ANN ARBOR, MI - OCTOBER 17: Head coach Jim Harbaugh of the Michigan Wolverines reacts during the college football game against the Michigan State Spartans at Michigan Stadium on October 17, 2015 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Spartans defeated the Wolverines 27-23. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Michigan Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh fired back at Nick Saban’s “lecturing” via Twitter on Tuesday night after the Alabama coach said satellite camps were “bad for college football” and compared them to “the wild, wild West” during Tuesday’s SEC spring meetings.
After originally saying he would not discuss satellite camps, Saban delivered a five-minute rant in which he lambasted the practice for incorporating third parties into recruiting, and for the lack of guidelines as well.
“This is the wild, wild West at its best,” said Saban. “There have been no specific guidelines relative to how we’re managing control of this stuff. It’s happening outside the normal evaluation window, which means we’re taking time away from our players. We have to worry about our players doing the right things with the limited time we have them, but we’re not going to do that because we have to be somewhere else to see someone else.”
Saban, who has never been fond of satellite camps, went on to call them “ridiculous.”
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Harbaugh, who has oppositely embraced satellite camps more than virtually any other college coach, was evidently disturbed by the Crimson Tide coach’s comments and responded with a tweet in which he referenced (without naming him) Alabama assistant coach Bo Davis, who resigned in late April after alleged recruiting violations.
The SEC has banned its coaches from participating in satellite camps, and the NCAA followed with a satellite-camp ban. However, in April the NCAA overturned the ban and ruled that satellite camps would be allowed.
Saban then added at Tuesday’s meeting that Harbaugh “can do whatever he wants to do if he thinks that’s what’s best,” but that there “needs to be somebody who looks out for what’s best for the game, not the SEC or the Big Ten or Jim Harbaugh. But what’s best for the game of college football.”
PHOTO: ANN ARBOR, MI – OCTOBER 17: Head coach Jim Harbaugh of the Michigan Wolverines reacts during the college football game against the Michigan State Spartans at Michigan Stadium on October 17, 2015 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Spartans defeated the Wolverines 27-23. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
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