Irish Recruiting story
Weis denies charge of negative recruiting
Updated 7/21/2006 3:04 AM ET
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis on Thursday denied a player's accusation that the Irish staff criticized Clemson after the recruit verbally committed to the Tigers.
"I find it quite amusing that a student-athlete already enrolled at another university has decided to be the team spokesman on Notre Dame recruiting practices," Weis said. "There is an obvious contradiction between how this was handled and what was stated. We do not use negative recruiting tactics."
Clemson on Thursday issued a statement from the player, Jamie Cumbie, in which he said he did not correctly describe his conversations with Notre Dame during a newspaper interview.
Cumbie, a 6-foot-7, 255-pound tight end who attended Morris (Ill.) High School, is a native of South Carolina who had moved to an area about an hour west of Chicago during high school. He said his final choice of schools was between Clemson and Notre Dame.
He announced last June that he would attend Clemson. But he said Notre Dame continued to recruit him — the only school to do so.
"I'm not going to lie," Cumbie told The Post and Courier newspaper of Charleston, S.C., for a story Wednesday. "The coaches at Notre Dame sent some bad letters ripping Clemson after I committed here."
He said the Irish coaching staff had a list of advantages and disadvantages. He said among the advantages they listed was that all Notre Dame football games are televised.
"Then they said Clemson has a horrible education," he said.
Weis said all his coaching staff does is "represent what Notre Dame stands for."
"If supporting Notre Dame academics can be misconstrued as speaking down on another school's academics, call us guilty," he said.
Cumbie said in his statement that Notre Dame staffers did nothing wrong in recruiting him.
"No one from Notre Dame, either in writing or in general conversation, said Clemson had a horrible education," Cumbie's statement said. "Notre Dame made a comparison in different areas between the two schools and the facts made Notre Dame look better."
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press
Updated 7/21/2006 3:04 AM ET
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis on Thursday denied a player's accusation that the Irish staff criticized Clemson after the recruit verbally committed to the Tigers.
"I find it quite amusing that a student-athlete already enrolled at another university has decided to be the team spokesman on Notre Dame recruiting practices," Weis said. "There is an obvious contradiction between how this was handled and what was stated. We do not use negative recruiting tactics."
Clemson on Thursday issued a statement from the player, Jamie Cumbie, in which he said he did not correctly describe his conversations with Notre Dame during a newspaper interview.
Cumbie, a 6-foot-7, 255-pound tight end who attended Morris (Ill.) High School, is a native of South Carolina who had moved to an area about an hour west of Chicago during high school. He said his final choice of schools was between Clemson and Notre Dame.
He announced last June that he would attend Clemson. But he said Notre Dame continued to recruit him — the only school to do so.
"I'm not going to lie," Cumbie told The Post and Courier newspaper of Charleston, S.C., for a story Wednesday. "The coaches at Notre Dame sent some bad letters ripping Clemson after I committed here."
He said the Irish coaching staff had a list of advantages and disadvantages. He said among the advantages they listed was that all Notre Dame football games are televised.
"Then they said Clemson has a horrible education," he said.
Weis said all his coaching staff does is "represent what Notre Dame stands for."
"If supporting Notre Dame academics can be misconstrued as speaking down on another school's academics, call us guilty," he said.
Cumbie said in his statement that Notre Dame staffers did nothing wrong in recruiting him.
"No one from Notre Dame, either in writing or in general conversation, said Clemson had a horrible education," Cumbie's statement said. "Notre Dame made a comparison in different areas between the two schools and the facts made Notre Dame look better."
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press
posted by Tommie Closson at 6:20 AM
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