The two biggest ordeals in the College Football offseason? Baylor football and sports in general imploding, and the whole debate about satellite camps, with Jim Harbaugh of Michigan as the main advocate to keep them going, and Nick Saban on the other end, trying to get them to stop.
This whole debate has nothing to do with the good of the kids. It’s about building a better and stronger football program. Harbaugh is pushing for this, and winning after the NCAA reversed its decision to ban satellite camps because he wants Michigan to have a reach in SEC country. SEC coaches don’t want anyone “poaching” local talent.
At the SEC spring meeting, Saban said he wouldn’t address the Satellite camp issues. Of course, as college football head coaches often do, he wasn’t staying true to his own words.
This is the wild, wild West at its best. There have been no specific guidelines relative to how we’re managing control of this stuff. It’s happening outside the normal evaluation window, which means we’re taking time away from our players. We have to worry about our players doing the right things with the limited time we have them, but we’re not going to do that because we have to be somewhere else to see someone else. The camps are ridiculous. It’s amazing somebody didn’t stand up and say here are going to be the unintended consequences of what you all are doing.
The SEC had banned its coaches from participating in satellite camps, and the NCAA followed with a satellite camp ban. However, in April, the NCAA overturned the ban and ruled that satellite camps would be allowed.
So Harbaugh took the info in and responded. How? By jabbing Saban and Alabama football, referring to Bo Davis, the Alabama assistant who stepped down in the wake of school and NCAA reviews of potential recruiting infractions.
“Amazing” to me- Alabama broke NCAA rules & now their HC is lecturing us on the possibility of rules being broken at camps. Truly “amazing.”
— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) June 1, 2016
Saban didn’t forget to mention Harbaugh in the meetings, saying that Harbaugh can do whatever he wants to do if he thinks that’s what’s best,but there needs to be somebody who looks out for what’s best for the game, not the SEC or the Big Ten or Jim Harbaugh. But what’s best for the game of college football.
Everyone isn’t quite convinced that Saban, or any other head coach, cares about what’s best for the game of college football. It’s all about what benefits the school they’re working for now.