and it has nothing to do with a 3-9 season. See: Purdue, 2014, 3-9.
When Vaughn began the recruiting process, he had a handler. That handler was Buck Fitzgerald - I believe Vaughn was a IFM kid. Well, for some reason or another Buck was actually pushing Vaughn to VU. Then, Vaughn switches handlers from Buck to Sean Banks who is involved in some other organization like IFM (the name escapes me at the moment) that also involved Jeff Brothers (VU alum and NCS HC). For some reason or another, Banks hates VU. He will stop at nothing to see VUFB fall including steering prospects away from West End. For weeks, he has been in Josh Smith's ear trying to get him to take visits elsewhere. It was not just Josh enjoying the recruiting process. He was getting bad advice from a guy who couldn't care less if Josh succeeded so long as he didn't end up at VU. This is the seedy underbelly of recruiting that goes ignored for the most part. Essentially, think of it as football's version of AAU.
Now, I am likely not telling you guys anything you don't already know. But I just feel the need to get out the word that a lot of football handlers are not in it for the right reasons. I get that there is a need for some of these orgs. Many of these kids come from broken homes, poor families, and need help and advice. They need to be taken from camp to camp across the region. But, a lot of these handlers lose sight and try to push them to schools that benefit them and not the kid.
So, I'll just step down off my soap box ... for now.
When Vaughn began the recruiting process, he had a handler. That handler was Buck Fitzgerald - I believe Vaughn was a IFM kid. Well, for some reason or another Buck was actually pushing Vaughn to VU. Then, Vaughn switches handlers from Buck to Sean Banks who is involved in some other organization like IFM (the name escapes me at the moment) that also involved Jeff Brothers (VU alum and NCS HC). For some reason or another, Banks hates VU. He will stop at nothing to see VUFB fall including steering prospects away from West End. For weeks, he has been in Josh Smith's ear trying to get him to take visits elsewhere. It was not just Josh enjoying the recruiting process. He was getting bad advice from a guy who couldn't care less if Josh succeeded so long as he didn't end up at VU. This is the seedy underbelly of recruiting that goes ignored for the most part. Essentially, think of it as football's version of AAU.
Now, I am likely not telling you guys anything you don't already know. But I just feel the need to get out the word that a lot of football handlers are not in it for the right reasons. I get that there is a need for some of these orgs. Many of these kids come from broken homes, poor families, and need help and advice. They need to be taken from camp to camp across the region. But, a lot of these handlers lose sight and try to push them to schools that benefit them and not the kid.
So, I'll just step down off my soap box ... for now.
