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Byline: Jay Heater
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. _ Cody Jones, a highly recruited football player out of Sabino High School-Tucson in Arizona, entertained an NCAA Division I-A coach in his living room Thursday and listened to the kind of speech that has become a ritual as the recruiting season nears its finish.
Knowing that Jones had given an oral commitment to Cal, the coach was trying to find any way possible of changing Jones' mind before letter-of-intent signing day on Wednesday.
"He told me that coach (Jeff) Tedford was going to be leaving Cal," Jones said. "I didn't tell him that I knew that coach Tedford signed a five-year contract extension."
Before every season when Pac-10 coaches get together in Los Angeles, conference commissioner Thomas Hansen gives the same standard message.
"We remind everyone to sell their own institution," Hansen said. "Don't denigrate anyone else. Sell yours and don't run down others.
"Of course, everyone tries to stretch that as far as they can. We talk about it every year and note that it ranks right up there with sportsmanship."