The Aftermath
by John Berkowitz on Jun 4, 2009 10:35 PM PDT
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PrintJake Heaps is a BYU Cougar and every Husky has an opinion about it. I think most of us wish him all the best except when he plays against Washington. The kid has some tools and I expect him to do very well at BYU.
Steve Sarkisian isn't exactly out of options either. Nick Montana is making an unofficial visit this weekend and if things go well he said Washington could jump to the top of his list. Jesse Scroggins who some rate higher than Heaps also has UW in his current top five. If Sarkisian lands either one of them he has accomplished his goal of bringing in a top rated signal caller.
In the short term there will be some ripples across the state because losing Heaps is a blow to the ego. You hate to lose one of the top rated in state HS players of this decade. The loss of Heaps will make a few of the in state guys now in the fold to look around a little bit more.
I think it is pretty easy for some to blame it all on Willingham. Tyrone wasn't the first to offer even though his son was on the same football team as Heaps. BYU talked to Jake every week for three years while Washington really didn't get active until last fall when former Skyline head coach Steve Gervais arrived on the scene.
You can say that Tyrone wasn't very agressive which is true but what sealed the deal was an 0-12 football team that really doesn't have a lot of current talent. In the end Jake felt his future was more secure playing for a winning and established program. I think the religous and cultural ties were just a bonus.
I really think the deciding factor for the class of 2010 is going to be the on the field performance in 2009. Washington needs to win some games they aren't supposed to this year. That shouldn't be too difficult because Idaho and WSU are the only teams they will be favored over going in. UW is off to a great start with this recruiting class despite the loss of Heaps but if they want to bring in a class for the ages they need to start winning some games.
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Building the Base
John,
Good post as always and I pretty much agree with your take.
I do, however, want to stress the importance of building up a relationship — exemplified not only by an early “offering” by BYU’s the incredible follow-up — as the “foundation” needed to get guys of Heap’s calibre.
Weekly calls for three years? That’s quite an investment of a staff’s time and resources. And to get the best of best, that’s the attention to detail we’ll going to have to make. Build a strong solid foundation and maybe some of your other shortcomings can be mitigated and managed. At least you’re still in the game.
I’ve read too many updates where the kid can always tell you who’s recruiting him the hardest.
The only good news is that it’s now clearly apparent that the level of commitment to recruiting is now here.
We are the first to offer Scroggins. We’ll get him? I dunno. If USC offers too, then a 0 – 12 football team will be competing against a “storied” program.
That’s a tall order.
But I do know this. If we offered Scroggins after the Trojans…it would be game, set and match to the Southland.
Here’s an good read on how Scroggin’s dad raised a QB.
Building a relationship
UW had an incredible shot at building a relationship with Heaps but that for better or worse wasn’t Willingham’s style of recruiting. I respect that to a certain point because in a perfect world you shouldn’t have to call a sophomore in HS once a week. This however isn’t a perfect world and these days recruiting realtionships start extremely early.
Well said...
Let’s also factor in that the average wage in the US is some $47,000 + per year. That’s not what we paid Ty or the level any college pays either it head or assistant coaches.
These guys are getting paid the Big Bucks…hey, fair enough…at the same time we should expect them to assume Big Responsibilities and walk the ’extra mile."
Doing a little post mortem here — and my rabid curiosity — just what the hell was Ty’s recruiting style? Wasn’t he alerted to BYU’s constant contact with a key in-state recruit? Is he so “out-of-touch” with today’s kids, today’s fashion, today’s HS football that he thought there was no need to get young Jake to feel any real ‘luv’ for him and his staff?
I have my own ideas on those questions, but I’d love to hear yours.
Montana has always been the target!
Good post John, but I differ on opinion as to why Heaps chose BYU. The 0-12 thing wasn’t the deal killer. If it was then surely we wouldn’t have a top 10 committed class for 2010 thus far. Those kids aren’t worried about the 0-12 thing. And with Washington even being considered for the Heaps sweepstakes that is saying something.
I believe the overwhelming decision was the religous and cultural ties to the mormon-owned Brigham Young University. His sister is attending the school and BYU is about the only school who openly welcomes student athletes to pursue their mormon obligation to serve a mission. Believe me Heaps will take part in serving a mission, especially if he is going to BYU. If you are mormon and are attending BYU do you know how much pressure is put on the kids to serve? It’s astronaumical!
From witnessing what happened to Ben Olsen, I think Heaps is making a big mistake in football terms. Granted the experience he will achieve at BYU will be second to none as an LDS kid, but considering what happened to Olsen’s playing career is devastating to say the least. Olsen was what Heaps is now, the No.1 QB prospect in the country, chose BYU and his college football career has been run through the ringer ever since. I wish him well, yet we won’t here from Heaps as a “player” for the next 3 to 4 years.
Again, I’ve been leaning more towards Nick Montana in the last few months. Heaps wasn’t going to offer the program anything for the next 3 to 4 years anyways w/ him going on a mission. Montana is the choice and I belive Sark feels the same way.
Go Huskies! WOOF!!!
All I saw was purple
The Wall of Worry
I agree with your first paragraph Crazi, not so sure about the second.
God may have been on BYU’s side of the ball, but they sure as hell weren’t throwing anything his way. No need to contact a kid weekly for over three years — do it that long and you’re almost family — if God can pull the strings.
In Provo, god is apparently spelled M-e-n-d-e-n-h-a-l-l.
As to the mission, I’ve read repeatedly he’s doesn’t plan to take one. My guess is that BYU football is accommodative to those players who “want” to take their mission in the middle of their college career. Having said that, I don’t think they actually go around “encouraging” it. Not to their best players at any rate.
As to the Montana, Scroggins and Heaps troika, I believe there all very good QBs at this young stage of their career. They all have potential to be great players both at college and on Sundays. Way too early to say who will eventually be the best. Lots of intangibles will come into play.
I just want ANY of those three guys for the Class of 2010.
And thus my disappointment in losing ’in-state" Heaps was that he was probably the most “sure thing” for the Dawgs. At least I thought so until I realized what a screwy recruiter Ty was. That Sark could even make it competitive says how hard and more importantly, how persistent he will try. The the only good news here is it again shows what a good choice Sark was to rebuild UW football.
But we are ready knew that…
With Scroggins I worry about competing against ‘storied’ USC. They’re in a position to “choose” to have him; 0 – 12 Washington is not. We’ll have to fight tooth and nail to have any chance at landing this kid.
With Montana I worry that he too has a number of good schools chasing after him — as does Scoggins. It’s not going to be easy getting either of those two, which leave us….
They say that a bull market climbs a wall of worry.
Maybe its also true of rebuilding football programs.
May or May not- Sark can't use it
I respect your opinions and it was a good post. But I still think Heaps may or may not take a mormon mission. And as I said earlier- A young energetic new BCS-level college football coach who is in charge of rebuilding a traditionally tough football program cannot put much stock into a kid that may or may not leave the program for 2 years right in the middle of the rebuilding process. It spells “career suicide”.
Sark needs full commitment from the kids he signs into the program for the next 2 to 3 years at least. Heaps may not go on a mission, then again he may change his mind once he sees all his church buddies heading off to Provo, UT to fulfil their church obligations.
I can pretty much guarrentee you that coach Mendenhall does NOT openly encourage his players to take a mission. Rather what I think happens is the pressure to go on a mission stems from church memebers. The pressure to go on a mission comes from the religious culture and not from the coach nor the coaching staff. Will Heaps serve a mission or won’t he? He says he won’t, yet I think Sark may be a little weiry of the idea of him changing his mind, meanwhile the rebuilding process would be in high gear. You can’t take a chance on a kid that may or may not leave right in the middle of the rebuilding process. That is all I am saying. Sark wanted him, but I think he looks at it as a win/win situation.
Sark is a QB coach in nature, he played one in college and has mastered the craft under the best in coach LaVell Edwards and coach Norm Chow. We’ll have great QB prospects every offseason while Sark is here.
All I saw was purple
Montana
I don’t think you can go wrong with Montana, or Scroggins. Looks like Montana is the target and hopefully he has a great visit this coming weekend.
Montana
Interestingly Montana will be in town this weekend with Erik Kohler…that would be a HUGE package deal. Fingers crossed.
Who else is out there?
If UW whiffs on Scroggins or Montana, what other highly rated QB’s are left. I read somewhere about a kid from Washington that had better numbers than Heaps. Anyone hear about him?
Recruiting
The one area I am least worried about is recruiting. I have to take my hat off to Coach Sark, he is working his backside off when it comes to recruiting. Given how hard he is working and the relationships he is building, I can’t wait to see the recruiting classes he produces in 3-4 years. He just seems to be playing the recruiting game perfectly.
I don’t mean to trash a guy just because he picked the other school, but the more I read about Heaps, the more I think we might be better off without him. I would really like to see what his height and weight really are, both seem to be a bit overstated from the articles I’ve been reading. To be honest, the way he has handled the last few days, he really seems to be coming off as a prima donna.
I love the idea of Nick Montana, he definitely has the best tutor of all time. I only have a slight concern given the recent events of Jack Elway, I hope Nick is playing football because he loves it, not just because dad loves it. If Joe Montana signs off on Nick being coached by Sark, that will be a vote of confidence money can’t buy.
"Bow Down to Washington"
"Kick the tires and light the fires!"
We agree again Bud!
And I sort of agree with your take on Heaps. I don’t know if he’s a prima donna or not, but I think his QB stature is questionable. The way I see it there is plenty of college QB talent out there, unlike finding QB talent at the pro level. The trick is to find the perfect guy for your system. I’m not sure what sort of offense Heaps runs at the prep ranks, but I would suggest going after a kid that has the fundamentals and technique down to play in the pro style offense. This is one reason why Nick Montana has to be the target.
Did we lose Jake Heaps? My answer is no. It’s not like he chose Cal, USC, Ucla, or Oregon over Washington. In my eye Heaps chose his religion, which offers him a great educational opportunity and the opportunity to play college football. Losing an in-state kid to a religious school is not the same as losing him to say Cal, USC, Ucla, or Oregon. Heaps chose to follow his religion- nothing wrong with that at all.
I think Sark saw it as a win/win situation. Getting Heaps would be like icing on the cake for this upcoming recruiting class. But if the kid chose to go on a mission, the program wouldn’t get anything in return for 3 to 4 years anyways. I think Sark knew this going in and had backups in Montana and Scroggins. I don’t think Heaps was the target knowing the mission thing might eventually come up. Montana and Scroggins will be in the program for the next 4 to 5 years and that is GOOD!
All I saw was purple
Better without Heaps?
I think he is a great kid who just picked another school…next. I don’t think he is a prima donna either. I do think he led UW on for a month or two which didn’t do any real harm. I think he had a good idea of where he was going to go last fall.
by John Berkowitz on Jun 5, 2009 10:48 AM PDT up reply actions
MIGHT be better without him
If we can land Montana or Scroggins we will be better off, but if we don’t then we will have definitely missed out. Lately I’ve been getting the “It’s all about me” vibe from Heaps, I much prefer Locker’s humble, down to earth approach.
"Bow Down to Washington"
"Kick the tires and light the fires!"
“I think he had a good idea of where he was going to go last fall.”
And I think Sark kinda figured that out not too long into the process; hence our offers to Scroggins and Montana under, please correct mr if I’m off here, the premise that we’ll only take one QB.
In retrospect, a clever tactical move by Sark. Forces Jake to really think through if he wants to play away from home and, at the same time, covers UW’s needs for a quality QB
I think we have little to fear on QB recruiting while Sark is @ UW
What I really hear when I read posts over the past few days is a desire to get a big name because it lends credibility to our program. Of course, I want to land the big name because of the coattail effect it has on other recruiting areas, but I really trusts Sarks ability to pick and groom QB talent. Between Price and whoever signs this year, I think we will rarely worry about Sark & Nuss judgement on QB talent. I am way more worried about our OL and Secondary recruiting.
RIGHT ON!
Dawg Tracks gets it. Sark is a QB coach in nature. He played one in college and he knows his offese. We are going to get GREAT QB talent in here. Maybe if Heaps isn’t mormon he commits to UDub, that’s how I see it anyway.
Dawg Tracks said it all and I have to say he posted the best post I’ve ever read on this blog.
All I saw was purple
Jesse Scroggins has been a better target all along...
I understand the “why” of pursuing a homegrown talent like Heaps but Scroggins seems like a much better prospect because his versatility as an athlete seems far superior to Heaps and he’s exceled against better competition. I’m wary of Nick Montana because I believe there is a lot of hype surrounding him due to his last name, in fact it might be impossible to get an objective scouting report on the kid. Good luck to Heaps but if we get Scroggins it will be an upgrade.
It's all about getting the right guy
The main idea is to get the right kid to commit, the kid that fits into your plans like a glove. Maybe Heaps didn’t fit perfectly, but I am willing to bet that one of the 3 (Heaps, Montana, Scroggins) fits perfectly into Sark’s offense.
Again I don’t think Sark was targeting Jake Heaps. I think he was being heavily pursued to add flavor to the upcoming recruiting class. If I am a young BCS-level college football coach, who is in charge or rebuilding a historically tough football program that just went 0-12. I can’t put much stock into a kid that may or may not leave the program for 2 years right in the middle of the rebuilding process for a mormon mission. It spells career suicide!
Montana or Scroggins is the target- stay tuned…
All I saw was purple
Hype on Montana
Yes, there is a lot of Hype with Montana, but he also plays for a powerhouse school (Oaks Christian) which over the past several years has become a hotbed for talent similar to Mater Dei in Santa Ana. Rest assured that Nick has the talent, pedigree and game experience to be considered a very good “get” for UW.
Hype?
The kid is pretty good no matter what his last name or who his father is.
He has earned whatever hype he has gotten by his performance.
It will be interesting to see him go head to head against Heaps this fall.
If he commits would you root for Oaks Christian or Skyline?
Could be a pretty interesting matchup.
by John Berkowitz on Jun 6, 2009 3:17 PM PDT up reply actions
I agree with you...
My point was that he is worth all the attention he is getting…IMHO Oaks Christian is probably one of the best sports programs on the west coast and anyone who is playing on their FB team is worth a look. We are very very lucky Sark has a relationship at that school.
yes Hype John...
I never said Montana wasn’t a good QB but I didn’t just discover Nick Montana this year either. Before Nick Montana even set foot on Oaks Christian campus he was receiving regional/national press coverage. And I know he wasn’t a starter at DeLasalle before he transferred (he was JV Qb, which is why he transferred) and he wasn’t a lock to start at Oaks Christian ….he wasn’t even the projected starter at Oaks Christian when he transferred because no one knew how he would peform but yet the hype machine was already in full effect. So that hype he definitely did not earn…..What Montana did afterwards at Oaks Christian is different, of course but its not like they lacked talent…and you still have to acknowledge that as a Montana he will get the benefit of the doubt from some people as a result.
by 206 on Jun 8, 2009 1:37 PM PDT up reply actions
My understanding is that DeLasalle ran an option offense that was not suited to Montana’s strengths, so I wouldn’t read too much into him not starting there and transferring to Oaks Christian.
I think the Montana hype could actually be a plus for the UW – obviously his name carries a lot of weight, and if Montana were to commit to the UW, there would be the added publicity of him and his dad, especially if Joe is on the UW sidelines for games.
Whether or not he’s really an elite QB, I don’t know – but if Sarkisian and Nussmeier are pursing him, I have to assume they know what they’re doing. Plus, if Keith Price is as advertised, Montana (or Scroggins, or whoever) might only get their Senior year as a starter anyway…
So, in other words...
It was another consequence of Emmert’s colossally stupid program-killing decision to retain Willingham in 2007.
Think of it this way...
If Ty wasn’t retained then we wouldn’t have the best young coaches in the business hired on now. Instead we might’ve hired frumpy ole’ Pat Hill.
Although going 0-12 was devastating to us all- we got the right guys hired on to rebuild this program. I’m stoked!
Go Dawgs! WOOF!!!
All I saw was purple
How are they the best young coaches in the business?
Just because you want to believe it doesn’t make it so.
Oaks Christian High School
I was just looking at its senior roster and came to the conclusion that Sark should just offer the whole roster.
An Interesting Contrast In Recruiting
I’ve known about the Heaps decision in principle for better than a month now, but didn’t want to sound like some chump with “insider” knowledge professing. I work closely with a local Seattle-area HS head football coach who was directly connected to Skyline and Heaps for several years. During that time with Skyline his primary duty involved two words: Jake Heaps.
My friend had shared a number of things with me over the last few months which he asked me to keep hushed until Jake had committed. John has already shared some of this on the board, but anyway:
- Regardless of what he’s been saying publicly, Heaps decided MONTHS ago he was headed to BYU. His primary reason for the poker face has been to be a “good teammate” and keep the recruiters coming to Skyline HS. Jake figured that if he could keep the recruiters coming to watch his workouts, he could possibly help a teammate get noticed who heretofore had been flying below the radar. My coaching friend swears that Jake is all about team, and is the ultimate, consummate teammate.
- Religious views were very, very high on the list (Heaps attends 6 AM seminary 4 days each week—every day but Wednesday—before school), but hardly the only reason. Yes, BYU was the first to offer him, but as John noted, their recruiting was RELENTLESS. Both Mendenhall and their QB coach Brandon Doman were in weekly contact with Heaps. All phone calls were legit as they were dialed by Heaps. Heaps conveniently had Doman’s cell phone number and called him every Wednesday evening.
- UW offered Heaps second, and more importantly, after offering Heaps they basically disappeared. Not until Steve Gervais was hired to Willingham’s staff and shared with WIllingham how relentless BYU’s recruiting had been did Tim Lappano see to it that Heaps got ahold of his own cell number and started having their weekly conversations with Heaps. Doman’s weekly conversations started with Heaps in mid-October, 2007, while Lappano didn’t start speaking weekly with Heaps until May, 2008.
- Of greater note about these weekly conversations, the relationship between Heaps and Doman transcended football. Many of the conversations between Heaps and Doman were about a full range of topics OTHER than football and could last quite a long lime, while comparatively, the conversations with Lappano were “all business”…that is, only about football and were generally over in 10-20 minutes.
- BYU was recruiting the Skyline coaching staff as hard as they were recruiting Heaps. Last spring at the BYU high school coaches workshop, any guesses who the keynote speaker was on running the spread offense at the high school level? Does the name of Skyline Head Coach Mat Taylor surprise anyone? Taylor and his offensive coordinator were flown to Salt Lake City first class, picked up and driven to the finest seafood restaurant in Salt Lake City, put up at the nicest hotel in SLC with a top-of-the-line suite, and found a full range of top-end BYU sweats, hats, portfolio bags, etc. as gifts waiting for them at the hotel, followed—of course—by a dinner at the finest steakhouse in SLC. Just FYI, Taylor is a huge Dawg fan, too, but apparently no such similar thoughts in recruiting the coaches ever occurred to Ty Willingham.
- Heaps’s football IQ is off the charts, and likewise, so is his knowledge already of the BYU offense. While Skyline was in Portland last fall to play their game on ESPN, Heaps watched the UW vs. BYU game together from his coaching staff’s hotel room. According to my connection, Heaps was calling out the BYU plays with about 80% accuracy as soon as they came up to the line, simply based on down, distance, situation, and field position. My friend joked that it seemed to him that Heaps already possesses a greater knowledge of the BYU offense than 95% of the guys presently on that roster.
- My friend made it clear, Heaps is a HUGE Dawg fan and said that Sark did everything, EVERYTHING right in his recruiting, but that it was just too little, too late. During that UW vs. BYU game he was actually pulling for UW to win, oddly enough. He told me it was very odd to on one hand see Heaps with such passion for UW, but at the same time be so obviously emotionally connected to BYU.
Anyway, I don’t know how much of this is “new”, but thought some of you may find it interesting stuff.
by Purple Reign 91 on Jun 6, 2009 10:17 AM PDT reply actions
Wow...
That was some awesome insight….thanks for sharing. Great to hear that Sark did everything right. It makes me feel confident that our recruiting program is going to turn the corner over the next 18 months.
Adam let me know about it a month ago.
We decided not to run the story back then because we think a kid has the right to announce his own decision in his own time frame. No matter what choice he decided to make it is one of those once in a lifetime moments that need to be respected. I also respected Adam’s source and didn’t want to reveal him. If you run a story like that you should reveal the source.
I did run it by my friends at Dawgman who were still confident that Jake hadn’t made up his mind yet…they were wrong…then again they were going with what the family was telling them.
As far as Coach Taylor goes he seemed to have milked it for what it was worth according to numerous sources. I don’t know if that is right or wrong to tell you the truth. I do know he wouldn’t have had a problem if Jake had chosen UW. Sounds like more of a coat tail ride than anything else.
by John Berkowitz on Jun 6, 2009 3:26 PM PDT up reply actions
Regardless of what he’s been saying publicly, Heaps decided MONTHS ago he was headed to BYU.
Well, that certainly puts an interesting light on the fact that Jake was hosting 2009 BYU commit Kyle Van Noy a few months ago, even taking him to the 2nd UW Spring scrimmage where the two were laughing and inseparable on the UW sideline. Jake might not have been 100% certain at that point, but I’ll bet he was 95% certain.
FANTASTIC POST PR91
A brilliant and well written post Purple Reign. Thanks for sharing your insight. A couple salient points for me jumped out.
“…the relationship between Heaps and Doman transcended football.”
This is the value of building relationships. And that takes time as much as skill. Doman and Heaps went beyond the business at hand to more personal, life-related issues important to Jake. You know you close to a kid’s heart when you can do that.
That BYU could overcome Jake’s natural propensity to be a Dawg says just how important ‘relationships’ are.
Human nature 101.
“…their recruiting was RELENTLESS.”
A full court press by BYU. The ‘gods’ from Provo knew that anything less probably wouldn’t work.
Formulate a strategic plan, and then follow-up consistently, persistently…and I love this word, “relentlessly.” Mendenhall and Doman — guys that recruit this well and this hard — know it ain’t over till Jake can sign his LOI in Feb 2010. They’ll continue to ‘work’ the relationship.
“UW offered Heaps second, and more importantly, after offering Heaps they basically disappeared.”
One word sums up the recruiting of Heaps by Willingham’s Washington: HUBRIS.
They didn’t try all that hard — nowhere near the effort of BYU — because they thought that the local “culture” and UW’s “tradition” would keep him home. Who would choose Provo when they can play in Seattle?
We’ve just seen the results of such arrogance.
OK, Dawg fans. We’ve seen how it can be done. This is the “blue chip” recruiting standard we should judge current UW coaches. After all, we too will be trying to snatch kids from a lot out-of-state locations; kids whose “natural loyalties” are not purple & gold.
The good news is that Sark did everything right. I’ve got a lot of confidence in his recruiting prowess going forward.
A final and last thought on the Heaps fiasco.
Too many comments have posited that, “Well, Heaps is not the best fit anyways for us anyways because…yada, yada, yada”. We’ll take (fill in the blank).
I’ll let the our coaches make that decision. I do know that Sark doesn’t agree: he wanted Heaps badly or he wouldn’t have tried as hard as he did for the short time he had.
Dawg fans who rationalize the loss of Heaps are — let me put this bluntly — in denial. To think we’ll just take Montana or Scoggins as they might be a bit better fit for our new offensive style is also pure hubris.
That’s kinda like getting spurned by Angelina Jolie and saying that Uma Thurman might be a better date for this year’s prom.
As if Uma is sitting by the phone waiting patiently for our call.
We’ve had no guarantee that Montana or Scroggins will come. At all. Both have a host of really good schools going after them.
Sounds like we don’t have to work just harder. But smarter as well.
Hubris
Tough to say who will be better…Montana, Heaps, Scroggins, Bennett, or whoever we end up with.
I know they all have a good shot at being pretty good.
by John Berkowitz on Jun 7, 2009 11:57 AM PDT up reply actions
If their is any truth to this I think the NCAA might look into improper benefits. Coaching staff cashing in on their prize kid? Meanwhile all the rest of the H.S. coaches squatting in the Sleep Inn w/ complimentary breakfast: old lukewarm coffee with dried up toast or day-old donuts.
Not that this is any new news. Everybody is doing something to get the edge anyway.
All I saw was purple
Mitigation
Crazi,
I didn’t read PR91’s post that way.
He noted that Mat Taylor was ‘chosen’ as the keynote speaker for their high school coaches workshop.
Wouldn’t that mean that they have to cover the costs of speaker? And if he’s out of state, that would include transportation, board and room.
Yeah, it helped the recruiting of Heaps, but there’s no direct link.
BYU can say Taylor is a well qualified coach and very prestigious given Skyline’ recent football success. BYU can point to the budget they have for this annual ‘do’ and, as they recruit nationally, they sometimes bring in successful HS coaches from beyond Utah.
Taylor is certainly a worthy and qualified person to address Utah’s HS coaches.
From BYU’s ‘real’ prospective, it helps neutralize the influence Heap’s coaches may have had on his decision process. As PR91 notes, “Taylor is a huge Dawg fan,” but after a trip like that he might like Provo enough to keep his comments/influence at least neutral.
Achieve that, and BYU has at least mitigated local coach factor. That’s the worst case. The good scenario is the local coach is saying great stuff about BYU.
Ya gotta really hand it to BYU. These guys left no stone unturned.
Very smart recruiting.
“…apparently no such similar thoughts in recruiting the coaches ever occurred to Ty Willingham.”
And this guy was getting paid well over a million bucks a year? He didn’t know that a kid’s HS coaches are usually one of his biggest influences?
Isn’t that Recruiting 101?
We should learn to listen. ND posters were telling us for years Ty was a bad recruiter. This episode certainly pours gas onto that fire.
We all know BYU was in bed with the Skyline coaches to get their prize recruit. If they were flown in 1st class, offered an astonishing seafood dinner at S.L.C. finest, put up in a 4 star hotel it sounds as if they didn’t spare any expense. And for that I personally believe could be considered a recruiting violation by NCAA rules. Oh they’re justifying it by being the keynote speaker, yet in this economy it’s laughable at best!
College coaches through out the entire landscape push the gray area in terms of what is allowed per NCAA regulations- has been since the inception of big time college football. I’m not saying BYU didn’t do what other schools aren’t doing. Other schools are attempting to redefine the gray area in recruiting too. Let’s not just point fingers at USC.
It sounds as if BYU got around another rule of contacting recruits too by the player in question calling the BYU coaches instead of the coaches calling him. I love what BYU is doing, don’t get me wrong. They are being aggressive go-getting recruiters. All the major players in college football are getting around or side stepping rules involving recruitment. But let’s be honest the Skyline coaches cashed in on what “could” be considered improper benefits by the BYU coaches lavishing them with king-like accomidations that the other local prep coaches didn’t receive. No cash involved, no gifts, just a paid vacation and treated like a god for an extended weekend.
All I saw was purple
It sounds as if BYU got around another rule of contacting recruits too by the player in question calling the BYU coaches instead of the coaches calling him.
It’s hardly “getting around a rule” crazi – recruits can contact coaches anytime they want. What BYU did so well is connecting with Jake on a deep enough level that he wanted to call them on a weekly basis – a connection that didn’t happen with any of the UW coaches under Ty.
Give BYU credit for a recruiting job well done, and give one more spit of disgust for the fraud that used to be our coach.
I am giving them tremendous credit. They worked hard to land the recruit.
I know it is perfectly within the rules for recruits to contact coaches as often as they so choose. But you have to agree that these coaches are urging recruits to call them anytime they want just so that they stay in contact with the recruit and also so the coaching staff can side step the rule pertaining to communicating w/ recruits.
Why am I up in arms? The way the message was sent. PR91 made it sound as if these coaches were receiving improper benefits. I believe it was improper benefits because these coaches were offered the red carpet treatment, while I suppose the local coaches did not. Yet they can justify it by labeling the coaches as the keynote speakers.
Why do I sound a bit miffed? Us Husky fans were up in arms about the WSU program offering a hungry kid (recruit) a hamburger on the way to the airport. What sounds worse offering a hungry kid a hamburger or giving a coaching staff 1st class airfare, an astonishing seafood dinner at S.L.C. finest, and put up in a 4 star hotel?
Recruit or no recruit- if I’ve got a hungry kid w/ me and he has no money to get something to eat, I am buying him a cheeseburger.
In the end, again if any of it is true, let’s just say I wouldn’t be surprised if the NCAA came snooping around. If WSU can get reprimanded for offering a hungry kid a hamburger then surely BYU crossed the line.
All I saw was purple
But you have to agree that these coaches are urging recruits to call them anytime they want just so that they stay in contact with the recruit and also so the coaching staff can side step the rule pertaining to communicating w/ recruits
Sure they are, and any coaching staff that isn’t doing that is stupid. Again, the key point here is that Jake had a good enough relationship with the BYU coaches that he wanted to call them regularly.
As far as the treatment of the Skyline coaching staff, I’ll leave that up to the experts. If what they did is within the rules, congrats to BYU for smart recruiting. If it’s not, I hope they get busted.
I expect Sarkisian and staff to do the same thing – recruit to the best of their ability within the rules.
Taylor and Heaps
From what I hear Heaps had his mind made up 95% before Taylor was even hired.
by John Berkowitz on Jun 7, 2009 11:59 AM PDT up reply actions
ThaiDiamond Read My Post As Intended
Simply put, BYU tried harder than Willingham’s staff, and to borrow ThaiDiamond’s line, they “left no stone unturned.” Treating the Skyline staff to a first-class stay in SLC was smart, intelligent recruiting. They ought not be condemned for outworking Ty and staff.
by Purple Reign 91 on Jun 7, 2009 3:52 PM PDT up reply actions
A HS Salary
Final thought guys…think about the salary levels of these HS coaches. I’m no expert here, but I would guess that salaries are significantly LOWER than say UW coaches…waay waay lower.
Perhaps Utah’s finest seafood will taste a lot better and 5 star rooms be much more comfortable to a guy on a HS ticket?
The High School Coaching Salary Depends on Where You're Employed
As a former Athletic Director, I can tell you with 100% certainty that the “salary” range for HS coaches varies by the given program and the history of its success…or rather, the lack thereof. It was well-documented in The Seattle Times several years ago that Butch Goncharoff at Bellevue High School commanded a coaching income of over $60K per year, $5K from the Bellevue School District as his coaching stipend, and $55K+ from the Bellevue HS Football Booster Club as supplement to his salary. My connections in “the industry” tell me that Goncharoff is now pulling in closer to $80K, but this is all second-and-third hand info, so while I don’t doubt my connection’s knowledge, I can’t definitively state that I know how accurate that figure is. My friend from Skyline assures me that the Skyline staff is “very well taken-care of” by their own booster club; while he would not divulge what he was pulling in from his work with Skyline, suffice to say that his salary in a supporting role on their staff was above and beyond what many head coaches were making at lesser programs.
Salary is also only part of the equation, as well. I’ve seen first-hand the perks supplied to my buddy by the Skyline Football Booster Club. By his own account, he has “40 to 50” top-of-the-line Nike Skyline coaching garments, shoes, sweats, foul-weather gear, etc., worth upwards of another $5K or more. Trust me, his stuff is light years nicer than the one basic embroidered jacket and polo shirt I could afford to buy for my coaches at the dinky school where I worked as AD.
Regardless, ThaiDiamond is very correct that in comparison to the salaries of top college coaches and their assistants, the HS salary and benefits are a miniscule. I certainly can’t blame the Skyline staff—nor any other HS coach—for accepting a nice dinner and hotel stay as incentive for speaking at a clinic.
by Purple Reign 91 on Jun 8, 2009 9:37 AM PDT up reply actions
Skyline's Spread
Sounds like Heaps was in a spread offense at Skyline. With that said, I am confident that Heaps was not the QB target Sark wants. I think we’d be better suited recruiting a kid(s) that understands the pro style offense.
Get Nick Montana! WOOF!!!
All I saw was purple
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