A Short Christmas Story
Twenty years or so ago a young man telephoned me about starting a new website. He asked me how I gained the trust of coaches, and got my recruiting information for basketball. It was easy for me to get the information. I was friends with Wimp and his staff. They would generally share information with me. I followed their rules. If something was to be kept secret for a while that's what I did. On occasion, I found out a day or so in advance of a commitment to let you guys know.
Following basketball recruiting was pretty simple. There was not a lot of writers who followed recruiting in hoops. We all knew each other and would share what information we could. I have never charged a penny to anyone about what I knew about recruiting. It was just fun. (I am going to start those darn Adsense ads pretty soon.) I got to know all the coaches in the SEC, and others from all over the country. If they needed a shooter, I'd tell them where to find them. I never asked for anything in return. Some offered me a little money. I'd tell them to put that in the collection plate on Sunday. Boy, have times changed. Today, the marketing of recruiting has become a monster. But how you get the information hasn't changed. I did a lot of driving to high schools games. I got a lot of phone numbers from coaches.
AAU summer basketball was a place to go and meet old friends, coaches, and kids. You could see the talent first hand and you could compare. I need to revisit those days and share a few stories. But the young man who contacted me wanted to do this for football. I had my reservations. There are so many players on so many teams, and there were few venues to see them at one time. How would this work? He was also going to keep his day job.
One thing that this young man never knew about his call - I went to each assistant coach and the head coach at the University and told them what he wanted to do. It would keep football on the front page all year. There were benefits for the program. Not all were happy with the idea of this young man, but he was dedicated and wanted to PROMOTE Alabama football. It took a few a few days to make the rounds with the coaches and the AD. That call was from a man named Rodney Orr. We have a shared history that no one even knows about. I'm not sure how much Rodney knows about what happened after we talked. I do know that TiderInsider is the gold standard.
He doesn't rate players. That is fiction so inexact that you can't always be correct. Rodney tells his readers what he believes and why he believes it. Tider Insider isn't full of glittery graphics. It is meat and potatoes. It is the most honest publication on the market.
Following basketball recruiting was pretty simple. There was not a lot of writers who followed recruiting in hoops. We all knew each other and would share what information we could. I have never charged a penny to anyone about what I knew about recruiting. It was just fun. (I am going to start those darn Adsense ads pretty soon.) I got to know all the coaches in the SEC, and others from all over the country. If they needed a shooter, I'd tell them where to find them. I never asked for anything in return. Some offered me a little money. I'd tell them to put that in the collection plate on Sunday. Boy, have times changed. Today, the marketing of recruiting has become a monster. But how you get the information hasn't changed. I did a lot of driving to high schools games. I got a lot of phone numbers from coaches.
AAU summer basketball was a place to go and meet old friends, coaches, and kids. You could see the talent first hand and you could compare. I need to revisit those days and share a few stories. But the young man who contacted me wanted to do this for football. I had my reservations. There are so many players on so many teams, and there were few venues to see them at one time. How would this work? He was also going to keep his day job.
One thing that this young man never knew about his call - I went to each assistant coach and the head coach at the University and told them what he wanted to do. It would keep football on the front page all year. There were benefits for the program. Not all were happy with the idea of this young man, but he was dedicated and wanted to PROMOTE Alabama football. It took a few a few days to make the rounds with the coaches and the AD. That call was from a man named Rodney Orr. We have a shared history that no one even knows about. I'm not sure how much Rodney knows about what happened after we talked. I do know that TiderInsider is the gold standard.
He doesn't rate players. That is fiction so inexact that you can't always be correct. Rodney tells his readers what he believes and why he believes it. Tider Insider isn't full of glittery graphics. It is meat and potatoes. It is the most honest publication on the market.
No comments:
Post a Comment