Florida State's Jimbo Fisher Supportive Of Harbaugh's Spring Break Plans
By Ashley Scoby
@AshleyScoby
They may not outnumber his detractors, but Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh has found a supporter when it comes to his team's spring break trip to Florida.
Although several have spoken out against Harbaugh's plan to take his entire team to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., for a week of spring practice, Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher thinks it's a novel idea.
"I applaud the guy," Fisher said, according to the Palm Beach Post. "He's doing things he has to do to be successful. Jim beat the rules. That's fine. I applaud Jim for trying to do something different."
Even though he was supportive of Harbaugh's loophole maneuvering for the purpose of spring practice, Fisher disagreed with what he viewed as a discrepancy in the rules, which prevented him from speaking at a coach's clinic at IMG Academy. FSU's compliance department told him it would have been an NCAA violation.
"I started thinking — we can't speak on their campus during the evaluation period and they're allowed to practice there when no coaches are allowed to be out (recruiting)?" Fisher said, according to the Palm Beach Post. "Don't tell us we can't speak at a clinic there but they can practice."
Fisher is one of the few to come out in support of Harbaugh's spring break plans. Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, ACC commissioner John Swofford and NCAA president Mark Emmert have all come out in varying degrees of disapproval of the spring break trip. Some, such as Swofford, have said that requiring a football team to participate in practice during a university-sanctioned break in classes puts too many time demands on the athletes.
Going a step further, Sankey has called for the NCAA to block spring break trips such as Michigan's - although it's too late for that rule change to be put into place this year. Harbaugh and his team are already practicing in Bradenton this week.
Others have suggested this is Harbaugh's way of creating a competitive advantage, especially since he's deep in SEC territory. The team is practicing on the grounds of IMG Academy, where several top football recruits attend, (although NCAA coaches are currently in a dead period where they're not allowed to have contact with high school recruits).
Much of the argument about Michigan's trip has devolved into Twitter wars, often led by Harbaugh himself. He tweeted an indirect shot at Sankey, when he waxed poetic on whether people found "whining" to be "attractive." After Smart came out against the practices, Harbaugh tweeted that "the Georgia coach" was "barking up the wrong tree" if he thought Michigan was vacationing in Florida for a competitive advantage.
Michigan is scheduled for four practices in Bradenton this week. And although Harbaugh isn't permitted to directly recruit the nearby high school athletes, he did invite all Florida high school coaches to Michigan's practices, and plans to open one practice up to fans as well.