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Despite the SEC's recent stranglehold on the college football world, the conference -- dubbed by many to be the best in the sport for the better part of the last decade -- can't seem to wrap its head around satellite camps.
Infamous in the Deep South and extremely resourceful (and legal) to just about everyone else in the country, satellite camps have become enemy No. 1 to the big, bad SEC. For the second straight year, SEC coaches and administrators are sick and tired of watching other competing coaches slide into their fertile recruiting grounds and spend precious time with prospective recruits by playing "guest coach" at smaller institutions.
NCAA rules allow football programs to hold camps on campus, inside their state or within a 50-mile radius of their school, but there's a nifty little loophole that allows coaches to "guest-coach" at another school's camp anywhere in the country.
Penn State coach James Franklin upset the SEC by doing it last year, while Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is hitting nine cities in nine days that will include trips to Alabama, Florida and Texas. Ohio State's Urban Meyer is heading to Boca Raton, Florida, in June.
The SEC, which along with the ACC doesn't allow its coaches to participate in these camps, is now proposing legislation to have satellite camps outlawed nationally, and many coaches believe that these camps present an unfair competitive advantage that the league can't combat.
The SEC's groaning on the subject has fallen on deaf ears, but that didn't stop the league from griping about it again on Tuesday.
"We have a lot of crazy rules," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "A head coach is not allowed to go out during an evaluation period in the spring, but he can go have a satellite camp anywhere in the country to bring your staff in and bring players to it? Does that make any sense to anybody? I think we should have recruiting periods and evaluation periods, and the only time you should be able to have a camp is on your campus. And if a player is interested enough to come to your camp on your campus, then that should be the way it is."
What the SEC has to realize is that it just doesn't have enough votes to destroy this practice. Greg Sankey, who will replace Mike Slive as SEC commissioner in July, said he thinks the SEC's proposal has a "fair chance of passing."
That might be wishful thinking. So the SEC needs a Plan B, and that plan should be to conform and let the issue die. The SEC is talking about a competitive disadvantage, more time on the road and a longer recruiting season, but if you can't beat them, you might as well join them.
We all know what these camps are. They aren't development opportunities, they are recruiting ventures. They are loopholes when the official recruiting calendar shuts down. If it bothers the SEC and their proposal is shot down, join the club.
Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze isn't a fan of satellite camps, but even he said he would reevaluate his stance on them if SEC coaches were allowed to participate.
"I guess it's a selfish position somewhat, and I kinda like it the way it is for us. But I totally understand if I were sitting somewhere and in my recruiting circle there are camps going on from outside schools, in the Power 5 in particular, I would want the freedom to do the same," Freeze said.
South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier also understands that evolution is inevitable.
"All of us are against it, obviously, but there comes a point where we all need to start doing it to keep up with Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State -- the Northern schools that come into the South," he said.
I completely understand the SEC's stance. Coaches and administrators don't want outsiders stepping into their footprints, and they don't want to watch conference mates hanging out in their backyards any more than they already do.
Florida probably doesn't want Alabama in Jacksonville. Texas A&M probably doesn't want Georgia in Dallas. None of them want Ohio State or Michigan anywhere close to them. But the time is coming when the SEC, which showed a total competitive disadvantage with its seven straight national championships, needs to back off and either join the fun or leave the fight.
I'm sure Florida would like to hit Miami and Atlanta. Saban probably wouldn't mind a day in Dallas, either.
Georgia coach Mark Richt seemed a little apathetic about satellite camps and probably understood better than everyone that sometimes you have to embrace change.
"I'm not too worried about it," he said. "If we're allowed to, I'm sure we will."
And they should. Give prospects the opportunity to see you when they might not be able to afford the chance later. The rest of the sport is slowly catching up to the SEC, and the league, which has been revolutionary at times, can't get caught with its head in the sand.
ESPN's SEC BlogāContinue reading...
Infamous in the Deep South and extremely resourceful (and legal) to just about everyone else in the country, satellite camps have become enemy No. 1 to the big, bad SEC. For the second straight year, SEC coaches and administrators are sick and tired of watching other competing coaches slide into their fertile recruiting grounds and spend precious time with prospective recruits by playing "guest coach" at smaller institutions.
NCAA rules allow football programs to hold camps on campus, inside their state or within a 50-mile radius of their school, but there's a nifty little loophole that allows coaches to "guest-coach" at another school's camp anywhere in the country.
Penn State coach James Franklin upset the SEC by doing it last year, while Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is hitting nine cities in nine days that will include trips to Alabama, Florida and Texas. Ohio State's Urban Meyer is heading to Boca Raton, Florida, in June.
The SEC, which along with the ACC doesn't allow its coaches to participate in these camps, is now proposing legislation to have satellite camps outlawed nationally, and many coaches believe that these camps present an unfair competitive advantage that the league can't combat.
The SEC's groaning on the subject has fallen on deaf ears, but that didn't stop the league from griping about it again on Tuesday.
"We have a lot of crazy rules," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "A head coach is not allowed to go out during an evaluation period in the spring, but he can go have a satellite camp anywhere in the country to bring your staff in and bring players to it? Does that make any sense to anybody? I think we should have recruiting periods and evaluation periods, and the only time you should be able to have a camp is on your campus. And if a player is interested enough to come to your camp on your campus, then that should be the way it is."
What the SEC has to realize is that it just doesn't have enough votes to destroy this practice. Greg Sankey, who will replace Mike Slive as SEC commissioner in July, said he thinks the SEC's proposal has a "fair chance of passing."
That might be wishful thinking. So the SEC needs a Plan B, and that plan should be to conform and let the issue die. The SEC is talking about a competitive disadvantage, more time on the road and a longer recruiting season, but if you can't beat them, you might as well join them.
We all know what these camps are. They aren't development opportunities, they are recruiting ventures. They are loopholes when the official recruiting calendar shuts down. If it bothers the SEC and their proposal is shot down, join the club.
Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze isn't a fan of satellite camps, but even he said he would reevaluate his stance on them if SEC coaches were allowed to participate.
"I guess it's a selfish position somewhat, and I kinda like it the way it is for us. But I totally understand if I were sitting somewhere and in my recruiting circle there are camps going on from outside schools, in the Power 5 in particular, I would want the freedom to do the same," Freeze said.
South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier also understands that evolution is inevitable.
"All of us are against it, obviously, but there comes a point where we all need to start doing it to keep up with Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State -- the Northern schools that come into the South," he said.
I completely understand the SEC's stance. Coaches and administrators don't want outsiders stepping into their footprints, and they don't want to watch conference mates hanging out in their backyards any more than they already do.
Florida probably doesn't want Alabama in Jacksonville. Texas A&M probably doesn't want Georgia in Dallas. None of them want Ohio State or Michigan anywhere close to them. But the time is coming when the SEC, which showed a total competitive disadvantage with its seven straight national championships, needs to back off and either join the fun or leave the fight.
I'm sure Florida would like to hit Miami and Atlanta. Saban probably wouldn't mind a day in Dallas, either.
Georgia coach Mark Richt seemed a little apathetic about satellite camps and probably understood better than everyone that sometimes you have to embrace change.
"I'm not too worried about it," he said. "If we're allowed to, I'm sure we will."
And they should. Give prospects the opportunity to see you when they might not be able to afford the chance later. The rest of the sport is slowly catching up to the SEC, and the league, which has been revolutionary at times, can't get caught with its head in the sand.
ESPN's SEC BlogāContinue reading...
