Big Ten's Jim Delany views satellite camps as a 'permissible practice'

While the SEC continues to rail against satellite camps, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany doesn’t see what the big deal is.

From ESPN.com:

“I view it as a permissible practice. It’s permissible. I don't think it's objectionable. I've never thought about it as objectionable,” Delany said at Wednesday’s College Football Playoff meetings. “I think there are some things that are out there that are practices or that are legal that are probably far more objectionable than this."

A handful of Big Ten coaches, namely Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh and Penn State’s James Franklin, have set up an itinerary of visits to be guests at football camps across the country this summer, many of which are in SEC country. The SEC has barred its coaches from doing the same, and league officials and coaches have spoken out against others taking advantage of the fact that the NCAA permits coaches to attend camps as “guests,” as long as they don’t host the camp.

Delany groups these camps in with things like oversigning and flipping committed recruits.

“I grew up around five-star camp, where coaches came to coach players,” he said. “I know there are things that are out there that are very OK like over-signing or grayshirting or flipping players. Those are all things that I think people object to, but they’re permissible. But I think coaches coaching at camps doesn’t strike me as a bad practice.”

Delany said Wednesday that he’s open to participate in a national discussion about the camps, but thinks the focus should be on recruiting as a whole – not just the camps.

"All of these things are interrelated," he said. "Access to players, early access to players, early signing date, over-signing, flipping – this is all part and parcel of a very difficult area to regulate. What I would object to is identifying any single practice in an isolated way and focusing on that. What I would be open to is an on-the-bus overall view of recruitment, whether it's in basketball or football, to make sure there's balance on access."

Like the SEC, ACC commissioner John Swofford also took a stance opposite Delany’s and said last week that he’d support a national ban of the practice.

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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!

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