Recruiting? It's as easy as ice cream

The day belonged to the recruits. Press conferences, interviews, 15 minutes of fame before they head back to their high school classrooms.

For the football coaches who are instrumental in the recruiting process, letter of intent day -- the first Wednesday in February -- offered a different perspective.

"Glad that it's over,"said Boston College coach Tom O'Brien yesterday afternoon as he waited for his fax machine to send in the rest of the documents that will commit players to Boston College. O'Brien's day began with the euphoria of knowing that most of his wish list would be met.

"A good recruiting year," he said. "And we had one last year."

But the day, as usual had speed bumps. Brian Toal, the highly recruited linebacker from Don Bosco Prep in New Jersey, had withheld his official announcement until he appeared on ESPN at 4:30 in a made-for-television production that has become so common place.

Nothing wrong with that from the public perception. But as of 2 p.m. yesterday, O'Brien still hadn't received anything official. It seems that Toal's mother Susan had the letter of intent and was searching for a fax machine. "This is just crazy,"said O'Brien.Stories of last-minute changes of heart are legendary. Some are funny, some are sad, as kids struggle with the fame that is about to be cast upon them. Former Wake Forest coach Bill Dooley tells about a recruit he thought he had until the signing date. It was Wake Forest and Clemson, in that order. Or so Dooley thought. But when the announcement was made, the recruit signed with Clemson.

Dooley, as was his practice with recruits he did not sign, called the player to wish him well and ask what he had done wrong so he could do better next time.

"Coach," said the recruit, "the difference was that Clemson served soft-serve ice cream in the cafeteria, and Wake Forest didn't."

Needless to say, Dooley had a soft-serve ice cream machine installed the next day.

Or there was the time that a Georgia assistant was recruiting a player from the rural part of the state. The coach knocked on the door of the house and heard nothing, but he did hear noises that sounded like a car engine coming from the backyard.

He went around the corner of the house and saw the recruit sitting in a car that was on blocks, but had no wheels. Not quite sure of what to do, the coach climbed up into the front seat next to the recruit.

"Mind if I ride along?" asked the coach.

"Not at all," said the recruit.

After a few minutes, the coach thanked the recruit for the ride and said he would come back soon.

When he came back, the recruit had signed with someone else.

And there were a new set of tires on the car.

Sometimes the indecision and change of heart occurs after signing day. Take what happened to former UCLA coach Bob Toledo, who had a commitment from a quarterback named J.P. Losman, who signed early and then changed his mind and transferred to Tulane.

When Losman signed with UCLA, quarterbacks such as Kyle Boller, Casey Clausen, and Chris Weinke, whom the Bruins had been seriously recruiting, went elsewhere. Boller became a star at California, Clausen became a star at Tennessee, and Weinke won the Heisman Trophy at Florida State.

Toledo? Well, he watched the Bruin program slowly unravel and was fired after the 2002 season.

Still, recruiting can be rewarding and fun. Ask USC coach Pete Carroll, who has put together two of the best recruiting classes in school history and is coming off a national championship season.

Or ask LSU coach Nick Saban, who also is coming off a national championship season after its win over Oklahoma in the BCS title game in the Sugar Bowl.

The recruiting gurus have USC and LSU 1 and 2 in their classes for 2004, followed by Michigan, Ohio State, Miami, Oklahoma, and Florida State.

Like the football polls, where there was a split title between USC and LSU, the recruiting battle was also close, with USC holding a slight edge that was hardly secure.

"The Tigers' talented class is so pressing the Trojans that one more blue-chipper would do it," said ESPN.com's Tom Lemming, one of the leading recruiting analysts in the country.

But LSU said it was pretty much done. "We're ready to start next year's recruiting," joked Saban.

O'Brien got Toal, but lost wide receiver Dorian Bryant, who had signed with BC last year but went to a prep school, switched yesterday to Purdue.

Maybe the Boilermakers had better soft-serve ice cream than the Eagles.