I had a chance to sit down with Auburn's coordinator of football operations Scott Fountain a few weeks ago and finally got the story written in the dead-tree version of our newspaper today. Here's a link and how it starts
Fountain seems to be the man behind the curtain at Auburn, taking care of recruiting functions behind the scenes. There are some mundane tasks (arranging travel plans, dealing with incoming video of players, etc.) but he also works with recruiting coordinator Curtis Luper in organizing larger tasks like the stretch Hummer limousine tour of the state and "Big Cat" weekend.

Read the story first, but here are some B-sides that didn't make it in:

(Your job sounds all-encompassing)

It feels like it. The main thing I try to organize is recruiting in terms of what we're trying to do from top to bottom, from what we're doing with video when it comes through the door to what type of mail do we send to recruits to what type of evaluation process does it go through, from the position coach to the coordinator to the head coach, just kind of all-encompassing. And outside of that, I'll take care of summer bridge programs. After signing a kid, we're going to have 20 kids coming in on June 1 that we signed last year. So we've got something called Summer Bridge, which is just a whole program that ties into that and ties into our academic department here. Just basically with a recruit, from when the mail starts in February all the way around until they sign and come here, hopefully we send them off ... it's like your kids, you know, you send them off, now they understand how to get to the weight room, how to get to that first class, how to get books. Make it a smooth process for them. Up to signing day, you can't really control any of that anyway, but once they sign, it's part of the process.

(How different is this job compared to what you used to do as an on-the-field coach?)

When I was at Florida State a few years ago, I was the offensive GA with Mark Richt, and I worked in recruiting some and they wanted all the GAs to be involved with that. I was the recruiting coordinator at Central Florida for seven or eight years. Then I kind of got out of that and was coaching o-line at Middle (Tennessee) and Georgia Southern, and then I went to Iowa State and working with Coach Chizik, I knew that was part of the deal was to get back into recruiting more. So I've always kind of coached the tight ends or the o-line and did recruiting in most places. The difference here is it's just more recruiting and not coaching a position. I'm doing a lot of the same stuff. At Iowa State, it really would depend a lot of how they laid the program out. The first year, we were heavily involved to make sure it was running in the direction we would like it to, and then you can kind of turn things over to people. Here, it's kind of been the same. You're kind of trying to get everything headed in the right direction, and then you have great support here, at some point you hope to get a smooth process going. There's so much going on, from unofficial visits to official visits to reserving flights to reserving our team planes to coordinating it so you don't have too many guys on the road or off the road, just a lot goes into it. But once you go through it a year and get a smooth process going, it tends to run pretty efficiently. But the first year is always the toughest, like it is for the head coach or the assistant coach or anybody else, because you're learning to get used to each other and get used the flow of the process.

(Was it tough to come off the field?)

Very tough. Coach (Paul) Rhoads was hired at Iowa State and he kept me on there to the end of the recruiting season, and then a couple weeks back, when that was over, Coach Chizik called me about coming here, and it was kind of the second time he talked to me about it, but I knew for me I'd be leaving the field. That was very tough. I'd been an on-the-field coach since I left college in 1988, and in high school with all the college stuff, so that was really tough. But the opportunity to come back close to home, because I'm from Alabama and haven't been here in 17 years, so it was good to get back close, because my parents are getting older, and to be around my brother, and he has kids and my kids, there's a chance for us to be closer. So all those things are possible, but the big negative is not being back on the field. It's something that hopefully I'll have an opportunity to do that again.

(Did you always know you wanted to be a coach?)

Probably from about 10th grade on. When I got out of college, I played at Samford, and I really felt at the time, I really didn't understand, should I be at high school, should I be a GA. So my brother had been a high school coach for one year, so I decided to go the high school route. When I took my first high school job I was constantly trying to get into college and it took me about six years to break into college before I got an opportunity at Florida State. So my route's probably similar to a lot of guys, but at the same time, it might be a lot different. But I think the good thing about coaching high school ball, especially in Alabama, is the opportunity to understand what a lot of those guys are doing in recruiting, but also coming back to Alabama, it gives me a good sense of belonging and understanding, because I know a lot of those guys. They were kind of getting into coaching when I was. Some of them might be older guys. And a lot of the guys I coached with or against during those six years in Alabama, they're going on in different things.

(You were a GA on Bobby Bowden's staff at Florida State. Is he as genuine as he seems?)

He is. I enjoyed my time with him and I think he is who you see he is. See Bobby was actually the coach at Samford back when it was called Howard College. And that's how I first had ever heard of him. And of course, when Terry (Bowden) was coaching at Samford, he brought Bobby in to talk to us one time. It was kind of neat. But really, the job there had nothing to do with them. It had to do with Mickey Andrews.

(How much longer is Bowden going to coach?)

I don't know. I do think it's important for him to beat (Joe) Paterno, and vice versa. But I think he has always, even when I was there, I'm surprised he's still doing it 13 years later. But I think as long as his health is good, he'll keep going. He's always said, "Why quit working because once you quit working, the only thing you have to look forward to is death."

(What do you do when you're not involved with football?)

Well, some people laugh at me, but me and my family enjoy bowling. And it's something my wife can do with us. And in the past, when I got some free time, I would always fly into Brewton and visit the family. So this year, we're actually getting a little free time and we're going to take an FCA cruise, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, kind of be good for the family and give us time to be together and also have some actual spiritual activity when we're on the boat.

(Do you eventually want to get back in an on-the-field coaching role?)

I do. Football is in my blood. I've always coached. One of my uncles coached. My brother coached. The thing, I think it's been good for me, and I've been really blessed, is I've coached high school ball, I've played high school ball and college ball, I've been a GA, handling recruiting opens your eyes and your knowledge to everything that goes on. And coming here and doing this job that I'm doing is giving me an opportunity to see kind of what a head coach sees from the other side of the fence, some things that you maybe didn't see day-to-day. It's been good for me, and I think doing recruiting and doing this job is just going to open more doors for me, I think. But coaching is in my blood, and it's definitely what I want to get back to.