Throughout his career as a college football coach, Saban has dealt with many rule changes that affected his style of recruiting. Also, he regularly deals with losing players to the NFL Draft.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Saban Rule<\/h2>\n

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges that Saban has faced was the NCAA football rule changes in 2008. The rule changes restrict head coaches from evaluating recruits on the road, during the spring evaluation period. Also, it limits coaches from \u201cchecking up,\u201d on players with their teachers, coaches, and counselors. This rule is best known as the \u201cSaban Rule,\u201d because it was made with his recruiting methods in mind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Urban Meyer and Pete Carroll were also not thrilled about the change. The reason for the dislike? College Coaches want to assess every aspect of their prospective student-athletes. If they can’t talk with people who know the athlete, it’s harder to get to know that athlete and their family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s ridiculous that we\u2019re doing what we\u2019re doing,\u201d Saban said. \u201cWhen you’re talking about developing relationships and knowing players and meeting guidance counselors and talking to principals and all those kind of things, I think we’ve put ourselves at a tremendous disadvantage in terms of evaluation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve really limited ourselves by what we\u2019ve done, and I totally disagree with it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

New Recruiting Restrictions<\/h2>\n

As Saban always says, what makes him a great coach is his players. But this rule and some more recent rules, create obstacles for coaches to learn about their prospects.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The most recent recruiting rule changes<\/a> include an early signing period in December, limitations on coaching camps and clinics for college coaches, plus an additional time frame for official visits. <\/span><\/p>\n

And just like everyone would expect, Saban isn’t excited about these changes and the challenges they bring to recruiting. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not for changing the recruiting calendar,\u201d Saban said. \u201c[I] hate to see early signing date become the signing date. Coming to visit during the season is very difficult. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOfficial visits to me are about building relationships. When we have a game, there\u2019s no opportunity to do that.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The additional official visit period starts April 1 of a player\u2019s junior year, and it ends the Sunday before the last Wednesday in June.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Saban’s Two Key Words in Recruiting<\/h2>\n

\u201cThe two most compelling words in the draft – ‘and’ and ‘but,’\u201d Saban said. \u00a0\u201c…and<\/em>\u00a0he\u2019s a captain, and<\/em>\u00a0a great teammate and<\/em> got his degree.”<\/span><\/p>\n

As opposed to, “…but<\/em>\u00a0he failed a drug test, but<\/em> he got into a bar fight, but<\/em> he failed classes,” Saban said. “which one do you want on your team?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The two words “and,” and “but” are significant factors to consider in the draft, according to Saban. These words are compelling because he finds them important to his own recruiting. <\/span><\/p>\n

Relationship building is an important piece to Saban\u2019s recruiting. Even though there are stipulations that hinder his ability to get to know his prospects, he still gets the job done. That’s evident since the Crimson Tide has had one of the top 5 recruiting classes for the last decade.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recruiting can be a challenging road for a lot of college coaches.\u00a0However, Nick Saban‘s recruiting methods help him keep the Crimson Tide on top. University of Alabama\u2019s Head Football Coach is one of the greatest recruiters in the Southeastern Conference. Some would argue he’s the best in college football. But like all college coaches, Saban’s … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":14644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1299],"tags":[1124,452,1241,966,1004,84,450,1239,1243,94,1240,812,1244,838,1242],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14636"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14636"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15093,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14636\/revisions\/15093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}