Tales from the road
— -- With national signing day little more than a week away, coaches are crisscrossing the country to lock down key commitments. It's during this time -- at in-home visits -- that anything can happen. While making last-minute pitches to recruits and their families, coaches will do almost anything to secure a signature. Whether that means choking down some bad food or doing whatever it takes to meet a recruit, coaches have great stories from this time of year. Here are some of those stories:
A coach. A coach and his car. And locking the keys inside.
"I called Brendon to ask him if he can pick up Coach. He comes up in his pickup truck. He gets Coach, and I tell him I'll call the rental car place, and they'll bring me some keys and I'll meet you at Brendon's house. Well, the rental car place is at DFW airport and we're out toward Richardson. They tell me they can't bring me the keys, so I have to go to the airport to get them.
"A policeman shows up, so I explain to him what's happened. I beg him. I say 'I'm Coach Koenning with Rice. Can you take me to the airport?' He says 'Sure Coach. I'll help you.' So I jump in the police car, and we're riding toward the airport and all of a sudden he gets a call that there's been a wreck. He says 'Coach, I have to work this wreck.' So here I am in a car with a police officer and my head coach is in the home visit now with the parents.
"I have to borrow his phone and call Brendon. He puts Coach Goldsmith on. I say 'Coach, this is Les.' He goes 'Where are you at? I've been in this home for over an hour and a half.' I tell him 'Coach, I've got a small problem.' I tell him about how I'm stuck with the policeman.
"Somehow after he worked the wreck, we made incredible time on the highway, got the keys and he jets me back to the car with the lights on and everything. I get in the rental car and finally make it to Brendon's house. It's been two and a half, almost three hours. Coach Goldsmith apparently has talked about every part of the University, and I mean everything. I knew I was in trouble when I saw that they had a dip bowl and it looked like somebody had taken their finger and just cleaned the dip bowl out. The most beautiful thing about the story? We signed Brendon."
-- Texas receivers coach Les Koenning Jr.
Clean your plate -- or else
"One time, Johnny Ringo and I were on the road when I was at SMU. We had home visits at 4:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and then 8:30 p.m. I swear to goodness, I had no idea we ate at all three places. We're driving down 635 in Dallas, and I told Coach Ringo, 'I have to undo my pants.' I didn't realize I ate so much because I was too busy trying to impress momma. If you go in there and you don't eat, you're in trouble. You can't say no. You eat." -- former SMU head coach and current Baylor defensive coordinator Phil Bennett
"We were recruiting a kid and the head coach and the assistant went in for breakfast with me. For breakfast they had boiled fish. You don't want to offend the family and not eat it, so you're sitting there and scarfing down boiled fish at 8 o'clock in the morning. That's what you do doing the final few weeks. You'll do about anything and everything to make a good impression, including eating boiled fish for breakfast." -- TCU co-offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie