Religion and Recruiting

I respectfully disagree. It’s a winning mindset. You dont have to be a thug to win at the highest levels of any sport. Football included.

 

Agree with the generalization however getting back to the OP, I dont think a coach or AD wearing their religion on their sleeves is a negative impact.

 

It's definitely helped at Clemson...

And for those that don't know, Billy don't cuss.

 

I’ve never heard of a program requiring recruits or coaches to share the religious views of the HC.

 

Immediately thin of St. Bowdown and Yabba Dabba Dabo when it comes to this.

And their hypocrisy.

 

Religion works for Baylor and Hugh Freeze

 

I have 2 daughters at Bama and many of the players and coaches regularly attend their church (including Saban) on Sundays when they aren’t traveling.

 

Bowden’s players were in church most Sunday mornings. Ask Derrick Brooks if BB didn’t preach and practice it with players and you’ll get a very different firsthand account.

 

I think it may not help with certain Miami or south Florida kids perhaps, but I don’t think it’s a hindrance in any other of our primary recruiting grounds. In fact, I think it probably helps more than hurts overall, plus you probably end up with a better nucleus of kids that may not get into trouble as much, or be a cancer in the locker room as much. I’m not certain, but I think it helped with DJ Lagway and his family, and he’s the most important recruit we’ve had in a long time.

 

I’m sure when Saban coached at Michigan State he was catholic

 

I have seen a significant difference when it comes to football coaches, what can I tell you [shrug]. Obviously not everybody walks the walk but our current crop of guys do (mostly). Napier is VERY religious, he’s just not one to make a spectacle of it

I should point out that I’m not personally a fan of religion taking a prominent place in any aspect of a secular institution, including athletics. I’m just reporting what I see.

 

The teams representing a public institution should be secular. I have no problem with anybody holding beliefs, but our coaches should not be evangelizing. Not denying them of expression or having personal conversations with players who hold similar beliefs, but it should not be a prerequisite for players to share similar faith to come play college sports here.

I haven’t seen Napier bible thump at all. He’s done a good job drawing professional boundaries where guys like Dabo haven’t.

That said, being a Christian coach in a very Christian south has prove to help coaches recruit for decades. I would imagine it would be much different if a coach practiced Judaism or Islam, though.

 

With the community certainly. I do get the impression college football players and their families are in general more religious than the population overall. It's a little like military families. But I have no statistics on that.