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Majority of ACC coaches recommend end of satellite camps

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. -- Jimbo Fisher politely declined Jim Harbaugh’s invitation to be the keynote speaker at Michigan’s camp next month.

“Nah,” the Florida State coach said with a smile after learning of Harbaugh’s collegial gesture.

In April, Harbaugh tweeted an invitation to all college coaches to come work or speak at Michigan’s June 14-17 camp. Harbaugh extended the opportunity as a tongue-in-cheek counter to the criticisms he faced for announcing the Wolverines’ staff would span the country to attend nine satellite camps in seven different states this summer.

“I’m glad I’m not on that staff,” Fisher said, referring to all the extra travel Michigan's coaches would be doing this summer.

After three days of ACC meetings, the conference’s coaches are not interested in altering the ACC’s policy that excludes them from taking advantage of an NCAA loophole. The NCAA does not allow colleges to host camps outside of a 50-mile radius from their campuses, but it doesn’t prohibit coaches from working camps at other places outside that area.

The ACC and SEC do not allow their coaches to use that loophole, and the ACC’s recommendation is for the NCAA to close it.

Dabo Swinney, chair of the ACC coaches, is wary of football recruiting mirroring what goes on in basketball.

“We’re not all going out to Las Vegas for a showcase. [Basketball] is a different deal,” Swinney said. “I like that [in] football, right now the high school and college campus are the two places you recruit.

“We're against it because, as a conference, we have our conference rule and we like it the way it is.”

While the conference will recommend the NCAA outlaw the practice, league coaches are not unanimous in their opposition. Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson would like for the ACC to allow its coaches to work satellite camps. It is tougher to draw recruits to camps to the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, campus. New Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi, who comes from Michigan State, told the Orlando Sentinel he’s unsure how he feels about satellite camps.

The issue has become a trending topic the last two seasons as several Big Ten schools, most located in areas with a shortage of FBS talent, have worked camps in the more fertile recruiting areas. Michigan coaches will work camps in recruiting hotbeds California, Florida and Texas next month. Penn State worked at Georgia State’s camp last summer and will do so again this June.

One significant change regarding satellite camps recently came when the NCAA Interpretations Committee notified schools they could no longer promote their attendance at other camps online, via social media and in recruiting correspondence.

ACC commissioner John Swofford has said that the league would have to consider a change to its policy if the loophole is not fully closed, but conference coaches are unsure if they will have to take that action.

“I don’t know,” Fisher said when asked if he believes there will be a rules change. “We’ll see. That’ll be our recommendation.”