SMoney
Dodd-Like
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2004
- Messages
- 3,055
I cannot completely capture what he said word for word, but the way he put it certainly makes you feel at ease...
He basically said that the way he works, when you give your word, you give your word. Goes for a coach and a recruit. And when a recruit gives a coach a commitment, he expects that to be the end of that commit looking around. He encourages you not to commit until you are entirely ready to end it with everyone else. He does not believe in "soft verbals", and did one of his, "aw shucks, I don't even know what that is supposed to mean" type comments.
He said they recruited Aycock all year and was someone they really wanted. When he sat down with CPJ and told him he wanted to come to GT, Aycock knew what that meant. We went out of our way for him, including to keep his commitment silent (he didnt go into reasoning). He said he would have had no problem, and would have kept recruiting him up until signing day, if Aycock had sat down with him and said, "you know coach, I have these other schools I still want to take a look at, so I'll have to let you know once I've evaluated all my options". That is not how the conversation went though, so he expected him to keep his word. Aycock said he wanted to be at GT.
He said Aycock took some bad advice in deciding to take the visit to Auburn, but basically Aycock knew what that meant. If CPJ bent the rules for Aycock by letting him visit elsewhere and still commit here, it would make him look like he didnt stick to his word. So, they had no choice but to pull the ship. He doesn't hold it against him, and he said he wishes him nothing but the best and that he'll be a great player wherever he ends up. He also doesn't hold anything against Auburn either - made some comment about if another guy asks your girlfriend out and she ends up going out with him, you can't blame the other guy - it's all on the girlfriend.
Regarding stealing recruits from other programs - basically said that if other schools don't have a similar understanding with their recruits, it's their problem. He has no problem taking a recruit from elsewhere. If the other programs want to let their commits shop around, then that's a choice they make. But once someone gives their word to CPJ, they are expected to stick by it. And if you don't, there won't be hard feelings for you or the other school, but you won't be coming to GT to play football.
I think CPJ did the right thing. And we'll be better in the longrun for it. He did not seem as if he pressured Aycock in any way - recruits can take their time if they want, but once you give your word, you better stick to it.
*for anyone else that was watching, feel free to add to my comments or correct me if I misspoke.
He basically said that the way he works, when you give your word, you give your word. Goes for a coach and a recruit. And when a recruit gives a coach a commitment, he expects that to be the end of that commit looking around. He encourages you not to commit until you are entirely ready to end it with everyone else. He does not believe in "soft verbals", and did one of his, "aw shucks, I don't even know what that is supposed to mean" type comments.
He said they recruited Aycock all year and was someone they really wanted. When he sat down with CPJ and told him he wanted to come to GT, Aycock knew what that meant. We went out of our way for him, including to keep his commitment silent (he didnt go into reasoning). He said he would have had no problem, and would have kept recruiting him up until signing day, if Aycock had sat down with him and said, "you know coach, I have these other schools I still want to take a look at, so I'll have to let you know once I've evaluated all my options". That is not how the conversation went though, so he expected him to keep his word. Aycock said he wanted to be at GT.
He said Aycock took some bad advice in deciding to take the visit to Auburn, but basically Aycock knew what that meant. If CPJ bent the rules for Aycock by letting him visit elsewhere and still commit here, it would make him look like he didnt stick to his word. So, they had no choice but to pull the ship. He doesn't hold it against him, and he said he wishes him nothing but the best and that he'll be a great player wherever he ends up. He also doesn't hold anything against Auburn either - made some comment about if another guy asks your girlfriend out and she ends up going out with him, you can't blame the other guy - it's all on the girlfriend.
Regarding stealing recruits from other programs - basically said that if other schools don't have a similar understanding with their recruits, it's their problem. He has no problem taking a recruit from elsewhere. If the other programs want to let their commits shop around, then that's a choice they make. But once someone gives their word to CPJ, they are expected to stick by it. And if you don't, there won't be hard feelings for you or the other school, but you won't be coming to GT to play football.
I think CPJ did the right thing. And we'll be better in the longrun for it. He did not seem as if he pressured Aycock in any way - recruits can take their time if they want, but once you give your word, you better stick to it.
*for anyone else that was watching, feel free to add to my comments or correct me if I misspoke.
