While there always have been allegations of recruiting, the tenor of criticism and attacks against specific coaches are especially intense this year.

Many coaches interviewed for this series have a story about losing a player due to some questionable conduct.

"I wouldn't sell my soul just to win ball games," Miller said. "There are other things than winning."

A three-page letter was delivered to the UHSAA and copied to the Deseret Morning News this month. It is signed "a Disgruntled High School Football Fan," and it details a variety of "unethical" behavior by coaches and schools. The writer blames it on open enrollment. "This policy has created a monster in the world of high school athletics."

Excell concurs it is a problem. "If we didn't have that, we could say play where you live," he said.

That makes no sense to Cate, an unabashed proponent of open enrollment. He's sees a double standard when students want to transfer for football as opposed to art or music.

"We pay taxes so that our kids can go to school," he said. "I don't understand why we have to be told where we can send our kids to school."

Cate, a former University of Utah quarterback, denies recruiting anyone to Cottonwood.

"If I ever give anything to a kid or promised a kid something, they should shoot me and kick me out of the state," he said.

Recent rumors have Cate putting players' families up in Cottonwood-area condos and paying off the mortgage for a transfer student's mother. Such things he said, would get him in trouble with the IRS.

"To do what? Win a frickin' high school football game?" Cate says. "That would be categorically, no."

Still, Cate has become a fixture at the school. He spends 12 to 16 hours a day maintaining the fields, cutting highlight films for college recruiters and meeting with parents of academically struggling players.

On any given afternoon, players can be found in the study hall with former college stars like Kaufusi. Cate retains the tutors, who double as assistant coaches, with a personal services contract. He pays for their advanced degrees or teaching certificates if they agree to spend five years working at any high school.

"I don't want to be known as recruiting kids here," Kaufusi said. "We hear it often. That's not reality. I'm trying to offer the best environment for the kids to be successful."

Cottonwood head coach Tom Jones is unapologetic.

New protocol for the football team has had wide-ranging benefits for players and students. "The school has bonded with us because we aren't just a sad bunch of losers," Jones said.