14 Damned good SEC head coach pitches before National Signing Day
Dear SEC head coaches,
We know here at the SEC Football Blog that it’s a busy time for you, so we’ve put together some easy pitches that you should make when the recruits visit on the last weekend before National Signing Day.
ALABAMA (Nick Saban)
On Sunday you’ll be watching the Super Bowl, and you’ll be watching Dont’a Hightower, playing for the Patriots. I recruited him. He played for me. He’s now playing in front of millions. I’m recruiting you because I believe you’re good enough to come play for me at the University of Alabama, and go on to play on 32 teams in the NFL. If you believe you are good enough, come join me in Tuscaloosa, and be part of something special.
ARKANSAS (BRET BIELEMA)
We got through 2014 because we believed. We could easily have folded after losing that heartbreaker to Texas A&M, but we didn’t. We know we should have beaten Alabama, and we beat the hell out of Ole Miss, LSU and Texas. Come be part of something sensational in Fayetteville.
AUBURN (GUS MALZAHN)
You’re fast, you’re fit, and you’re ready to play for Auburn. That’s why I’m sitting in front of you now. You can be a part of a team that moves at a pace that makes the rest of the SEC pause and say: “Why can’t we go that quickly?”. We are fast. We are good. And the thousands who love us in Jordan-Hare will tell you that.
FLORIDA (JIM MCELWAIN)
I’m not going to lie to you: Last year was a tough year. I’m also not going to lie to you: Florida is going to be a challenge. The Florida Gators have been beaten up and laughed at by the SEC and the rest of the country. But the Gators will rise. We will rise because the coaching staff won’t let it happen again. We will rise because The Swamp won’t let it happen again. We believe in Florida. Do you?
GEORGIA (MARK RICHT)
I want you to come to play for me in Athens because I believe in you. I believe that you can get us over the hump of being potential SEC Champions to actual SEC Champions. I believe in the team. If I didn’t believe in the team, I would have resigned with all the crap that I get from the fanbase. But I haven’t, because I believe in what’s happening here between the hedges. We are the talent, and in you, we have a difference-maker.
KENTUCKY (MARK STOOPS)
It’s strange, because many people think Kentucky’s “just a basketball school”. Let me show you a DVD of our fans before the South Carolina game, and please tell me if you think we’re just a basketball school now.
LSU (LES MILES)
See those one-handed catches that Odell Beckham’s makes? That’s a LSU grad. See Jarvis Landry standing out for Miami? That’s a LSU grad. Patrick Peterson? LSU. Kyle Williams? LSU. You can be the next LSU grad tearing it up in the NFL. That’s why we want you to come play for us, because we believe you can.
MISSISSIPPI STATE (DAN MULLEN)
This team went from ignored to something in the space of a season because it believes in itself. I believe that you can come and bring that ‘something’ to Starkville. Dak Prescott’s back because he believes in us. I believe in you, too.
MISSOURI (GARY PINKEL)
Two years in the SEC, and we’ve gotten to two SEC Championship Games. This isn’t a Big 12 or Big Ten team, it’s a SEC player, and people recognise it now. People recognise how much we scare people, and we want you because you’ll scare them even more. You’re a hell of an athlete. You know that. That’s why we’re coming to see you. But you in yellow and black. Even scarier.
OLE MISS (HUGH FREEZE)
This team beat Alabama, and you’ve never seen an atmosphere like it. We believed. But then, when the Rebels were having bad years, the fans still came and still believed. That’s because in Oxford, people live and breathe their Rebels. We have a side that is going to be a difference-maker in the SEC this year, and we want you to be part of it. Because when you beat Alabama and Auburn and all the rest of the competition in your years at Ole Miss, the fans will live and breathe you, too!
SOUTH CAROLINA (STEVE SPURRIER)
I’m not retiring. I’ve coached Heisman winners, and I’ve coached teams to National Championships. I love to beat Georgia. I love the noise in Williams-Brice. Those fans are believers. There’s nothing worse than seeing the fans suffer when we lose. It’s like worse than when I told my son that Santa Claus didn’t exist. But the fans have faith. I have faith. Come play for them. Come be a hero.
TENNESSEE (BUTCH JONES)
Checkerboard end-zone with over 100,000 people screaming your name in Neyland Stadium. The place is so noisy on third downs I swear to God that it shakes. We want you to come make your name like Peyton Manning did in our stadium. A lot of players are coming to us this year because they believe in what we’re doing here, and what we will do here. Come be part of that group.
TEXAS A&M (KEVIN SUMLIN)
Over the last two years, we’ve won a Heisman Trophy and put a lot of players in the NFL. There’s one group we should be putting in the NFL, because they play the hardest for us, win or lose: And that’s our fans. Don’t believe the Seattle crap about the “12th Man”, because that’s not a Seattle tradition. It’s a Texas A&M tradition. Aggies fans fight for their team and remain faithful. They’ve done it in the good teams, and by God they’ve done it in the bad ones. Come play in front of them. I know they’d love to have you.
VANDERBILT (DEREK MASON)
If you’re ready to play in the greatest conference in the country and also get one of the greatest educations in the country, then come to Vanderbilt. We are lucky that you’re thinking of coming to us, because Vanderbilt provides the option to do both. There’s also a third thing about Vanderbilt: The turnaround. Turnarounds require hard work, belief and dedication, and I believe you can come and be part of that turnaround.