What Alabama high school coaches have to say about Bryan Harsin

[Hank2020 3,357]

44 minutes ago, cbo said:

I live in TN. Some of the sunshine pumping posters around here sound a lot like UT fans over the last decade. I don't know if AU turns into the next UT, but some of the fanbase is well on its way. 

Meanwhile, UT may have finally found their coach ...

Tennessee had 3 less 4 stars than we did (2022) with 4 more total recruits so he isn’t recruiting any better it seems. But the Tennessee fans seem to be accepting him.

[Win4AU 4,183]

Recruiting is a relationship business.  If he’s not going to build relationships he’s not going to be able to recruit anyone.  Not even 3* kids

[tigers23 681]

I have close ties to Thompson High School and have been complaining for months that he has never stepped foot on the campus. Literally every other coach in the SEC has been there, most multiple times. It's absolutely inexcusable 

[woodford 3,732]

5 hours ago, oracle79 said:

How many individual high schools are in Alabama? Georgia? Florida?

It'll be interesting how this works out, because it doesn't seem like he is a star gazer. He'll do his own evaluation, and he's not gonna take a kid that doesn't fit his culture. 

Maybe 700-900 combined? Idk I would want to get to know as many as I can if I want to win. That’s just me. 

[cbo 8,729]

11 minutes ago, Hank2020 said:

Tennessee had 3 less 4 stars than we did (2022) with 4 more total recruits so he isn’t recruiting any better it seems. But the Tennessee fans seem to be accepting him.

Heupel walked into an absolute mess. Far worse than what Harsin inherited. He had three more recruits in 2022, sure, but he finished above Auburn in anyone's recruiting rankings. This is after some people on here (not you) mocked me for anxiously comparing Heupel's early recruiting results vs. Harsin's. Because I think we all agree Auburn should recruit better than UT in 2022.

UT also improved on the field, going from 3-7 to 7-6. Heupel's offense scored a ton of points and they have a very good QB returning. 

It's too early to tell, but it's everything you want to see in a first year head coach. I understand their enthusiasm. 

 

[Butthead 525]

This is absurd. If I am the head guy I buy a Maybach and hire a driver to drive me to high schools. You nap or work or surf the net between stops. 

[Mcbowen327 63]

I'm sure I'm a bit biased. But graduating highschool around the same time Cadillac Williams did I kept up with his recruiting pretty well. Granted it was before Saban but him being a top recruit coming to Auburn was no surprise. I've done a fair job of keeping up with Auburn recruiting in the years since and have never felt we couldn't compete with anyone for top players. Some recent of articles seem to give the impression that our plan is to try and beat Bama and Jawja with their leftovers. I think this is a horrible idea. I wanna see Auburn go after and sign the best players because the coaches can sell what I see in Auburn. It is the family, the Tiger Walk, rolling Toomers Corner, it's watching the eagle take flight before every home game, it's ultimately believing in Auburn and loving it!

[Barnacle 9,107]

Can’t chalk not visiting these schools up to laziness. That’s not Harsin. 

[autigeremt 7,208]

He the man! He don’t need no stinkin’ relationships.

Edited February 26, 2022 by autigeremt

[oracle79 3,569]

1 hour ago, woodford said:

Maybe 700-900 combined? Idk I would want to get to know as many as I can if I want to win. That’s just me. 

So more than he's had days on the job. Thanks.

[AUght2win 7,015]

9 hours ago, Strychnine said:

 

That is very much where I am, after reading that.  The coaches that have met him, have good things to say about him.  That is definitely good.  High school coaches that have not met him is confusing.  Is that intentional?  Has he simply not had time to meet all of them yet?  Given his complete lack of familiarity with the area, I would imagine that someone on the staff has been suggesting where he should go, and who he should talk to.  Was he getting bad advice?

Not going to a place like Thompson 14 months on the job is inexcusable. INEXCUSABLE.

[Hank2020 3,357]

2 hours ago, Mcbowen327 said:

I'm sure I'm a bit biased. But graduating highschool around the same time Cadillac Williams did I kept up with his recruiting pretty well. Granted it was before Saban but him being a top recruit coming to Auburn was no surprise. I've done a fair job of keeping up with Auburn recruiting in the years since and have never felt we couldn't compete with anyone for top players. Some recent of articles seem to give the impression that our plan is to try and beat Bama and Jawja with their leftovers. I think this is a horrible idea. I wanna see Auburn go after and sign the best players because the coaches can sell what I see in Auburn. It is the family, the Tiger Walk, rolling Toomers Corner, it's watching the eagle take flight before every home game, it's ultimately believing in Auburn and loving it!

Hoping those things can still get the right players here. It seems like NIL and getting to NFL as high draft pick screams much louder than family atmosphere..

edit: I believe once we get them here family atmosphere will make them believe in it and love it.

Edited February 26, 2022 by Hank2020

[AUx 3,166]

4 hours ago, Win4AU said:

Recruiting is a relationship business.  If he’s not going to build relationships he’s not going to be able to recruit anyone.  Not even 3* kids

Yeah. I liked to hear coaches who met Harsin had positive impressions. But whether Harsin (and staff) want top talent (4-5*) or grindstone non-commissioned, both ways he needs active communications with the network of HS coaches. Probably moreso if he's hoping to build around the underrated guys because they won't have all the automatic press coverage of the upper tiers. So, I don't take much positive out of this good article.

Does Harsin just not like to talk to people? Does he think the chats and visits are non-productive time if it's not for some specific strategic objective? Jack Reacher complex??

[woodford 3,732]

2 hours ago, oracle79 said:

So more than he's had days on the job. Thanks.

He had a staff. He has access to private planes. You get to choose how hard you want to work in life. CBH is a crappy recruiter. He needs to improve drastically ASAP. 

[Mcbowen327 63]

2 hours ago, oracle79 said:

So more than he's had days on the job. Thanks.

From the 3 states combined, yes. But far fewer schools in state than days as the HC, which was the point I believe. Thanks. 

[keesler 5,957]

5 hours ago, Sizzle said:

Half the battle is just showing up. Alabama been dominating in recruiting for over a decade now mainly because they were just showing up and showing up often. Harsin and the rest gotta hit the road, these recruits are interested in Auburn but they ain’t coming to Auburn just off name alone.
 

You actually have to build a relationship with these guys and our staff has been struggling to do that (at least offensively)

The new HC of Auburn chooses to pretty much ignore the top HS in this state in a year when the state loaded with talent? .  Swinney, Huepel, Smart and even Kiffin all find time to visit the very high schools that are within a hour radius of Auburn but Harsin dosent? The Troy HC vows to visit every HS in the state but one of the HC’s of one of the biggest schools in the state hasn’t even made time to go meet the states top HS coaches that’s mind boggling.  

This article tried to be balanced but damned if it didn’t irritate me because this proves that a lot of this boards insiders were correct. 🤬

[AUwent 3,833]

I would take this staff in a heartbeat right now. Just sayin'.

Edited February 26, 2022 by AUwent

[GwillMac6 20,849]

Dude is just trying to run out the clock. He just wants his money and will be here until he gets it. Rane and Harbert are just wasting another year of us falling behind our rivals by not having had the end result be firing him and hitting the reset and refresh button a couple of weeks ago. They want him gone but apparently not bad enough. I mean I get it. It is not our money. It is their's and they just got done holding the bag on the huge Gus buy out they will be paying for awhile.

 

[DAG 34,764]

5 hours ago, Barnacle said:

Can’t chalk not visiting these schools up to laziness. That’s not Harsin. 

I disagree . I think you can be A1 in certain aspects and lazy in other. From all the subjective flaws we have heard about CBH, it seems he either lacks the will or the initiative to build relationships in a manner that is separate from talking football. There is literally no reason to not visit a school with a potential prospect especially when it is a rocks throw away. The alternative is he is either very naive , incompetent or truly doesn’t like recruiting. To think that Skype suffices for building the foundation of a relationship is extremely short sighted. They probably did work at his most recent stint but that’s not the culture down here. Yes, you may have to smile , and sit next to parents and watch a potential recruits basketball game ( I watched Petrino do this with Julian Horton at Greater Atlanta Christian). Yes it matters to some kids that you take the time out to just go introduce yourself to their parents and not even talk football (smoke Monday mentioned this). That takes simple initiative. 

[NWALA Tiger 3,616]

12 hours ago, tigers23 said:

I have close ties to Thompson High School and have been complaining for months that he has never stepped foot on the campus. Literally every other coach in the SEC has been there, most multiple times. It's absolutely inexcusable 

How many players has AU got over the past 10 yrs from Thompson?

[Gowebb11 9,875]

1 hour ago, NWALA Tiger said:

How many players has AU got over the past 10 yrs from Thompson?

It’s obvious that CBH needs to improve significantly with high school coach relationships and visit more. But to your point, a lot of these schools haven’t been AU feeders in years if ever. There’s also a history of kids from certain schools visiting Bama a lot and the one weekend they’re supposed to visit AU they suddenly can’t find a ride. That’s been happening long before CBH was here. 

[Barnacle 9,107]

6 hours ago, DAG said:

I disagree . I think you can be A1 in certain aspects and lazy in other. From all the subjective flaws we have heard about CBH, it seems he either lacks the will or the initiative to build relationships in a manner that is separate from talking football. There is literally no reason to not visit a school with a potential prospect especially when it is a rocks throw away. The alternative is he is either very naive , incompetent or truly doesn’t like recruiting. To think that Skype suffices for building the foundation of a relationship is extremely short sighted. They probably did work at his most recent stint but that’s not the culture down here. Yes, you may have to smile , and sit next to parents and watch a potential recruits basketball game ( I watched Petrino do this with Julian Horton at Greater Atlanta Christian). Yes it matters to some kids that you take the time out to just go introduce yourself to their parents and not even talk football (smoke Monday mentioned this). That takes simple initiative. 

I hear what you are saying, but I think it’s purposeful. Could be naive. Could underestimate what’s required. Or, he could simply believe that his time is better focused elsewhere. 

[Hank2020 3,357]

13 minutes ago, Barnacle said:

I hear what you are saying, but I think it’s purposeful. Could be naive. Could underestimate what’s required. Or, he could simply believe that his time is better focused elsewhere. 

I believe this is Harsin’s 5th different place to coach at. Recruiting is not new to him. You might conceivably say recruiting in Idaho looks a bit different than Alabama, but recruiting in Arkansas and Texas is surely similar. Not saying he doesn’t need to continue to adapt but the premise that he nor anyone on his staff have a recruiting clue is completely negative untruth.

[Barnacle 9,107]

Just now, Hank2020 said:

I believe this is Harsin’s 5th different place to coach at. Recruiting is not new to him. You might conceivably say recruiting in Idaho looks a bit different than Alabama, but recruiting in Arkansas and Texas is surely similar. Not saying he doesn’t need to continue to adapt but the premise that he nor anyone on his staff have a recruiting clue is completely negative untruth.

I agree, and I think it’s clear from the article in this thread that he’s being strategic. Whether his strategy is sound is certainly still up for debate. 

[NWALA Tiger 3,616]

53 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

It’s obvious that CBH needs to improve significantly with high school coach relationships and visit more. But to your point, a lot of these schools haven’t been AU feeders in years if ever. There’s also a history of kids from certain schools visiting Bama a lot and the one weekend they’re supposed to visit AU they suddenly can’t find a ride. That’s been happening long before CBH was here. 

Yep. JLee said in his last pod , there is a lineman out of Thompson that AU is in good shape for. Can't recall his name. But , he also said that Bama isn't really pushing for this kid, so 🤷