“College coaches were now standing side by side with agents at AAU tournaments and high school games. ‘In the parking lots and at the concessions stands and in the hotel rooms’ is where the NCAA’s Newman Baker said agents linger.”
[College coaches] are making almost as much as NBA coaches, even though their teams' revenues generally are below one-tenth those in [the NBA]. The trick, of course, is that the players aren't allowed to be paid, so the coaches, in essence, get the value produced by their recruits. It doesn't hurt that college sports benefit from state subsidies and federal tax exemptions, and that they have no stockholders looking for quarterly profits.
"If you are going to be the coach at USC, you better have a relationship with the coach of the Southern California All-Stars, Pat Barrett, who recommended [Rudy Hackett]. I hired him and I'm very glad we did.