College coaches in Georgia speak their minds

One of the benefits of the annual Peach State Pigskin Preview in Macon is it gives college football coaches from across Georgia a chance to share their opinions on the hot topics in their sport.

Georgia’s Mark Richt, Georgia Tech’s Paul Johnson, Georgia State’s Trent Miles, Georgia Southern’s Willie Fritz and Kennesaw State’s Brian Bohannon shared their thoughts Tuesday on everything from cost-of-attendance policies to the controversial practice of satellite camps.

Q: Thoughts on the NCAA cost-of-attendance policy:

Bohannon: The proposal won't keep everyone on a level playing field. There has to be some consistency if this is going to be the direction we go.

Johnson: I think it's great we're finally doing something for the student-athletes. I wish that they could come up with a system that was more conducive to not creating the problems that it's going to create.

Miles: It's going to be hard to control with the big boys. If one of them is giving five thousand and one of them is giving eight thousand, that person giving five is quickly going to go to eight. I don't know how it's all going to work out. I think it's going to be tough to go across the board and keep it level. There's so many legal things you have to look at, so we'll see how it works out.

Richt: That O'Bannon case could have a factor in this thing. I think for this year the numbers are going to be what they are. But I think we'll be doing some things that will help bridge the gap at Georgia, which will be perfectly legal. But I think in time it'll become more equitable, if not right on the nose. I think by having some of this transparency to know how everybody calculates, we might see something that makes us say, 'Oh, we could do that.' Or somebody might say, 'We can't do what we thought we could.' Or whatever it was. I've got a feeling that when everybody knows how everybody calculates, I have a feeling that number will get closer."

Q: If they could change one NCAA rule about recruiting, what would it be?

Bohannon: A combination of two things: change (official) visits allowed from five to three and to be able to pay for their parents to come on visits.

Fritz: One, I wish the head coach could go out in the spring. You're able to do that at the (FCS) level, Division II, Division III. I wish you could do it in (FBS), particularly when you are not familiar with your area. I would have loved to gone out and hit every high school coach in the state of Georgia to get to meet the high school coaches. Instead, what I've done is gone to clinics, camps to get to know people.

And the other part I think is we’ve got into this early-offer deal. What it has done is it’s accelerated the recruiting process and now you’ve got to make decisions without really knowing those kids as well as you’d like to. And everybody throws it back on the coaches for any problems they might have academically or off the field. Part of it is because you just don’t get to know the family, the players, the high school coaches as well as you’d like to.

You’ve got a kid commit when he’s a junior in high school and you’ve only been around him once or maybe twice. It’s tough.

You don’t make great decisions sometimes.

Johnson: I would do away with signing day. I would have a deadline at the end. Once the players finished their junior year, from that point on they could sign up until the signing day. If they didn't want to sign (early), they wouldn't have to. They could wait.

It would stop all kinds of craziness from both sides.

Miles: To allow a contact period in the spring period. It's ridiculous that you can't contact the kid and talk to him.

Recruiting has moved up, it’s a faster cycle. That’s a rule that needs to get changed. There needs to be a contact period.

Richt: I like the rule change (to) the dead period in the summer. I'd go for a month, or three weeks. I'd be in favor of three weeks.

Q: If they could change one NCAA rule, what would it be?

Fritz: When you make a move up and you play a full allotment you should be eligible for postseason play. We knew that before the season begin. We knew it wouldn't be changed though we tried to appeal it. I'd like to see that rectified if another team gets in that situation.

Q: Some conferences allow coaches to host or work at camps outside of their schools. Others, notably the ACC and SEC, don't. Georgia State hosted a camp last year in which Penn State's coaching staff also worked at the camp. This year, Georgia State is hosting a camp that Nebraska's coaching staff will join.

Fritz: What goes unsaid, 10-15 years ago, guys weren't making decisions where they would go to school until January. Now they know the January (the year before signing day).

You have to get as much information as you possibly can.

The satellite camps really give you an opportunity to evaluate and establish relationship with prospects. It’s a very valuable tool for us. We signed 23 freshmen, 17 were at different camps we had throughout Georgia.

Johnson: I don't think they should be allowed. None should be allowed. They're skirting the rules.

They are taking a rule that wasn’t intended for that. It was intended for young (graduate assistants) to go work camps and whatever.

It’s not your camp. When someone comes to your camp, it’s their camp. It’s guys taking your camps, and I don’t know how it helps you by hosting. You aren’t doing yourself any favors.

Miles: I don't have to defend it. It's a great policy. It gives us an opportunity to get more kids on campus and around coaches that we normally don't get. It's a great advantage that we will use as long as we are able to.

It’s great for the kids. Maybe not everyone can afford to go to Penn State or Nebraska or take a visit. It gives them an opportunity to meet people that are working for me that day.

Richt: We as coaches (in the SEC) were against having satellite camps.

But we did say that if the rule doesn’t change, then next summer we will join the party.

Our camps are outstanding. We get an awful lot of kids, young kids and prospect-aged kids. We do a nice job and get a lot of positive attendance. We don’t feel like it’s a need, especially if everyone had their own camps at their own campuses.