I remember reading once that the difference in their minds at the time was that football was beginning to influence decisions made within the schools, so they opted out.
They recognized in the early going how much football was being driven (or driving?) by big money. None of the other sports were that way, though basketball has largely went in that direction over the last 30 years.
It seems to me if a school can get exposure to a new recruiting area by doing something extra-special nice for it's current players...that's having your cake and eating it too. Cleverly devious
. I'm like the other guys, let Saban mention spring practice in Hawaii and just watch everybody come unglued.
I don't think too many people will believe that is the real reason anymore than if Saban said he wanted to expose Hawaii to the Crimson Tide.
I remember when Curry was Bama's coach he arranged to take the team members to the funeral of a Bama player. At first the NCAA said it was a violation. They later changed their minds. Surely, they should have a problem with Michigan.The NCAA frowns upon teams getting an unfair advantage over other teams. Some teams probably cannot afford such a trip.
She could make any recruit think about changing their commitment!
The thing is no one wants to go anywhere but Florida or California. Nobody is going to take a road trip to Michigan or Ohio in early Spring.
I always seem to agree with everything you say here, B1G. Never been that fond of OSU, going back to my days in the MD drumline the year (1986 I think) when we played you guys in New York (well actually East-Rutherford, NJ) for the kick-off classic.
Hey, my wife and I were in the MDB for that game too.
I was in the stands. I vividly remember being harassed by OSU fans (not in a manner I thought too outrageous, just things like "Bama sucks") as I pulled into the parking lot there. The game was a real nail-biter up until the end. I used to have that game on tape. I didn't hear too much from the OSU fans as I was leaving. IIRC, Derrick Thomas made that game very, very interesting on Bama's last defensive stand. Possibly one of those events that helped lead up to my quintuple bypass in '99.
