If it’s good enough for James Franklin and Brian Kelly, it’s apparently good enough for Jim Harbaugh.
In an attempt last May to increase Penn State’s recruiting footprint, Franklin utilized a loophole that allowed he and his Nittany Lion staff to serve as “guest coaches” at high school football camps in Georgia and Florida. The move, which sidesteps an NCAA rule that prohibits coaches from hosting camps outside of a 50-mile radius around their respective campuses, didn’t sit well with coaches in the SEC and was quickly emulated by the Notre Dame head coach. Kelly also added the fertile Los Angeles recruiting grounds to his camping to-do list.
Fast-forward to today, with mlive.com reporting that Harbaugh and his Michigan staff will serve as “guest coaches” at a camp not only in SEC country, but they’re set to invade Big 12 territory as well. In June, Harbaugh & Company will attend a camp in Prattville, Ala., on the 4th and then follow that up five days later by working one in Dallas, Tex.
As the population continues to trend away from the Midwest and toward the South and Southwest, it makes sense for the Harbaughs and Franklins and Kellys of the college football world to take every of advantage of the “loophole” to get their hooks into recruits from those talent-rich areas of the country -- regardless of how many SEC and Big 12 coaches they piss off in the process.