[editor's note, by Todd]
bumped from the diaries

http://www.al.com/sports/birminghamnews/kscarbinsky.ssf?/base/sports/120911138045020.xml&coll=2& amp;thispage=1

I love Saban.  They try to keep him from spring recruiting, so he gets around the rule by talking to the players and coaches through a webcam.  This was one of very few Scarbinsky articles I actually liked.

Not only is he allowed to make one call to the recruits and I suppose unlimited to coaches and everything, but video conferencing is apparently considered a phone call, and recruits are allowed to call head coaches as much as they want. So all they have to do it appears is invite Saban to a video chat. Genius.

So how long until this gets banned?

[editor's note, by Todd]

The gist:

Alabama assistant coach Curt Cignetti visited Athens High, which has a Distance Learning Lab that allows Athens students to take online classes by using a live webcam.

Cignetti left behind a web address that Ming used to log on later that day and spend 15-20 minutes talking, through the webcam, with Saban, who was in his office in Tuscaloosa.

Athens High Coach Allen Creasy, who witnessed the conversation, called it "a first from a recruiting standpoint" for his school.

This is how Nick Saban outworks everyone else. According to the article this is a perfectly legit method to talk with recruits (it counts as a phone call, and recruits can call the coaches all they want), so since the rest of the lazy ass coaches in the league enacted "the Saban rule" to keep him from visiting schools, he still figures out a way to visit with recruits and look them in the eye without even having to leave his office! Like the man said, "genius."