Ironically, Brown followed up a strong 2004 season on the field with a less successful 2005 recruiting season.

"We do not intend to go through another recruiting season without new standards in place," Berst said.

Beginning this recruiting season, the motto for high school football recruits and their parents should be: Don't play where you can't coach.

Their coach, Ferry, took over the team two years ago late in the recruiting season yet managed to fill three key spots in his lineup.

After they sign, the recruiting season is over.

And retailers fear that 1999 will be the toughest recruiting season ever.

"We have just had a successful recruiting season," a jubilant Brown declared over the din.

The official recruiting season begins each year in January and lasts about four months.

This year, he said, "there's a good chance that at the end of the recruiting season, you could end up with nothing."