College coaches and scouts attend high school games and workouts, watch players on film and write reports on what they observe. That is how college programs determine which players to watch, meet with and whom to offer scholarships. The recruiting process is how great programs are built, and ESPN Recruiting is the next best thing to the existing college scouting departments.
ESPN Recruiting is dedicated to serving the hard-core high school and college football fan with thoughtful, in-depth analysis and unlike other recruiting services, ESPN Recruiting employs football scouts and coaches with many years of professional experience and expertise. It will evaluate talent in games on the football field rather than relying solely on combine numbers. The student athletes will be evaluated in person and on video and not by word of mouth. Every top recruit will be compared to players across the entire United States rather than only players within his region. This will allow ESPN Recruiting to judge college recruits and recruiting classes more thoroughly.
The scouts of ESPN Recruiting
Tom Luginbill, ESPN.com's National Director of College Football Recruiting
Prior to joining ESPN, Tom Luginbill spent almost a decade coaching and scouting in professional football in the NFL, XFL, NFL Europe and AFL. Now entering his sixth year as National Director of College Football Recruiting, Luginbill provides in-depth recruiting analysis for the top collegiate football prospects in the country as well as serves as a college football analyst for ESPNU and the ESPN family of networks.
Luginbill coached in NFL Europe (1996), the XFL (2001) and the AFL (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002-2004). He served as a head coach twice, with the Tennessee Valley Vipers of arenafootball2 (2000) and the Detroit Fury (2004). Luginbill's teams appeared in two championship games (ArenaCup, AF2, 2000) and won one (Los Angeles Xtreme of the XFL, 2001). Luginbill was directly responsible or involved in player personnel for eight years in three different professional leagues.
Luginbill joined the Dallas Cowboys organization as player personnel director and offensive coordinator for Jerry Jones' Dallas Desperados in the AFL under head coach Joe Avezzano in 2002. In their first season, the Desperados advanced to the quarterfinals of the AFL playoffs.
He gained extensive experience in scouting and player personnel while coaching, and he helped build three expansion football franchises from the ground up, two of which reached the championship in their first season of play.
Luginbill has served as a position coach, offensive coordinator, player personnel director, football operations director and head coach during his tenure in the professional ranks. He has worked with such notable NFL players as QB Kurt Warner (NFL Europe-Amsterdam), QB Jake Delhomme and was QB Tommy Maddox's quarterbacks coach in the XFL in 2001 prior to his resurgence with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Maddox was named XFL MVP in 2001.
Prior to joining the professional coaching ranks, Luginbill was a four-year starter at quarterback for three college programs: Palomar College (1992-93), Georgia Tech (1994) and Eastern Kentucky (1995). He also played two seasons in the Arena Football league in 1996 and 1997. In 2009, Luginbill was inducted into the Junior College Hall of Fame. Luginbill grew up the son of a college football coach.
Luginbill oversees a recruiting evaluation team with more than 120 combined years of coaching and scouting experience. The team boasts former successful coaches and scouts at the professional and collegiate level.
As an extension of his duties as National Director of College Football Recruiting for ESPN.com, Luginbill is the lead studio recruiting analyst for ESPNU and is also a college football studio analyst on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays during the fall and is also an analyst in the booth for high school football telecasts on the family of ESPN networks. Luginbill is a regular contributor as an analyst for ESPNews', Sportscenter, College Football Live and College Gameday as well as ESPN's Outside the Lines.
Craig Haubert
Haubert, who has more than a decade of coaching experience. Haubert was an assistant at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and also served as the FB/LB coach and director of football operations for the Detroit Fury of the Arena Football League.
Billy Tucker
Tucker is a recruiting coordinator for ESPN Recruiting and has close to a decade of coaching experience at the college and high school level. Tucker has served as a recruiting coordinator for two nationally ranked Division II colleges. Most recently, he was the associate head coach and defensive coordinator for Merrimack College, which advanced to the Sweet 16 in the 2006 NCAA Division II playoffs.
Paul Pawlak
Pawlak is a recruiting coordinator for ESPN Recruiting, who spent eight years as a personnel scout with the New England Patriots, including winning a Super Bowl ring for the 2001 season. He's been a college head coach -- 10 years at Northeastern University and four years at Tufts University. He also has 14 years experience as a college assistant coach.