R
Rainer Sabin | rsabin@al.com
Guest
The first-ever college football personnel symposium was in Nashville this past week and both Alabama and Nick Saban dominated the thoughts of those in attendance.
A good 250 miles from where Nick Saban continued whipping his team into shape on the practice fields in Tuscaloosa, his presence loomed within a sterile hotel conference room at the Omni in Nashville.
It's here where more than 180 people gathered this week for the first-ever Personnel Symposium -- a two-day event geared toward the educational development of the nameless, faceless men in college football responsible for stocking and managing the rosters at your favorite program.
The convention attracted employees from more than 60 schools, including Ohio State, Michigan, Georgia, Tennessee and Auburn. Yet only one person affiliated with Alabama was there -- Victoria Ross, the Crimson Tide's recruiting operations coordinator.
The fact Ross was the lone representative from the reigning champion was a source of irony, considering Alabama, in almost every way imaginable, was the inspiration for this powwow. The organizer, Creative Artist Agency's Ed Marynowitz, had two stints with the Crimson Tide and credits Saban with popularizing the idea of having a personnel department within a college football program that mimics an NFL front office.
During his Alabama tenure that began 11 years ago, Saban has built an organization both vast and powerful while overseeing the creation of ancillary roles that never existed before his arrival such as analysts, football-specific graphic designers and guys, like Marynowitz, whose sole duty was to power the recruiting machine.
To keep up with Saban, other schools followed suit, giving people with no interest in coaching another pathway into a world that once seemed inaccessible to them. Almost overnight, a cottage industry within the sport was born that has Alabama's tentacles all over it.
Marynowitz was one of the early beneficiaries as he replaced Geoff Collins as Alabama's director of player personnel in 2008 and assisted in the creation of an infrastructure that helped the Tide maximize its recruiting efforts.
During the symposium, one person called Marynowitz, "Godfather Ed," because of his innovative approach toward the role he had at Alabama as well as his idea to launch this workshop back in the winter.
But in reality it was Saban who made this all possible by spawning a mafia of behind-the-scenes staffers who obsess over recruiting and all that goes into it, including the arrangement of prospect visits, film review, social media interaction with high school athletes, creative services for marketing purposes and the distribution of snail-mail pamphlets.
That became readily apparent soon after the conference's program began. During one of the early panel discussions, the speakers on stage included several personnel directors. Among them were Georgia's Marshall Malchow and Tennessee's Drew Hughes.
Both Malchow and Hughes began their careers as recruiting specialists for Alabama.
In their midst was Matt Lindsey, who holds the same position as Hughes and Malchow at South Carolina. Lindsey once worked for Saban, too, as a player personnel specialist during his undergraduate years at Alabama.
Together, Lindsey, Hughes and Malchow learned the tricks of the trade from Saban and those directly under him. In turn, they have spread the Bama gospel around the SEC.
So too have Leah Knight and Jessica Jackson, two Alabama alums who have have director roles in recruiting at Texas A&M and South Carolina, respectively.
Knight and Jackson were featured speakers on the last day of a conference that tackled a variety of issues near and dear to the people in attendance -- the vast majority of whom are barred from ever being quoted by reporters because Saban's "one voice" policy has become institutionalized across the sport.
At the end of one of the sessions, an employee at a Pac-12 school grumbled aloud about a rule he felt was restrictive.
Reminded the schools and conferences can present legislation to change it, he said to no one in particular: "Everything starts in the SEC."
Then he paused.
"If Nick Saban wants it to happen, it will happen," he continued.
Far away in Tuscaloosa, Saban was well beyond earshot and focused on keeping his football team on point. But in Nashville the Alabama coach was everywhere in spirit, ruling over a room much in the same way he does a sport where he is both the king and kingmaker.
Rainer Sabin | rsabin@al.com
Why Alabama and Nick Saban ruled Nashville this week
A good 250 miles from where Nick Saban continued whipping his team into shape on the practice fields in Tuscaloosa, his presence loomed within a sterile hotel conference room at the Omni in Nashville.
It's here where more than 180 people gathered this week for the first-ever Personnel Symposium -- a two-day event geared toward the educational development of the nameless, faceless men in college football responsible for stocking and managing the rosters at your favorite program.
The convention attracted employees from more than 60 schools, including Ohio State, Michigan, Georgia, Tennessee and Auburn. Yet only one person affiliated with Alabama was there -- Victoria Ross, the Crimson Tide's recruiting operations coordinator.
The fact Ross was the lone representative from the reigning champion was a source of irony, considering Alabama, in almost every way imaginable, was the inspiration for this powwow. The organizer, Creative Artist Agency's Ed Marynowitz, had two stints with the Crimson Tide and credits Saban with popularizing the idea of having a personnel department within a college football program that mimics an NFL front office.
During his Alabama tenure that began 11 years ago, Saban has built an organization both vast and powerful while overseeing the creation of ancillary roles that never existed before his arrival such as analysts, football-specific graphic designers and guys, like Marynowitz, whose sole duty was to power the recruiting machine.
To keep up with Saban, other schools followed suit, giving people with no interest in coaching another pathway into a world that once seemed inaccessible to them. Almost overnight, a cottage industry within the sport was born that has Alabama's tentacles all over it.
Marynowitz was one of the early beneficiaries as he replaced Geoff Collins as Alabama's director of player personnel in 2008 and assisted in the creation of an infrastructure that helped the Tide maximize its recruiting efforts.
During the symposium, one person called Marynowitz, "Godfather Ed," because of his innovative approach toward the role he had at Alabama as well as his idea to launch this workshop back in the winter.
But in reality it was Saban who made this all possible by spawning a mafia of behind-the-scenes staffers who obsess over recruiting and all that goes into it, including the arrangement of prospect visits, film review, social media interaction with high school athletes, creative services for marketing purposes and the distribution of snail-mail pamphlets.
That became readily apparent soon after the conference's program began. During one of the early panel discussions, the speakers on stage included several personnel directors. Among them were Georgia's Marshall Malchow and Tennessee's Drew Hughes.
Both Malchow and Hughes began their careers as recruiting specialists for Alabama.
In their midst was Matt Lindsey, who holds the same position as Hughes and Malchow at South Carolina. Lindsey once worked for Saban, too, as a player personnel specialist during his undergraduate years at Alabama.
Together, Lindsey, Hughes and Malchow learned the tricks of the trade from Saban and those directly under him. In turn, they have spread the Bama gospel around the SEC.
So too have Leah Knight and Jessica Jackson, two Alabama alums who have have director roles in recruiting at Texas A&M and South Carolina, respectively.
Knight and Jackson were featured speakers on the last day of a conference that tackled a variety of issues near and dear to the people in attendance -- the vast majority of whom are barred from ever being quoted by reporters because Saban's "one voice" policy has become institutionalized across the sport.
At the end of one of the sessions, an employee at a Pac-12 school grumbled aloud about a rule he felt was restrictive.
Reminded the schools and conferences can present legislation to change it, he said to no one in particular: "Everything starts in the SEC."
Then he paused.
"If Nick Saban wants it to happen, it will happen," he continued.
Far away in Tuscaloosa, Saban was well beyond earshot and focused on keeping his football team on point. But in Nashville the Alabama coach was everywhere in spirit, ruling over a room much in the same way he does a sport where he is both the king and kingmaker.
Rainer Sabin | rsabin@al.com
Why Alabama and Nick Saban ruled Nashville this week
