You're right - he did nothing against the rules. When he was building L.S.U., a favorite story is where it was a no-visit period (calls only), he pulled up in his vehicle right outside a recruit's house and called him on the phone. He sat in the vehicle on a public road off their property and they had a phone conversation from like 20 yards away. He just didn't make eye contact.
On unofficial visits when coaches couldn't speak to recruits, he would "bump into" the H.S. coach who was walking with them, avoid eye contact with the player but speak only to the coach about how excited he was about this player.
Things were different once he had Alabama rolling. He didn't have to do quite as much creative stuff.