Overcoming the Bayou Blues : It’s Not All Southern Hospitality When SDSU Recruits in Louisiana

The telephone in the San Diego State football office rang about 4:30 p.m.

The voice on the other end was strange, one Coach Al Luginbill had never heard. And when he did, the coach felt both chills and anger.

“Don’t send your assistant coach into Shreveport,” the caller said, “or he’s not coming out of there.”

It was Tuesday, Feb. 5, one day before national letter of intent day for high school football players. The Aztecs were aggressively recruiting four football players in Louisiana.

Luginbill and Curtis Johnson, an SDSU assistant who was the Aztecs’ primary recruiter in Louisiana, sensed things were different in the South. Now, they were becoming witnesses.

At roughly the same time Luginbill got the threatening call that day, another phone rang, this one in the home of Ray Johnson, Curtis’ father. Curtis Johnson was staying with his father in St. Rose, a New Orleans suburb, and the recruiter was preparing to sign Fred Harris, an outside linebacker from Shreveport’s Woodlawn High School. Harris, considered the No. 1 recruit in the state, also was being wooed by Louisiana State, Colorado and Mississippi, among others.

Johnson picked up the phone. He didn’t recognize the voice.

“Don’t sign him,” said the caller.

The caller used some foul language. Johnson quickly hung up. Then the phone rang again. And the same caller repeated similar phrases.

“Don’t take one of our boys,” he said.

Again, Johnson hung up. The way the caller used the word “boys,” Johnson, who is black, said he knew it was a racial inference.

“I’m from down there,” Johnson explained.

Then he added: “It was just a shock. I was stunned. I was . . . afraid. I kind of looked around.

“I knew I had to sign him.”

Johnson called Luginbill, and the two conferred. Recruiting can be an ugly business at times, but never before had Luginbill and his staff run into a situation of this proportion.

Of course, never before had they penetrated the South as deeply.

Tom Lavigne, an assistant coach at Ehret High School in New Orleans, said he was aware of the threats Johnson received. Lavigne, a friend of Johnson’s, did not discount the potential seriousness of even anonymous threats.

“Those people keep a bitter taste in their mouths for a long time,” Lavigne said. “Anything can happen on these winding roads.”

SDSU signed three players from Louisiana on Feb. 6, all of whom were picked by the New Orleans Times-Picayune among the state’s top 16 recruits. The Aztecs signed Marshall Faulk, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound running back from New Orleans Carver High; Ray Peterson, a 5-8, 160-pound wide receiver from New Orleans Walker High; and, yes, Harris, from Shreveport.

They also were recruiting Alan Zeno, a 6-2, 190-pound linebacker from New Orleans Ehret High, but he opted for Oklahoma.

But by the end of signing week, Luginbill was defending his program against vague charges of NCAA rules violations and other innuendo. He and Johnson endured threats, racial references, outright lies and “negative” recruiting. When it was over, they were shaking their heads.

The battle was particularly intense over Harris, the state’s Gatorade player of the year.

Many in Louisiana, though, were shocked when he picked SDSU. Among them was Dennis Dunn, 29, Harris’ coach at Woodlawn High.

Dunn was quoted in one newspaper the weekend after signing day as saying, “Somebody from the (NCAA) enforcement office called me Tuesday, just before the signing day, and told me there would be an investigation. The man told me I could expect somebody to be knocking on my door and asking questions.”

Sources close to the situation say it was Dunn who called the NCAA, because he wanted Harris either to stay in-state at LSU or attend Colorado.

An NCAA enforcement representative confirmed that the NCAA had received some information concerning Harris and also said that there were some vague charges about SDSU using a third party to recruit Harris. The representative said no charges have been substantiated to his knowledge.

Dunn said last week he has not talked to the NCAA since signing week. He also would neither confirm nor deny that he called the NCAA in the first place.

Said Dunn: “I don’t think it is important who made contact.”

In signing three of Louisiana’s top players, SDSU out-recruited LSU of the tradition-rich Southeastern Conference. The Tigers signed only two of the state’s top 16 players. Grambling, another Louisiana university with a good batch of football tradition, also signed two.

The Aztecs beat Nebraska and LSU on Faulk, who said he was impressed with Luginbill and his approach to academics. Minnesota, Oklahoma, Louisiana State, Louisiana Tech and Tulane were among the other schools after Peterson, who said he said he liked Johnson, SDSU and the city of San Diego.

Another thing Peterson liked was that the Aztecs started recruiting him in the spring of his junior year. The rest of the schools didn’t start recruiting him until the fall.

“(SDSU) did a great job in Louisiana,” said Byron Jones, Peterson’s coach at Walker High School in New Orleans. “I thought they did an outstanding job on Ray. Coach Johnson, he was down to earth. You could sense that he meant what he was saying.”

Lavigne, Zeno’s defensive coordinator at Ehret, said Zeno was “packed and ready to go” to SDSU before Oklahoma came on at the end. Lavigne, a former Grambling football player who became friendly with the SDSU staff several years ago through defensive backs coach Ron Mims, said the Aztecs did well in Louisiana in large part because of Johnson.

“CJ’s got this charisma about him,” said Lavigne, 40. “A kid can depend on him away from home. He has integrity and, the way the program is going, they’re doing it honestly. How could you not want to live in a place like San Diego? The sunshine . . . the kids see that. Then, when they play Miami that way on TV (a 30-28 SDSU loss Dec. 1), they’re doing some positive things. . . .”

Johnson, 29, used his background as a New Orleans-area native last year when SDSU successfully recruited cornerback Michael Landry from Ehret High. Landry didn’t meet academic qualifications last season but is eligible for spring ball.

Since the Aztecs weren’t getting the results Luginbill wanted in the San Francisco area, he decided last spring to back off there and go harder into Louisiana.

“We had researched this and felt that young men from Louisiana leave the state, for whatever reason,” Luginbill said.

Besides, he said, if players are going to leave Louisiana for the snow, why wouldn’t they come to San Diego?

“Our intention was to stay in the New Orleans area,” Luginbill said. “But we got a positive response from the Shreveport area, so we visited some young men.”

As far as players leaving the state, he was right. This year, 31 Louisiana players--including nine of the state’s top 16 prospects--went elsewhere.

Three went to SDSU . . . and there may be more to come.

“I know four kids (currently juniors), and (Johnson) can get them all,” Lavigne said. “I’m talking about big-time, stud football players. With that kind of stuff going on, you know (other schools) are going to try to stop it. . . .

“You’ve got to realize the mentality. Northern Louisiana, Shreveport, even New Orleans, they love the glamour of keeping kids in-state. They’ve got to throw some stories at a school like SDSU.”

For the most part, said Luginbill, the recruiting situation in New Orleans wasn’t problematic. Peterson committed early, and the Aztecs held off late bids by Nebraska and LSU to sign Faulk. Then there was Shreveport . . . and Harris.

SDSU began pursuing Harris last May after he returned a questionnaire indicating his interest in SDSU. They noticed that he had relatives in California--his mother’s twin sister and one of his brothers live in Long Beach.

“Whenever there is family living in close proximity to you,” Luginbill said, “that’s something you’re always going to check out.”

Johnson visited Woodlawn for the first time last spring.

“It was the day (Woodlawn alumnus) Terry Bradshaw was there,” Johnson said. “It went great.”

Something soured. By the time Johnson visited in mid-December, Dunn suddenly became uncooperative, the recruiter said. Dunn told Aztec coaches Harris didn’t want to visit SDSU.

“Everything seemed to be adversarial toward Curtis from the point (Dunn) knew SDSU was a legitimate choice for the young man,” Luginbill said.

By December, Johnson and Luginbill were dealing directly with the Harris and his mother and avoiding Dunn and Woodlawn High.

“My mom told them (to do that),” Fred Harris said. “When they asked for film, he wouldn’t give it to them.”

Luginbill and Johnson say they sent three blank videotapes to Dunn, asking him to make copies of game films so they could scout Harris. Although this is a common recruiting practice, Luginbill said Dunn never returned the tapes.

“If a coach doesn’t want to give his video of a player, obviously he doesn’t want us recruiting the player,” Luginbill said. “But the coach is not in charge of the young man’s life.”

The Aztecs ended up getting scouting video on Harris from Neville High School in Monroe, La., about 100 miles from Shreveport.

Dunn, meanwhile, complained that SDSU was unethical.

“With every other kid I’ve ever coached, ethically, the school recruiting him came through me,” Dunn said. “I don’t have an ego problem, I just thought it was an unwritten rule, or code, that you go through the proper channels. That didn’t happen.”

Said Harris: “I like my head coach. I’ve been playing since I was a freshman, and he’s supported me all the way. He said, ‘Wherever you go (to college), I’ll be satisfied.’ I go to San Diego State and come back, and he says, ‘You didn’t commit, did you?’ He was against me going out there. He didn’t like the idea of me going to California.”

Dunn says he was wary because he thought Ollie Harris was pushing SDSU.

“That may be where the kid wanted to go to school, but he never indicated that to me,” Dunn said. “Even up until the day before signing it was Colorado or LSU. He didn’t want to go to SDSU, that’s what he told me. The mama told me SDSU was where he was going, period.”

Harris visited SDSU the second weekend of January. A few days later, on Jan. 21, Luginbill flew to Louisiana for a home visit with Harris.

Harris traveled to Colorado the following weekend. And a few days later, Bill McCartney, Colorado coach, said Harris committed to him .

“I can guarantee you he wanted to come to Colorado,” McCartney said.

McCartney said that Harris committed to Colorado on his visit there and again during a follow-up visit McCartney made to Shreveport.

“He told me he didn’t want to take any more trips,” McCartney said. “But his mom came on strong and said no, he’s making all of his trips. We thought to the end that he was going to be strong enough to go to the school he wanted to. In the end, she prevailed.”

Said Dunn: “Fred verbally committed to Bill McCartney in my office. He said he didn’t want to visit any other school. He told me after Coach McCartney left that he wanted to go to Colorado but that his mother wouldn’t let him do it.”

Both Harris and his mother deny he ever orally committed to Colorado, and Luginbill disagrees that Ollie Harris made Fred’s decision.

“That was not the case when I was in the home,” he said. “She was adamant that Fred make the decision on his own . . . My personal opinion is that I think it’s a crutch. Now, all of a sudden, blame it on the mother.”

Said Ollie Harris: “Everybody said it was his mother. My son is my son. Whatever decision he made, he made it with us. We decided, not just him. He went to (SDSU) and decided that’s where he wanted to go, and that’s what he chose. I went along with it. I wasn’t going to let nobody, and I mean nobody, change it.”

Fred Harris said he committed to SDSU about a week before signing day. Luginbill, though, wasn’t comfortable he would get Harris until the Tuesday before signing day.

Other universities had not given up.

“(The phone) was smoking,” said Fred’s mother, who shielded Fred from most of the calls.

“It was terrifying,” Fred said. “I didn’t want to go through it. Every day, I heard something different.”

Stories? He heard a lot about SDSU, he said, from other recruiters. One told him SDSU was in trouble with the NCAA and would possibly get the death penalty. Harris asked Johnson about this. No, Harris was assured, the Aztec football program has never had NCAA problems, and there was certainly no danger of the death penalty.

That wasn’t all. You don’t want to go to SDSU, recruiters told Harris. The school is never on national television. It has a bad football program. The academics are lousy. And why did it send Johnson, a receivers’ coach, anyway? It should have sent a linebackers’ coach.

Harris heard an earful. Mostly, he said, he heard it from Colorado, Louisiana State, and Louisiana Tech.

“We don’t back down from anybody,” Luginbill said. “Not every young man in the country wants to go to Boulder, Colo. This one didn’t want to go there. There are two ends of the spectrum.”

Even after Harris committed, there were problems. On that Tuesday--the day Luginbill and Johnson received the threatening phone calls--Dunn called Luginbill.

“He (told) me there had been violations in the recruiting of Fred Harris,” Luginbill said. “He said we had been in the home too often.

“I said, ‘I beg your pardon? We have not.’ After I said that, he said, ‘Your young coach is unethical, he’s not going through me.’ I said, ‘Coach, we were told by the mother not to go into the high school anymore.’

“I told him, ‘If you have any known violations, be my guest. Call the NCAA. We have not violated any NCAA rules.’ I felt he was blackmailing me. Why else would he call? Why haven’t I heard from him up until then? I think I’ve been in this business long enough to perceive when there’s a last-ditch effort to turn a kid around.”

Said Dunn: “I told him I was hearing some things and that I wanted to let him know what I was hearing. I think he felt like I was partial to another college, that he was in enemy territory and I was on the side of the enemy.”

Luginbill: “We recruited in New Orleans and had no problem. I think we ran into an individual who did not want Fred Harris coming to San Diego State. Other universities certainly fanned the fire because they felt they could intimidate me and Curtis to pull ourselves out of the recruiting process. We were not going to do that.”

After the threats were made Tuesday afternoon, Luginbill made sure Johnson would have someone with him in Shreveport. Johnson went with his brother-in-law and cousin. They didn’t encounter any problems.

“Not knowing the ways of the South, (the threats) got my attention real quick,” Luginbill said. “I don’t like that type of thing. It doesn’t belong in our profession. I don’t know who was involved, but I think it’s a shame. This situation had gotten out of hand. I’m told from people in the South that this is a common practice. I have never seen this in the West.

“There is the mentality of intimidation in the South. They play by a different set of rules.”

Meanwhile, because of the threats and because Faulk was vacillating between SDSU, Nebraska and LSU as the final hours approached, Luginbill decided to send assistant coach Bret Ingalls to New Orleans that Tuesday night so Ingalls could be with Faulk--who doesn’t have a phone--while Johnson drove the six hours to Shreveport.

“If I could have gone, I would have,” Luginbill said. “But it’s against NCAA rules.”

Also because of the threats, they changed Harris’ signing time. Originally scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, it was moved to 8:30 a.m.

It was also done at the school. NCAA rules prohibit more than three home visits, and Luginbill said SDSU had already been there three times. So on signing day, Johnson waited on the street outside the Harris home and followed Fred to school.

“(Other schools) were at the home, waiting to see if I’d go in,” Johnson said. “Fred was so afraid, he stayed on the porch and I stayed on the street.”

Harris said an assistant coach from Louisiana Tech was parked down the street, staking out the house.

Why all the fuss?

“He’s a top talent,” McCartney said. “He can run, he’s aggressive, he has a big frame. He’s a big, lanky kid who can flat-out run. He has tremendous potential.”

Said LSU Coach Curley Hallman: “The biggest thing about Fred Harris is that he is an outstanding player and a great young man. He’s a youngster we really wanted.”

McCartney and Hallman, along with assistant coaches at their schools and at Mississippi, all said they couldn’t substantiate any NCAA rules violations on SDSU’s part.

Luginbill was adamant that he and all SDSU assistants recruited by the book.

“If we’re found guilty of breaking NCAA rules, then the university should fire me,” Luginbill said.

Despite accusing SDSU of unethical conduct, Dunn said he couldn’t prove Aztec coaches did anything illegal.

“I’ve understood (Luginbill) is a very aggressive recruiter,” Dunn said. “If (what he’s doing) is legal, somebody better go visit him to see what he’s doing. He’s getting kids he normally wouldn’t get.

“Folks in New York and Florida better go visit Al Luginbill, if he’s doing it right, so they can start doing it.

“I don’t think avoiding the head coach is the way to do it.”

All in all, this was a part of The Louisiana Experience that Luginbill would not like to repeat anytime soon.

However, Luginbill said he will not be intimidated, and that, if they find a player they like, the Aztecs will be back in Louisiana to recruit next year.

“Uh-huh,” Luginbill said firmly. “We’ll research it. I don’t know how much we’ll get out of New Orleans. It might not be time-effective for us.

“I’m sure we got people’s attention,” Luginbill said. “So be it. We are building, we are an up-and-coming program. On the way, there’s going to be people we beat on the recruiting trails. They aren’t going to like it, but that’s life . . .

“I am not at all bitter. I feel like I’ve learned. I do have a tremendous amount of empathy for Curtis. I don’t think anybody should have to go through that.”

Harris has yet to qualify for admission to SDSU because he was two points short on his ACT test. He re-took the test Feb. 9 and hopes to get his score this week.

Luginbill and his assistants, meanwhile, are back at work after a two-week vacation. For another year, recruiting is finished. Spring football begins April 3.