Jim Harbaugh's controversial satellite camp tour comes with a fat price tag, but it's one the coach's boss doesn't mind paying.
Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel confirmed the cost will be roughly $350,000.
He also called Harbaugh's ambitious circuit of off-campus camps "an investment that we're making in our program and football, and the things that (Harbaugh) is doing with the kids and that our coaches are doing across the country," according to mlive.com.
Satellite camps are off-campus camps typically conducted by high schools, but under NCAA rules, college coaches are permitted to assist with the camps in an official capacity. Harbaugh has popularized them since taking over the head coaching role at his former school a year and a half ago, which has created controversy. Some college coaches, most notably in the SEC, don't believe the camps should be allowed under NCAA rules.
Said Manuel: "(Harbaugh is) investing so much of his time and so much of his staff's time. I fight every time I'm asked about it -- this idea that it's just about recruiting and it's just about Jim. He doesn't need that, if it was just about him. And we don't need that to know who we're going to recruit. That, I think, is an important piece to talk about as it relates to the expenditure and the investment that we're making."
No coach has made a bigger satellite camp push than Harbaugh. Michigan assigned at least one of its coaches for 38 camps this summer, in 22 states, and as far away as Australia. Not surprisingly, Manuel said the biggest expenditure in the satellite camp budget is air travel.
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