NCAA rightfully rescinds ban on satellite camps

Apr 1, 2016; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh looks on during the spring game at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 1, 2016; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh looks on during the spring game at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports /
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The NCAA rescinded the ban on satellite camps, thus ending the long soap opera of the 2016 offseason.

Satellite camps are back on.

Earlier this month the NCAA adopted a proposal that banned college football teams from satellite camps, which generated a great deal of criticism from players and coaches alike.

From Jim Harbaugh to Mike Leach, there were several head coaches who simply didn’t like the idea of preventing prospective student-athletes from not getting opportunities to put themselves in front of FBS head coaches. Current and future college football players expressed their anger over the satellite camp ban because without them many current college players wouldn’t have the scholarship they currently enjoy.

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“The Board of Directors is interested in a holistic review of the football recruiting environment, and camps are a piece of that puzzle,” said Board of Directors chair Harris Pastides, president of the University of South Carolina, via NCAA.org. “We share the Council’s interest in improving the camp environment, and we support the Council’s efforts to create a model that emphasizes the scholastic environment as an appropriate place for recruiting future student-athletes.”

Council chair Jim Phillips says this will give an opportunity to the Council to review the entire recruiting environment.

“It’s clear that the membership has differing views on this subject, and the Council appreciates the Board’s insights into this important issue,” Phillips said. “This review will provide an opportunity to identify the most effective ways prospective student-athletes can have their academic and athletic credentials evaluated by schools across the country.”

So now we can put to bed the biggest non-story of the college football offseason.

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How many more days until the season kicks off? Far too many, unfortunately, but at least the NCAA got this one right and recognized the ban wasn’t in the best interest of the universities or the prospective student-athletes.

They could have been stubborn and stuck with the ban and that would have been that, so credit the NCAA for recognizing they initially got it wrong and they made it right.