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Chizik Is HOT On The Recruiting Trail

Hey guys, wanna share this story off of auburnsports.com/rivals.com. I'm getting pretty pumped about next season, how could you not? It's gonna be a tough start but recruiting won't be an issue soon..!

 

Talk about it in The Bunker

Gene Chizik is hitting the ground running -- immediately.

Just hours after his introductory press conference Monday, Auburn's new head coach plans to begin calling and visiting with prospects.

Todd Van Emst
Chizik plans to hit the recruiting trail Monday.

When you talk about winning championships I have certainly been around long enough to understand that you have to recruit," Chizik said. "I would say that shortly after this (press conference) is over you will not see me because that is where I will be today.

"We are going to recruit tirelessly, 24/7 and we are going to work. Recruiting is the life blood of any program and we know that."

Chizik said recruiting will be his main focus for the next month and a half before Signing Day on Feb. 4.

In fact, Chizik said it's his most important job, period.

"That's one of the things I think the head coach has to understand: One of the main jobs of the head coach isn't so much sitting in on every X's and O's meeting and things of that nature, your top job is a recruiter," Chizik said.

At the press conference, athletics director Jay Jacobs described Chizik has a relentless recruiter. Auburn will need that out of its head coach in a conference that includes several coaches with big-time recruiting reputations such as Florida's Urban Meyer and Alabama's Nick Saban.

"I think you've got challenges because this league is so visible and the head coaches in this league are so visible," Chizik said. "If one head coach falls behind the other in terms of not how hard they're working and how visible they are in the recruiting scene, I think it hurts your university."

The visibility a head coach must have in the recruiting process has increased over the past decade. Chizik said he would spearhead Auburn's recruiting efforts.

"It does matter when that head coach walks into that school. It does matter when that head coach walks into a home. I think it's, probably over the last 10 years, gotten greater," Chizik said.

In addition to recruiting, Chizik said he will also work to fill out his staff. In the meantime, former Auburn assistant Joe Whitt, Sr., Director of NFL Relations Phillip Lolley and Director of Football Operations Jimmy Perry will all assist in recruiting by making phone calls and visiting prospects at their home and school.

Whitt served as a linebacker coach at Auburn for 25 years before accepting a position in Tigers Unlimited in 2005. Lolley was a was a full-time assistant from 2000-03 while Perry coached high school football for 21 years before joining the AU staff in 2000.

Chizik said he doesn't have a timetable for hiring a staff but understands there's a sense of urgency with recruiting. Chizik said he's looking for assistants that meet all three criteria of being good people, good coaches and good recruiters.

"If there is a person out there that we think is the best fit for an assistant coaching position at this school, it doesn't matter where they're at. It doesn't matter what the timetable is. We've got to get the best fit," Chizik said. "This job will not be about me. It will be about all the people I'm surrounded with that work day-in and day-out."
 

We're all just trying to have a good time here. Don't be a jerk, and we won't have a problem with you. War Eagle!

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