It may be the middle of the college football offseason, but that hardly matters for Jim Harbaugh, who gave us a heavyweight fight off the gridiron by responding to Nick Saban over the satellite camp issue.
The successful Alabama Crimson Tide head coach has long been against satellite camps, largely because the SEC has had rules against them. Speaking at SEC Spring Meetings on Tuesday, Saban once again shared his negative opinion of the camps.
“Why would we be promoting somebody else’s camp anywhere? Because it’s the same thing I said before: this is the only sport where the high school still mattered. What they did at the high school mattered. All you’re doing is allowing all these other people that we spend all of our time at the NCAA saying, you can’t recruit through a third party. You can’t be involved with third-party people and that’s exactly what you’re doing,” Saban said via AL.com.
Saban said the purpose of the camps was to recruit rather than create opportunities for youngsters. Note his use of the word “amazing.”
“I don’t know how much it benefits anybody because all the people that say this is creating opportunities for kids, this is all about recruiting,” Saban said. “That’s what it’s about. Anybody that tells you that. What’s amazing to me is somebody didn’t stand up and say here’s going to be the unintended consequences of what you all are doing.”
Saban also singled out the man who has been most notably behind the satellite camp movement — Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh.
“I’m not blaming Jim Harbaugh, I’m not saying anything about him,” Saban said. “I’m just saying it’s bad for college football. Jim Harbaugh can do whatever he wants to do. I’m not saying anything bad about him if he thinks that’s what’s best. There needs to be somebody that looks out for what’s best for the game, not what’s best for the Big 10 or what’s best for the SEC, or what’s best for Jim Harbaugh, but what’s best for the game of college football — the integrity of the game, the coaches, the players and the people that play it. That’s bigger than all of this.”
Well, knowing Harbaugh, you knew he wouldn’t let his name get mentioned by another big-time coach without chiming in. And he did just that. Once again pay attention to use of the word “amazing.”
"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
Harbaugh man, you can’t slip anything past that guy. He was referencing the recent recruiting violations by former Alabama assistant Bo Davis in his tweet. It’s awfully hard to throw stones when you live in a glass house, right?
You get the feeling that Saban would feel a little better about things if Harbaugh and his tactics weren’t posing such a threat to the Alabama coach’s string of recruiting success. Then again, even if Saban’s staff has been guilty of violations, it’s hard to disagree with the coach’s overall point of reigning in recruiting overall for the good of the game and the prospective student-athletes.
