Seitu’s brother, Semar, is a running back with Division I potential. After Semar finishes his junior season, he expects to be recruited by Reno, who has an advantage over other recruiters.

“He’s definitely using his edge,” Mari says. “Semar’s nickname is Chino, and [Reno’s] sent letters to my house under Chino Smith as opposed to Semar Smith, and only close friends know that nickname—friends and family.”

Reno has an advantage over Harvard’s new Florida recruiter, Ryan Crawford, in particular, whom the Smiths have never met even though Seitu said the Crimson has shown interest in his brother.

“We are going to the Harvard-Yale game, and I haven’t even met Coach Crawford,” Mari says. “I just feel like if that was Coach Reno he would have made sure he was heads up.”

It is clear that Mari is still adjusting to Reno’s new situation.

“It’s definitely weird,” Mari says.

Part of what makes it strange may be that Reno is using the same system as he did before, only this time as Yale coach.

“It’s funny because the way coach Reno recruited me for Harvard, he’s kind of doing the same thing for Yale with my brother,” Seitu says.

Crimson coach Tim Murphy has noticed the same phenomenon across the board.

“It’s the Harvard recruiting system [that Reno is using]—we are seeing that, hearing that from the recruits,” Murphy says. “There is no question. It’s the Harvard system. That’s why [the Yale coaches] were hired.”

Even before Reno officially started recruiting Semar, the running back says Reno’s move changed his college outlook.

“Now [Yale’s] a school I could see myself going to,” Semar says. “I would still have had a chance if they recruited me [if Reno wasn’t there]…but I don’t know if I’d actually end up there.”

Murphy says he understood that Reno was going to use every edge possible in his new role at Yale.

“That’s business; that’s the business of the recruiting,” Murphy says. “Everybody is just trying to do their job.”

How well Reno is able to conduct business in places like Florida with people like Semar may decide who holds the balance of power in the Harvard-Yale rivalry for years to come.

—Staff writer Jacob D. H. Feldman can be reached at jacobfeldman@college.harvard.edu.