Curtis Johnson gives Tulane football recruiting a big jolt

Harry · July 31, 2012

Curtis Johnson, age 29, struck a hip pose among the youth in New Orleans in 1991. He even had hair back then.

Tulane football coach Curtis Johnson has area players considering his program

Clad in a suit and tie, Johnson stepped into his hometown as a top recruiter/assistant coach from San Diego State, promising his head coach to pull some big fish out of the Big Easy and Louisiana-wide.

Twenty-one years later, Johnson is the 50-year-old first-year Tulane head coach, tasked with the same thing — reaping talent from the local area.

But one recruit changed everything for Johnson and it explains Johnson’s charisma.

To understand what Johnson is doing now, you have to hear the original Coup d’état recruiting story — the tale of how Johnson stole Hall of Fame talent Marshall Faulk out of LSU’s back yard.

Faulk was a gifted Carver player with 4.3 speed in the 40, but was coveted for his play at defensive back — not his preferred position of running back. And he wasn’t Johnson’s top target in the state — Fred Harris, a defensive end from Shreveport, was.

But after seeing film in the Carver fieldhouse of Faulk, Johnson promised Faulk a recruiting visit and swore to Faulk he could play tailback at San Diego State.

But it wasn’t until the logistics of the official recruiting trip got so tangled that Johnson positioned himself for perhaps the biggest recruiting heist in the history of the area.

Faulk’s father died in the days before his visit to San Diego State, something many would have thought would have given LSU or a closer school an edge. But Faulk still agreed to come visit Johnson and the Aztecs in California.

Back then coaches could escort recruits on their visits, and Johnson arrived at the New Orleans airport to find Faulk ready to go. But instead of boarding a plane, fog delayed their flight for hours.

Then fog delayed their flight in Houston.

Young, hip coach and kid-whose-dad-just-died stiffly regarded each other in the airport.

“I didn’t know what else to say,” Johnson said. “I’ve never been a suit-and-tie guy, so I looked at Marshall and said, ‘Hey, this is the bottom line with this trip: we’re going to make the best of the trip.’ I said I’m taking my tie off and I’m getting on some shorts and we’re just going to sit back, kick it, and have some fun. So I took my suit and tie off, he took his suit and tie off and put on shorts and we just started talking and laughing and joking. We didn’t arrive in San Diego until about midnight.”

Never had a botched travel agenda reaped so much advantage. Though Faulk barely uttered a word on his visit once stepping on campus, the bond had been established.