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Recruiting For Success

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By BOB D'ANGELO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 5, 2007

Coaching success in college football is more than X's and O's or innovative game plans. Many times, a team's fate in a particular season - and a coach's future - was decided several years earlier.

On National Signing Day.

Wooing recruits is a fascinating, cutthroat part of college football, and Bruce Feldman brings the 2006-07 recruiting season into sharp focus in "Meat Market: Inside the Smash-Mouth World Of College Football Recruiting" (ESPN Books, $24.95).

Feldman, a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine, was given total access at Ole Miss by one of the country's most energetic recruiters, Rebels coach Ed Orgeron. "Coach O," a passionate, detail-oriented, tireless worker, faces long odds at Ole Miss. It's difficult for the Rebels to compete on the recruiting trail against the Southeastern Conference's glamour programs (Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama).

Orgeron, who made his reputation as an ace recruiter for Pete Carroll at Southern Cal, has a bulldog-like tenacity in his pursuit - he lands some good young talent, but comes up empty when trying to land the big names.

Feldman brings the readers into the 6 a.m. meetings, the breakdown of prospects' films, the visits to the recruits' homes, the telephone calls and text messages.

Tampa area high school fans will enjoy the stories of Orgeron's futile pursuit of quarterbacks Robert Marve (Plant) and Stephen Garcia (Jefferson).

Orgeron is a likable guy, but he won't be around when his recruits are seniors. He was fired as Ole Miss coach on Nov. 24 after a 10-25 record in three seasons that included a 3-9 mark in 2007 and a devastating loss to state rival Mississippi State.

Feldman does a thorough job, showing that the art of recruiting is more than a coach trying to fill a wish list. It's hard work.

RING CONFESSIONAL: Pro wrestler Dave Batista has produced a raw, personal autobiography in "Batista Unleashed" (Pocket Books, $26). "The Animal" of World Wrestling Entertainment writes about his late rise to fame (he turned pro at age 30), his criminal past, his turbulent marriage, tender stories about his grandson and the workings of Vince McMahon's pro wrestling machine.

Rather than write drawn-out chapters, Batista and author Jeremy Roberts have crafted short, punchy vignettes. They could have turned out choppy, but there is a cohesion that makes them effective. His anecdotes from the road are funny, too - Ric Flair fans will enjoy Batista's yarns about the "Nature Boy."

Batista's rise to stardom in the WWE and transformation from heel to babyface was achieved by hard work and grit. He tells it clearly and pulls no punches, especially when referring to himself. That's refreshing.

BASEBALL'S CHEERLEADER: Watching Tommy Lasorda work a crowd during spring training was like watching a master politician in action. Enthusiastic, witty, a needler at heart, he was a fan favorite.

He was also an excellent manager, whose love for baseball was never forced or phony. Behind his jolly public persona was a burning desire to win - which he did with the Dodgers, to the tune of eight division titles and a pair of World Series crowns.

In "I Live For This!" (Houghton-Mifflin, $25), longtime Los Angeles sports columnist Bill Plaschke captures the essence of Lasorda, revealing a canny baseball strategist and a master motivator. Plaschke takes the reader away from the commercialized Lasorda and presents a portrait of the real man.

It's an entertaining ride through more than 50 years of baseball.

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