It’s that time of the year again when folks around the SEC cry about Penn State setting up camps on their pristine recruiting soil. Just as they did a year ago, Penn State twill be traveling south to set up football camps. And just like they did last year, the SEC is not all too happy about it.
SEC rules prevent coaches from working at a football camp outside of a 50-mile radius from their respective program. There is no such rule in the Big Ten, and James Franklin (a former SEC coach as you remember) is doing nothing wrong by taking advantage of the freedom to work where he and his staff please. Last year Penn State worked camps in Georgia (with Georgia State) and Florida (with Stetson), and this year a trip to Atlanta is on the schedule. That makes it two straight years Penn State will be working a camp right in the hotbed of college football that is Atlanta, and new SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has not let that go unnoticed.
Sankey: SEC won’t eventually be only one not doing satellite camps. “I’m not sure the others want our coaches going to State College, PA.”
— Jon Solomon (@JonSolomonCBS) April 20, 2015
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Well, Sankey is probably right. I cannot imagine any world where any coach of a division one program would be ecstatic about a program from another region setting up shop right in their backyard. Who would? But that is not the problem. The problem is the SEC cuts its hands off at the wrists with this rule about working camps. It is not Penn State’s or Michigan’s or Ohio State’s responsibility to adhere to SEC rules. If anything, SEC coaches should be clamoring to have the same freedom to work outside the footprint of their individual programs. Instead, the ire is directed at Penn State. Why? Because it’s easier for the SEC.
Sankey says he has brought satellite camp issue to NCAA rules subcommittee. "Do we want to recruit all summer long in football?"
— Jon Solomon (@JonSolomonAspen) April 20, 2015
The SEC’s biggest concern is losing potential recruits to programs from the outside, like Penn State. The talent in the south is incredibly rich and fertile, and the SEC wants it all to itself. This is entirely understandable, and odds are still pretty decent the sEC will end up keeping most of that talent close to home anyway. But the moment there is even a whiff of competition to be had, the SEC curls up in the fetal position and suggests the rules should be changed to follow the SEC’s lead.
While coaches from the SEC may echo this same sentiment, I would be stunned if SEC coaches didn’t jump at the opportunity to work a football camp outside that 50-mile radius if given a chance. And with an early signing period coming soon enough, the chance to work a football camp in another territory could pay dividends for any coach and program. So yes, the chance to recruit all summer could be worth it for some.
Penn State is doing nothing wrong, and until the SEC looks in the mirror and sees how it is handcuffing their own coaches and programs, they will eventually change the way they do things. This one is on you SEC.
On a somewhat related (but not really related) note, South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier thinks Joe Paterno got a terrible deal at Penn State.
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