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The NCAA, the governing body that brought you "Couchgate" has made another interesting decision today diving deep into their endless fount of wisdom. Effective immediately, schools will no longer be able to hold camps outside their own campus, facilities or more than 50 miles from their historical centers of operation. The ruling is being hailed by conferences like the SEC, who don't like other schools dipping their toes in their recruiting beds, but it's being panned by...pretty much everyone else. Not insignificantly, it's being roundly criticized by the very student-athletes that the NCAA is supposedly looking out for. 2016 DB signee Deandre Pierce took to Twitter shortly after the news hit to voice his displeasure at the ruling, as it knocked the legs off of the very system that got him his Boise State offer.
That's how I got Boise State and how you can expose yourself to college coaches without paying expenses. Stupid https://t.co/dFDzAVODH8
— ❄Deandre Pierce❄ (@its_rayray4) April 8, 2016
Even more puzzling than the ruling by the NCAA is the fact that it was apparently ratified because of the votes of conferences that it would hurt the most...namely the Mountain West.
Source told @ESPN conferences that voted against satellite camps: ACC, Big 12, SEC, Pac-12, MWC, Sun Belt. In favor: B1G, AAC, C-USA, MAC
— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) April 8, 2016
Boise State may come out of this better than other schools outside the P5 because of it's considerable brand recognition and street cred, but other schools can't really afford to lose a recruiting tool when their personal camps aren't popular draws. Furthermore, most schools had already scheduled satellite camps for this summer—Boise State among them, and those camps will no longer take place, nor will the student-athletes hoping to get noticed at said camps have that venue available. So under-recruited athletes or those without the financial resources to market themselves via on-campus visits will end up the victims. Bang up job, NCAA.
Were some schools abusing the system a tad *cough* Harbaugh *cough*? Sure, but maybe placing some rules and regs around some of the more outrageous practices like, you know...sleeping over at recruits' houses...deserved some consideration before pulling the rug out from under thousands of aspiring D1 athletes. But that's just me.