Calling Signals : High School Coaches Direct Traffic in Helping Football Recruits Land a Free Ride to College

When John Elway completed his senior football season at Granada Hills High in 1978, Coach Darryl Stroh said that he felt like an appointment secretary. Scheduling the herd of college recruiters who wanted to talk to Elway was no easy chore.

“We’d have three or four people through here a day,” Stroh said. “It was a zoo. But I wanted to make sure John had a chance to talk with everyone so he could keep his options open.”

Elway did a lot of talking before selecting Stanford, in the process bypassing such schools as Notre Dame and USC.

Recruiters flocked to the Valley the past two years to vie for the services of Russell White, one of the top prospects in the country and whose name appeared on nearly every college’s preseason recruiting list. Although a disappointing senior season and low scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test scared off a few schools, most coaches still came knocking.

White eventually signed with Cal.

“I just tried to not let the whole thing overwhelm Russell,” said former Crespi Coach Bill Redell. “Recruiting is a very cutthroat business.”

Elway and White signed letters of intent on their own, but each relied heavily on his coach to help make the right choice. But reaching the decision required hours of preparation from both parties.

And the heaviest burden was put on the coaches, who were helping their players reach decisions they would have to live with for the next four or five years.

With Wednesday’s national letter-of-intent day drawing closer, several area players once again are relying on their coaches for guidance. But the extent of the advice they are receiving varies as much as the coaches themselves.

Few area coaches are as involved in the recruiting process as Montclair Prep’s George Giannini, who said that helping players earn scholarships is as important to him as winning football games.

“Isn’t a college-bound football player the bottom line in all of this?” Giannini asked.

Playing college ball certainly is the bottom line for Montclair Prep’s highly recruited running back Michael Jones, who has narrowed his choices to USC, Colorado, LSU, Georgia Tech and Miami. Jones said Thursday that he plans to announce his decision “in the next few days.”

But narrowing his choices to five schools was a lengthy and complicated process, one that Jones said was made easier because of his coach.

“Coach Giannini knows the system well and he lets his players benefit by it,” Jones said. “It’s funny, but everything he told me that would happen during recruiting did. It’s like he was a mind reader.”

Sylmar Coach Jeff Engilman said that he offers plenty of advice to his recruited players but stays far away from the final decision. Engilman, who sent dozens of players to the college ranks when he coached at Manual Arts from 1979 to 1984, prided himself on his hands-on approach. But sometimes his efforts backfired.

“At Manual Arts, I would help do everything for the players,” said Engilman, in his third year at Sylmar. “But a few of them came back after they went to college and yelled at me for sending them to that school. I don’t want to get in that predicament again.”

Engilman is being especially careful about offering advice to running back Jerome Casey, Sylmar’s 1,000-yard rusher who is being recruited by USC, Washington State, Washington and Nebraska.

Casey is being recruited by many schools as a defensive back, but he wants to play running back.

“This is my life and I want to make the decisions that will affect it,” Casey said. “Choosing a school is my decision, but it’s nice to know if I have a question or need some advice I can go to my coach and ask. Coach Engilman will tell me what is right and what is wrong.”

Many coaches are leery of becoming involved in the player’s final decision because they want to avoid any potential problems.

When Montclair Prep wide receiver Tim Stallworth picked Washington State over several Pacific 10 Conference schools in 1985, the normally involved Giannini was quiet.

“The coaches just wanted what was best for me,” Stallworth said. “They helped me weigh the options, but I pulled it all together for the final decision. I’m glad I ended up here.”

Not all coaches are as eager to get involved in the recruiting process as Giannini and Engilman. Notre Dame’s Kevin Rooney doesn’t shut the door on his players, but he prefers to stand back and let them handle their own destinies.

“I offer guidance and will help when asked,” Rooney said, “but I take a very low-keyed approach to the whole thing.”

Notre Dame running back Errol Small, another of the Valley’s top recruits, who recently made an oral commitment to USC, said that he had no problem with the individual freedom.

“This decision was all mine,” said Small, who rushed for 1,467 yards and scored 26 touchdowns in his senior season. “Coach Rooney leaves recruiting up to the athlete, and that was fine with me.”

Recruiting is big business with high stakes. The time needed to prepare players for the experience can be just as draining on the coaches--thus, the wide range of time commitments.

Coaches who get heavily involved in recruiting can expect a year-round commitment. Recruiting begins the spring before a football player’s senior season when college scouts make their first visits. Letters follow, and, if the interest continues, game film is sent to coaches, who arrange follow-up visits.

When players start taking their five allotted recruiting trips, the process heads to its conclusion: a final decision.

In between, coaches often are asked to offer advice, help evaluate offers and pick up the pieces when things don’t work out. College recruiters send out hundreds of letters each season, even though each school normally signs only about 25 players. So when letter-of-intent day rolls around, recruits often find themselves without an offer.

Canyon wide receiver Clint Beauer knows the frustration. Nearly 100 Division I schools expressed interest in him during the season, but as the recruiting season hit crunch time, attention waned. However, under prodding by Coach Harry Welch, New Mexico, Colorado State and Nevada Reno renewed their interest in Beauer, and Beauer committed to Nevada Reno this week.

“So many schools were interested in me, and then a lot just gave up,” said Beauer, a Times All-Valley selection. “I don’t know why. When the season was over, I was left with nothing. Coach Welch stepped in and helped open the eyes of a few coaches to the fact that I could still play.”

Welch said his experience has been that highly recruited players need less assistance than those who are more likely to play for a Division II school.

“I see myself as a resource,” Welch said. “I help clarify players’ questions and advise as needed. When things start to fall apart, which is often the case, I’ll gladly call around and see if I can generate same renewed interest. I try to work harder for those who really need it.”

Montclair Prep’s Giannini prefers to help players of all talent levels and has one of the most organized recruiting programs in the area. To help alert colleges to his players this past season, Giannini sent profiles of four prospects to 200 colleges. The information sheets included player position, size, speed, bench-press strength, grade-point average, SAT scores and other vital statistics.

Jones’ size and speed likely would have attracted recruiters without the help of Giannini, but the coach’s extra work really has paid off for Montclair Prep’s lesser-known prospects, including tight end-defensive end Jason Blatt, linebacker Greg Jones and defensive back Greg Cole. Division I schools are looking at all three.

“It’s unbelievable how much they try to help you out here,” said Blatt, a transfer from Chatsworth. “Last year, I didn’t feel like anybody cared, but that is no longer the case. The coaches work for you, they listen to what you want, and they try hard to get you a scholarship.

“Right now, I’m looking at several Ivy League schools and Northwestern,” Blatt said. “If I had stayed at Chatsworth, I probably would have ended up at a junior college if I wanted to play football.”

Although Engilman is less involved than Giannini, he still spends much of the off-season preparing college-bound players for the recruiting process. He starts the preparation during the player’s junior year by gathering background information. He talks to them about grades, interests and college preferences. When a player takes a recruiting trip, Engilman makes time the following Monday to help the player evaluate the trip.

“Ultimately, it’s their decision,” Engilman said. “You can give them all the advice in the world, but they’re the ones going to the school. And they have to be happy with the choice.”

Engilman has toned down his approach a bit over the years, but Crespi’s Redell said he found himself becoming more involved every year he was at the school.

“When I started at Crespi, I stayed out of recruiting,” said Redell, who coached the Celts in ’82 and again from 1985 to 1988. “But I changed that philosophy as time went on. I saw how important it was to the team.

“As our record improved, so did our personnel. The first time one of our players got recruited, everybody got very excited. When you get a player recruited by a big school, it motivates the other players to go out and do the same thing. They see the opportunities and they want a part of it too.”