With a few hours between the NCAA's announcement of the satellite camp ban and now, a few reactions and ramifications to today's news....
I
Much has been and will be made of the impact this has to under-the-radar recruits with the desire to be recruited by Michigan, Oregon and places in between but without the budget to get to Ann Arbor and Eugene, and deservedly so. They are the biggest victims here. But there's another class of victim as well: small-school coaches that host the big boys on their respective campuses. If you're an assistant at Mary-Hardin Baylor, the chance to work a drill with Mike Gundy looking on isn't something that can just be re-created now... unless you can get a job working at a camp in Stillwater. Coaching is about turning contacts into relationships, and that just got harder for some coaches.
II
As he always does, Andy Staples found an angle to this story no one did in his latest Punt, Pass & Pork column:
Hopefully, enough leagues will be smart enough to realize that the proposed SEC and ACC rules are foolish restrictions that hurt recruits and create a black market in which schools slip (occasionally seedy) people money under the table to deliver recruits to on-campus camps. By allowing coaches from across the country to work camps in recruit-rich areas, players can gain exposure to multiple staffs without paying for flights or piling into a van being driven by somebody with a financial stake in which camps the prospects attend.
III
Either the SEC and ACC convinced their peers to vote against their own self-interest, or some conferences felt differently behind close doors than they did in public.
IV One reaction from one recruit, but he's not alone.
V
Lest we forget, the NCAA also opened up all forms of electronic communication on Friday.
VI Reaction from an FBS head coach.
VII
And another
VIII With satellite camps dead, is it possible this becomes the next proxy war between the SEC and Big Ten? And what are the ripple effects if this does change?
IX
Someone should create a matrix for ranking controversies in one sport that fans of other sports don't comprehend or care. And if such a matrix existed, today would rank near the top. I have to image "NCAA bans satellite camps" plays elsewhere like "NHL shrinks goalie pads by 3/4 inch" or "MLB moves arbitration eligibility to four years" would be received inside the college football world.