Mark Snyder

Detroit Free Press

Satellite camps are back -- at least for this summer.

The NCAA Division I Board of Directors today rescinded the ruling that outlawed off-site camps for college football teams.

The board's rationale in rescinding the weeks-old ban was that the issue should have been part of the examination of football recruiting that was planned for the Football Oversight Committee. It now will be part of that.

That it was separated for a vote by the Division I Council earlier this month surprised many in the membership.

“The Board of Directors is interested in a holistic review of the football recruiting environment, and camps are a piece of that puzzle,” board chair Harris Pastides, president of the University of South Carolina, said in a released statement. “We share the council’s interest in improving the camp environment, and we support the council’s efforts to create a model that emphasizes the scholastic environment as an appropriate place for recruiting future student-athletes.”

The NCAA's release noted that camps are intended for instruction and to generate revenue, but they "have increasingly been viewed as a recruiting tool," while not being subject to the recruiting calendar. That will be examined by the oversight committee.

The board, made up primarily of school presidents and chancellors, was responding to the Division I Council’s April 8 approval of a rule that banned schools from holding or even working at football camps away from their campus.

The first part of the ban, proposed by the ACC and heavily supported by the SEC, was to keep schools from taking their staffs to other parts of the country, as Michigan famously has done under coach Jim Harbaugh. The coaches and conference commissioners who supported the ban cited multiple reasons, including that the camps were for recruiting and not just to give kids a chance to learn football, as Harbaugh contended.

Michigan didn't respond immediately with a comment but posted a GIF of Harbaugh hitching up his pants, apparently in approval of today's decision.

"Good news," Harbaugh told the Associated Press after the decision. "It's good for prospective student-athletes, fans, coaches and competition."

Harbaugh and U-M already had scheduled eight satellite camps in six states this summer, plus the Sound Mind Sound Body camp in Detroit. The planned dates were June 2-13 and will spin through Georgia, Florida, Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas.

AL.com reported the schools in Alabama will have to make sure they can reschedule those camps in Madison (June 6) and Prattville (June 7) and that U-M is still interested.

Another part of the ban rankled all sides: preventing coaches from even working at camps away from their campus. That sliced directly into events such as the Sound Mind Sound Body camp, planned for seven cities this summer, at which coaches from many schools teach players. The NCAA declares June to be a "quiet period" in recruiting, during which off-campus contact with prospects is disallowed. Harbaugh tried to absolve himself of that conflict at last summer's satellite camps by announcing that his coaches could not talk about recruiting.

The ban also would have affected the camps at bigger schools at which smaller-school coaches have worked for years, enabling them to scout prospects that they wouldn’t otherwise see and allowing players to get more exposure.

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany was unavailable for comment.

The council that implemented the ban primarily is made up of athletic directors representing a Division I conference. They voted 10-5 in favor of the ban. But it was revealed later than two of the conference reps -- from the Pac-12 and Sun Belt -- voted against the wishes of their league. Had their votes supported the camps, the measure wouldn't have passed and could have spared this month of chaos. (A vote from a Power Five conference, like the Pac-12, counts for two votes.)

The Big Ten coaches had varying levels of support for the satellite camps, though the league, as a whole, voted in favor of them. Council chairman Jim Phillips, council member and Northwestern athletic director, said he's glad there will be an overall look at the recruiting environment.

By focusing on Harbaugh, SEC's camp ban effort misfired

“It’s clear that the membership has differing views on this subject, and the council appreciates the board’s insights into this important issue,” Phillips said in a released statement. “This review will provide an opportunity to identify the most effective ways prospective student-athletes can have their academic and athletic credentials evaluated by schools across the country."

Michigan State plans to assist at camps such as Sound Mind Sound Body but has no plans to have its own satellite camp.

Satellite camps have existed much of this decade, though on a moderate basis. They began to draw attention in 2014, when Penn State’s James Franklin took his staff to Atlanta and Florida. SEC coaches began complaining because a conference rule limited them from working at a camp more than 50 miles from their campus.

After today's ruling, both the SEC and the ACC have lifted their obstacles and will allow their coaches to hold satellite camps.

When Harbaugh took his staff on a seven-state tour last summer, promoting it as the “Summer Swarm” tour, the fury reached a fever pitch. He encroached on the Southeast, as Franklin had earlier, but also went to Texas and California while most other college coaches were on vacation.

The vacation issue led to a back-and-forth this month, as Harbaugh attacked some coaches' work ethic, particularly outspoken Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze. Freeze fired back at Harbaugh on ESPN.

The backlash to the ban took on a life of its own with politicians such as Washington D.C.'s Eleanor Holmes Norton sending a letter to NCAA president Mark Emmert; Michigan Rep. Andy Schor introducing a resolution; and, according to USA TODAY, the Department of Justice starting an inquiry.

Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel and Mid-American Conference commissioner Jon Steinbrecher told the Free Press in separate conversations that they were discussing potential responses to the ban, but neither publicly defined a proposal.

Now that may not be necessary.

The next deadline -- for the recommendations and proposals on how to reform the recruiting environment -- are requested by Sept. 1.

U-M’s known 2016 camp sites (partner)

June 2 -- Ellenwood, Ga. (Cedar Grove High School)

June 4 -- Tampa (South Florida)

June 5 – Norfolk, Va. (Old Dominion)

June 6 – Madison, Ala. (Bob Jones High School)

June 7 – Prattville, Ala. (Prattville High School)

June 8 -- Pearl, Miss. (Pearl High School)

June 9-10 – Detroit (Sound Mind Sound Body at Wayne State)

June 12 -- Waco, Texas (Baylor)

June 13 -- Addison, Texas (Greenhill School)

Rick Neuheisel, on satellite camp ban: Coaches want vacation

Satellite camp debate: It's not all about Jim Harbaugh

Mark Dantonio: 'Abuse' wasn't in reference to Michigan

Michigan AD Warde Manuel calls camp ban 'crazy'

Contact Mark Snyder atmsnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @mark__snyder. Download our Wolverines Xtra appon iTunesandAndroid!