When talking about Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh, their views on satellite camps on are well, different.
Saban thinks these camps will turn college football into the Wild, Wild West (as if college football didn’t already have the reputation). Harbaugh, meanwhile, wants to hold a satellite camp anywhere, including American Samoa.
But despite their philosophical differences, Harbaugh and Saban announced Friday that they will participate in not one, but two satellite camps together.
Harbaugh and Saban’s tour will begin at Old Dominion in Norfolk, Virginia on Sunday.
From there, the traveling coaching staffs will head up to Baltimore for a camp the following day.
Old Dominion coach Bobby Wilder somehow agrees with both Harbaugh and Saban on this hot-button issue. Wilder said that the satellite camps can provide a number of compliance issues. However, Wilder is reaping the benefits of bringing in big-time coaches such as Harbaugh and Saban. Wilder told the Virginian-Pilot on Friday that he expects the number of players registered to increase from 300 to 500.
“The good news is that they’re coming,” Wilder said. “You’re talking about Old Dominion having the defending national champions on our campus. I don’t see how that doesn’t help. … It’s a positive for Old Dominion football and a positive for high school kids who will be attending this camp.”
Wilder also had success with the satellite camps last year when Old Dominion invited Penn State. Old Dominion had to cap registration at 1,000 players.
While it might be surprising that Harbaugh and Saban are working together, it’s hard to believe that Saban was going to let watch while big programs like Michigan took its coaching staff all over the country.