Saban says recruiting class was a team effort

February 04, 2009

By Ken Rogers

Alabama football coach Nick Saban credited everyone from the top (his wife, Terry) on down after Alabama surged to a recruiting class ranked best in the nation by some analysts.

“I’m not sure that everybody knows how much everybody puts into this when it comes to recruiting,“ Saban said after Trent Richarson’s paperwork shortly after 4 p.m. “And it’s not just one recruiting visit, it’s multiple visits, unofficial visits, that all contribute to developing the relationships that you need to be able to attract quality guys.“

Saban then got specific about the Tide’s total team effort.

“Our coaching staff did a fantastic job of putting this class together and I don’t think that it just comes down (to today). Today is sort of the culmination of more than a year of work all the way back to the evaluation stages, early on, developing relationships, spending their time and energy to build the relationships that you need to have to be able to attract a quality player to be able to come to your school. And we have a lot of people here that contribute to this in a positive way.

“This is one of the places I enjoy most to recruit to because of the attitude toward recruiting here, the positive energy we have. Our administration does an outstanding job. (University president) Dr. (Robert) Witt talks to every recruit every recruiting weekend—one of the finest administrators ever in terms of helping us recruit football players. Mal Moore is there every Saturday, every weekend, to help us recruit. Our administrative staff does a phenomenal job, organizationally, in helping us recruit each and every weekend. We just feel blessed to have so many people who do such a good job.

“My wife, Terry, does an awfully good job in making our house available to the prospects when they come in and all of the coaches’ wives contribute to it.

“We do as fine a job academically as any place in the country when it comes to graduating our players. Our graduation rate is very high. But we also do a great job academically here in visiting with prospects relative to their (prospective) majors with the deans of the schools. Fantastic job with the people. Jon Dever and his staff does a great job of selling our academic support for our athletes.

“Our fans and the atmosphere and environment that they create each Saturday that we play in Bryant-Denny Stadium is a real positive to be able to attract outstanding student-athletes. 92,000 people at the (2007) spring game, 78,000 people at this (2008) spring game, that kind of enthusiasm and passion is what our fans contribute to players wanting to be a part of such an outstanding program that is so important to so many people.“