Kelly, ND never gave up in pursuit of Tuitt

If Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly adhered to the same recruiting philosophies as Coach Paul Johnson, he would not today be in possession of one of the nation's elite defensive end prospects. From NBCSports.com:

A day after losing five-star defensive end Stephon Tuitt to home-state Georgia Tech, head coach Brian Kelly, defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, recruiting coordinator Chuck Martin and defensive line coach Mike Elston arrived at the Tuitt household and didn’t leave until Tuitt was back committed to Notre Dame.

A stunning contrast in philosophies to be sure: When Kelly's committed recruit abruptly switched allegiances, he and his braintrust hopped a plane immediately in "dogged pursuit," as the article terms it. Conversely, when Paul Johnson met a similar situation with coveted 2009 QB prospect Dontae Aycock, who visited Auburn after having pledged a silent commitment to Tech, he turned up his nose, as he is generally wont to do, and yanked the young man's scholarship offer without even informing him. The publicity generated by Aycock's situation, along with Johnson's musings on the incident, became a de facto establishment of the infamous recruiting policy subsequently christened by this blog as the "Aycock Rule." This policy would now seem to drop Tech completely from the Tuitt race, despite the young man's moment-by-moment vacillations with still 13 days remaining until signing day.

The NBCSports.com article continues:

...concepts like loyalty and fidelity are obsolete when it comes to a 17-year-old choosing from the nation’s best football schools.

We couldn't agree more, NBCSports.com. Coach Johnson's anachronistic service academy philosophy on recruiting is obsolete and places Georgia Tech at an unnecessary competitive disadvantage. We have covered this before: The practice discourages early commitments, stalls recruiting momentum, and automatically cedes uncertain players to schools which might later enter the picture. These are 17 and 18 year old kids Coach Johnson! Once they get to Georgia Tech, you can teach them to be men. For now, they are mere boys with profound decisions to make, and it is only natural that they might waver on a choice which could well mold the next thirty years of their lives.

From Chip Towers's recruiting blog:

“The recruting process is nervewracking, very nervewracking,” [Tuitt's mother] said after her son switched from Notre Dame to Georgia Tech and back to Notre Dame in a 36-hour period from Tuesday to Wednesday. “They have to remember that these kids are only 17 years old and are very impressionable."

It seems like we have to say it again and again, but this isn't the Naval Academy Coach Johnson! When kids have choices like Notre Dame, Texas, and USC as opposed to Western Kentucky, UT-Chattanooga, and Wofford, they're going to be all the more hotly-pursued and consequently more baffled as to the appropriate course of action. It's time for you to grown into a "man" yourself and become a legitimate BCS-level head coach. Otherwise you can forget about your dreams of Simple Option football being showcased in the National Title game and instead make your plans to be setting new attendance lows in Shreveport year after year for the remainder of your wearisome Tech career.