Dennis Pillion Piles On, Becomes Honorary RBR Hero

by Todd on Aug 20, 2008 12:55 PM CDT in Football Comment 11 comments

Honestly, I had plans to do a wrap up over the great RBR/Brian Cook blogger sissy fight of '08 but haven't had either the time or the want to since no one's minds are going to be changed by it anyway. But I just flipped over to al.com while I had a minute and found this:

Kicker Leigh Tiffin and punter/holder P.J. Fitzgerald were also awarded scholarships this week, and as Gentry Estes reports in his practice notebook, a team that looked for much of the summer to be short on scholarships ended up having enough to go around and then some.

Maybe this rowdy fan blogger from Michigan will wait next time before roundly blasting a coach for the "sin" of oversigning players. Probably not though.

I imagine he'll keep going on about all the wrongs he imagines other people must be suffering and blaming Saban for every medical scholarship that ever happens at any school. Either that, or he'll totally ignore this story, as it doesn't fit with his "Saban as a snakeoil salesman" motif.

Emphasis mine, obviously, but that one line, unlike the vast majority of those who have commented on this matter, at least shows that someone else understands why we blew up over the whole thing in the first place; Cook presupposed Nick Saban's sins based on his own low opinion of him, then either ignored the fact that those sins never materialized or flat out manufactured them to make it seem that they had, all while wrapping himself in the mantle of the aggrieved commentator that's "just trying to bring light to something really shady that happens during recruiting." We're not denying that he knowingly oversigned, we're not denying that oversigning has the potential for unfair dealings, and we're certainly not denying that, given Saban's reputation as a hard ass tyrant, the perception that he could very well throw a bunch of kids under a bus for better players wouldn't cross a lot of people's minds. What we are (and were) arguing is that those preconceived notions were unfair and nothing more than pure conjecture, and that before any assaults should be made on him, the Alabama football program, or even the practice of oversigning, we should all wait and see how it plays out and then make our own judgements. We've all made them by now and, like I said, I'm sure we won't be changing anyone's minds, but at least we can look at our own example and say "Saban didn't do anything "evil," he knows how to crunch the numbers, and he worked it out without ruining his reputation as a great recruiter by dealing unfairly with his current players," and that's good enough for me.

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What I don't understand is

the fact that had Saban brought in JUST enought recruits to fill the scholarship level to exactly 85 in February, we’d have 75 scholarship players, and we’d probably be in a bind. But they just cannot get over the fact that when the dust settled, he knew what he was doing, and now has a team he can build on. Of course he didn’t see the Johns or Elder thing coming, but that’s part of it. He anticipated (not forced) transfers of guys he knew didn’t and wouldn’t buy into the program and therefore wouldn’t get any playing time. Bottom Line! Now, if you want to criticize a coach (not that I am here, because I feel that I understand the game), why don’t they aim at Paul Johnson at GT, who caused a mass exodus of players out of Atlanta when he let them know they would not fit into his offensive gameplan. OR, how about their own beloved RichRod? There were a few guys who “conveniently” transfered before even playing a down for him. This means they either don’t like the coach, or have a “strong feeling” that their playing time may come to a halt. Just remember Cookettes, when you point a finger, you’ve got three pointing back at yourself, or however that goes…

"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success" - Coach Bryant

by TopDaddy on Aug 20, 2008 1:20 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

People skew stories to fit their preconceived notions; it’s sad, but that’s just how it is. I’m glad to see that the numbers worked out…I always figured they would.

by bamacheryl on Aug 20, 2008 2:26 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Hear Hear

That’s all I got, but I agree.

by Bobby Briggs on Aug 20, 2008 2:26 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Let's not forget

that Saban coached Michigan State, which is likely where Cook’s anti-Saban bent had its origins.

Not to mention that Cook’s argument was pedantic, and its premise was flawed. It presumed that a rule that limits the number of signees to the number of scholarships available on signing day would prevent teams from “forcing” players off the team. In practice, however, such a rule change would just encourage teams to free-up scholarships (legitimately or otherwise) at an earlier date — before signing day.

Moreover, oversigning just doesn’t seem to be that big of a problem. I don’t know that I can remember a single instance where a healthy, fully-qualified recruit was prevented from enrolling with a scholarship because a roster spot wasn’t available, thus “screwing him out of a chance to play at an actual D-I school. . . .” It certainly didn’t happen with our recruiting class. And doesn’t appear to have been a problem at schools that have “oversigned” players in the past.

by Lawboy on Aug 20, 2008 2:43 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

yeah, everything that Lawboy said.

And as a footnote (and in reference to the greatest SI cover EVAH), Brian Cook can lick my process-oriented nutsac.

Roll Tide, Bitches!!!

by BamaReturns07 on Aug 20, 2008 2:51 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

If I'm not mistaken...

…it seemed like some stink was raised at Louisville under Petrino where he accepted a kid’s commitment early, then told him later on that there wasn’t any room for him after he accepted a bunch of other (higher ranked) recruit’s commitments, and they weren’t going to give him a scholarship after all. I don’t know the details (it might not even be Petrino and U of L, but for some reason that’s what I’m remembering), but it was a crappy thing to do to the guy. If you want to stop things like that, there should be rules that you can’t accept a commitment and then not hold the scholarship for them, that way if coach’s really feel like they have chances with other players and don’t want to get themselves in trouble with the numbers, they can simply not accept commitments until late in recruiting from guys that they might not necessarily be crazy high on.

Roll Bama Roll

by Todd on Aug 20, 2008 3:23 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

free market

let’s not forget that this is a self-policing free market regardless of the NCAA nazi’s or self righteous jerks like Cook; if a coach or school does not treat it’s recruits fairly or honorably it will get very hard for that school to attract top recruits. So long term recruiting success means either adept cheaters ( should I have used orange font?) or programs that treat the athletes well and do a good job of developing them.

by johnnythermo on Aug 20, 2008 4:19 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I still maintain that Cook’s #1 beef with the whole situation wasn’t, in fact, Saban. The initial article was purely to say “Hey, this other coach sucks, too!” but then he got thrashed by no small number of Alabama bloggers which made him feel self-conscious because

a) Everyone knows that people from Alabama are stupid,
b) Brian Cook does not believe himself to be stupid, and
c) He was getting worked by people “from” Alabama…

He got defensive and angry (see, e.g., the frothy, f-bomb-laced tirade about Alabamians being illiterate) and basically painted himself into the corner of his really poorly thought-out argument.

Deep down, we ought to feel a little sorry for the guy.

But not too much.

by PeteHoliday on Aug 20, 2008 5:29 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Maybe now

people not close to the program will trust that Saban is not “Satan” but just a guy that knows more than the press about what is happening on his team.

by 5026 on Aug 20, 2008 8:06 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I have no problem with Satan

By that I mean, I have no problem with Coach being roundly disliked and Bama being disliked by association. In fact, I’ve come to embrace the irrational haters. Why? Because you fear Satan. You don’t fear Shula. You pity Shula. I’m not saying I want Da U style thuggery, but I have no problem with a rising number of Bama haters paralleling a rising number of Bama wins. Maybe it’s the old-school Raiders fan in me, but there’s a lot to be said for being Public Enemy #1.

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."
--George Carlin

by pantsfucious on Aug 20, 2008 10:01 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs