Recruiting is about relationships. Relationships between prospects and college coaches. Relationships between college coaches and high school coaches. Relationships between college coaches and family/friends. You get the picture.
Apparently, Alabama did something -- or many things -- to damage the relationship it had with Parkway High School (LA) and coach David Feaster. So Feaster decided to banish the Crimson Tide coaching staff from the school’s campus.
Which, also apparently, was not received well.
Feaster was relieved of his coaching duties, the Shreveport Times reported on Friday, days after he appeared on Baton Rouge radio and said “The only school that can’t come to Parkway is Alabama.”
“There’s a long story behind that,” Feaster said. “It involved [them] not being ethical in recruiting.”
School officials told the paper Feaster was “not the spokesperson of Parkway High School.”
The crux of Feaster’s beef stems from how Alabama recruited now former LSU quarterback Brandon Harris. Receiver Terrace Marshall, a 5-star wideout for the class of 2018, is considering the Tide according to 247Sports.
Feaster has felt this way about Alabama for a while, with the Times citing a previous sentiment from 2015. Alabama being banished from Parkway -- which does not mean Parkway players can’t commit to Alabama -- isn’t a new thing, but it was the “third or fourth” issue with Feaster that ultimately led to his dismissal. Feaster is still a teacher at Parkway.
Alabama finished with the No. 1 recruiting class as determined by 247Sports for the seventh straight year because it lands the best prospects across the country. The lesson here is no one wants to cross that type of machine the wrong way.