This story sort of reminds me of when James Franklin took some heat for saying that when he was hiring assistants he wanted to see how attractive their wives were. The idea was that if the coach had "outkicked his coverage" in the wife department, he must be able to recruit.
Barry Switzer, at Oklahoma, is credited with pioneering the "how hot is your wife" part of the assistant coach hiring process, although in his case it was because he wanted to nail them when he sent their husbands on the road to recruit.