Jim Harbaugh has received a good deal of criticism for his staff's satellite camp tour this offseason, but the coach does not care because he has the rule book on his side.
None seem to be more critical of Harbaugh's movements this offseason than coaches in the SEC, whose own conference rules do not allow for satellite camps. However, as long as a coach is a "guest," the NCAA essentially allows him access to high school football players anywhere in the U.S.
Mississippi State head football coach Dan Mullen told a local radio station Harbaugh's only purpose for visiting so many satellite camps is for recruiting, ESPN reported. The Michigan football staff went to 11 camps in seven states, ranging from coast to coast in the span of nine days.
"I imagine Jim Harbaugh, if he's going to have a camp, would want to coach the kids in Michigan, the young kids in Michigan, maybe how to be better football players," Mullen said. "So why do they need one all over the place? The only purpose obviously is for recruiting, which I don't think is the right purpose for camps."
Alabama head football coach Nick Saban has also been outspoken about a uniform set of rules for all Power 5 conferences.
"If we're all going to travel all over the country to have satellite camps, you know, how ridiculous is that?" he told AL.com in April. "I mean we're not allowed to go to all-star games, but now we're going to have satellite camps all over the country. So it doesn't really make sense."
But Harbaugh did not seem to want to grant the criticism with a response, until speaking with USA Today recently.
"In my America, you're allowed to cross the state borders," he told the newspaper. "That's the America I know.
"It's not a revolutionary idea."
