The NCAA's short-lived ban on satellite camps ended Thursday, reopening Tampa Bay and Florida recruits to coaching staffs around the country.
The issue centers on whether schools should hold recruiting camps away from their campuses. A council of conferences approved a ban on them earlier this month, but the NCAA's Division I board of directors rescinded that Thursday.
"The Board of Directors is interested in a holistic review of the football recruiting environment, and camps are a piece of that puzzle," said board chairman Harris Pastides, who's also South Carolina's president. "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."
Satellite camps have become one of the most controversial offseason stories in college football, thanks to the high-profile nature of one of its biggest proponents (Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh) and strongest critics (the SEC).
Before the ban, Harbaugh scheduled a June 4 joint camp at USF; that session — and three other Bulls satellite camps — are expected to go on after Thursday's ruling, according to a USF spokesman.
Within an hour of Thursday's ruling, at least one other school (Arizona) announced its intention to hold a satellite camp in Tampa.
The ACC and SEC had previously enacted their own bans on the practice, but both are expected to begin allowing them.
"While we are disappointed with the NCAA governance process result, we respect the Board of Directors' decision and are confident SEC football programs will continue to be highly effective in their recruiting efforts," SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement.
Belated wolfpack honor: More than 30 years after winning the basketball national championship, N.C. State's 1983 team will meet the president in a White House visit with Barack Obama on May 9. After a buzzer-beating win over Houston, only coach Jim Valvano met with President Ronald Reagan while the players talked to Reagan via a satellite TV broadcast.
IDAHO: The Vandals will drop to Division I-AA in 2018 and intend to join the Big Sky Conference. In 20 Division I-A seasons Idaho football is 71-162 with two bowl appearances. The Sun Belt announced in March that it would drop the Vandals as a football member.
Times staff writer Joey Knight contributed to this report, which used information from Times wires. Contact Matt Baker at mbaker@tampabay.com. Follow @MBakerTBTimes.