The dreaded “satellite camp” imbroglio percolated again yesterday, with the SEC essentially threatening to join in the recruiting fun if nothing is done on a national basis about the practice.
Earlier this week, incoming SEC commissioner Greg Sankey intimated that, if a national rule banning coaches from working as “guest” coaches at high school football camps outside of a 50-mile radius from their respective campuses wasn’t enacted, his conference could very well join the fray. Wednesday, outgoing commissioner Mike Slive confirmed that the conference will indeed let their coaches loose if nothing’s done nationally with a rule proposed by his league.
“We are going to make every effort to have our rule adopted nationally,” Slive said Wednesday night at the SEC’s spring meetings. “If the rule isn’t adopted nationally, come next summer, our folks will be free to fan out all over the country and have at it.”
Sankey added that the league’s coaches are prepared to “canvas the nation if we’re in the same circumstance next year.”
Most view that as a threat from the conference as, the line of thinking of some nationally goes, a good many people in Big Ten or Pac-12 or Big 12 country would probably prefer not to see the likes of Nick Saban and Les Miles setting up camp in their own backyard. That, though, is something the SEC wants to avoid with its proposal.
In order for the SEC’s rule, which is also favored by the ACC, to pass, the majority of the 10 FBS conferences will need to vote in favor of it. The votes of the Power Five conferences -- ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC -- are weighted to count double of those cast by the Group of Five leagues -- AAC, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt.
It seems highly likely that the Big Ten and Pac-12, and probably the Big 12, will vote against the SEC’s proposal as those three P5 leagues make use of the satellite camps to one degree or another. On the G5 front, they would seemingly want to keep the SEC out of its recruiting footprint -- the SBC is already screwed either way as the SEC is already firmly embedded in it -- as much as possible, a goal that this rule would certainly accomplish.
Thus, it would stand to reason that the SEC’s proposal would stand a fairly decent chance of passing national muster: SEC (2 votes in favor) + ACC (2) + G5 (5) = 9 > B1G (2 votes against) + B12 (2) + P12 (2) = 6. Even if Notre Dame, a satellite camp proponent that’s a part of the P5 autonomy group, is added to the mix, that wouldn’t be enough to squelch the proposed rule. Could those who don’t want to the proposal enacted see a couple of the G5s voting against the proposal and tipping the scales in their favor? It’s possible, I guess, but doesn’t seem too likely.
If it’s not passed?
“We’ll do it, I promise you, all summer next year,” Miles said. “Next year, we’ll be in all different locations.”
“Our ADs have heard us try to push this issue nationally, and they’ve tried to push it nationally,” said Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops. “If it doesn’t happen, then we’re all in. Then we’ll be all over the place next year.”