Jim Harbaugh continues to rankle his counterparts in the SEC. Kirby Smart was the latest coach to be on the receiving end of his smackdown.
Harbaugh is holding four practices in South Florida next week and invited all Florida high school coaches to attend. The practice is the latest move in Harbaugh’s ingenious plan to recruit nationally by setting up satellite camps and practices around the country.
Smart spoke Tuesday about Harbaugh’s move and suggested there might be something wrong in terms of following the rules.
“They’re obviously trying to gain a competitive advantage, and obviously that’s their right, but I think the NCAA in due time will have to step in and keep it from getting out of hand,” Smart said. “There’ a lot of factors that people haven’t thought about with that deal. You’ve got to think about recruiting rules. How they are going to handle those? Is it an advantage or a disadvantage? Are they going to let coaches go to those? Are they going to be open practices? Do we go over there and watch them and scout them? If it’s open practices, why don’t we go? It’s a Pandora’s Box of what it’s going to get into.
“Obviously I don’t want to get into it because I’d like to practice right there in our facility, and I’d also like to have the prospects in-state to come to our practices and us not have to go to them. So I don’t know how it’s going to go down.”
Word of Smart’s comments made their way to Harbaugh, who issued this response on Twitter:
If the Georgia coach is implying any intent on our part to break rules, he is barking up the wrong tree.
— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) February 24, 2016
You have to love Harbaugh’s biceps-flexing move of referring to Smart as the “Georgia coach” and not even dignifying him by saying his name. Step off peon, until you’ve won some games in a big-time conference, step away from the big boy table.
