The NCAA’s recent decision to ban satellite camps has been a hot topic of conversation in college football circles over the last week, and on Thursday, Duke coach David Cutcliffe weighed in on the issue during a visit with The David Glenn Show.
Common arguments against satellite camps have included coaches in the South wanting to protect their territory and others stating they don’t want to lose time with their families. Those who support the idea of holding camps and clinics in other regions argue that it provides some student-athletes with opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise have.
Cutcliffe offered a unique take:
You have to understand football recruiting in this perspective: We are the only collegiate sport left that only recruits scholastically. What I mean by that is we go to schools, and that’s it. There’s no summer showcases. There’s no traveling. We deal with high school coaches. We don’t deal with ‘amateur coaches’ and people that are third parties, if we can help it. It’s something we should all strive to continue. It keeps it cleaner.
With that, if we do our business on high school campuses, and I think it makes sense, and all of us have geographic locations that we deal with, whether we’re in California or whether we’re in the Southeast or the Midwest, we should do our camps and our evaluations and our visiting with prospects on our campuses. In the truest sense of the word, that’s what football recruiting has attempted and tried to be all of these years. I’m about tired of the whining. It’s just that simple. Leave it alone and move forward.
The Blue Devil head coach also discussed the ongoing renovations to Wallace Wade Stadium, Duke’s NFL prospects and Thomas Sirk’s progress as he recovers from an Achilles injury. Click below to hear the full interview: