Oklahoma Football Shouldn’t Be Hurt by NCAA Ban on Satellite Camps
By Chip Rouse
Satellite camps – once a trendy way to discover and recruit prospects in other states and parts of the country and put in practiced by Oklahoma football and other elite teams in the game – are now a thing of the past, at least for the time being.
Not only were they a popular thing to do during offseason recruiting, but they also prompted plenty of controversy. More than a decade ago, the NCAA limited schools from hosting summer camps that were held more than 50 miles from the campus. That is when the notion of satellite camps came into being as coaches got around the 50-mile rule by co-hosting camps in other states.
According to a news story by staff writer Jason Kersey in last week’s Oklahoma City Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma and head coach Bob Stoops have taken advantage of satellite camps for a number of years, co-hosting events in places like Texas. This has helped programs like the Sooners, Kersey writes, to discover talented but under-the radar prospects in high-population spots like the Dallas and Houston areas.
Earlier this month, the NCAA Division I Council passed a rule eliminating any and all involvement in satellite camps, something that the Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference had previously banned their league coaches from participating in.
When the universal ban was issued by the NCAA in early April, the Big 12 representatives voted in support of the ban, but it was far from a unanimous opinion. The Oklahoman’s Kersey reported that OU athletic director Joe Castiglione said the Big 12 vote was very close.
Several Big 12 head coaches, including Stoops, have said they would like to see the new rule banning the use of satellite camps reversed.
During last week’s Big 12 spring media teleconference with the conference football coaches, Stoops said that if the ban on satellite camps remains in effect, the Sooners’ coaching staff might consider adding another summer camp in late July to accommodate more prospects.
In his article in the Oklahoman, Kersey cited a report published last week on ESPN.com saying that the ban could still be rescinded because it did not pass with an 85-percent majority. The ESPN.com report went on to say that, although the ban on satellite camps immediately went into effect upon its passage, the rule will not become official until the NCAA Board of Governors meet this coming week.
In actuality, though, I don’t see that it really matters whether the ban on satellite camps remains or is rescinded. Oklahoma has been successfully recruiting top talent in neighboring states like Texas, Kansas and even Missouri for many years, more than I can count, anyway.
The Sooners were finding talented football prospects in Texas long before “satellite camps” was even a term in the college football lexicon. You can’t tell me that the likes of Jack Mildren, Billy Sims and Adrian Peterson, or even top defenders like Tommie Harris and Trent Williams, to name just a few, wouldn’t have ended up crossing the Red River and coming to Oklahoma if it weren’t for a satellite camp.
It might be true that satellite camps might uncover a prospect or two you would not have been aware of or come across otherwise, but the recruiting system seemed to work very well before unlimited summer camps and their satellite alternative, so there really isn’t any reason to think it won’t work just as well now.