Terry Foster: Are You Sick Of Jim Harbaugh Yet?

By Terry Foster
The Family Deal

Let me confess that I've grown tired of the Jim Harbaugh story.

I am tired of the countless stories on the 38 camps in 21 states and two countries stories that are running nonstop in the Detroit newspapers and the national media.

I do not want to hear from Michigan football and Harbaugh until August. However, the NCAA made me care again.

The organization is wrong in not allowing the University of Michigan coach sign autographs for fans and the families of recruits during his barnstorming tour.

Harbaugh actually seemed confused during camp visits in Baltimore about what he could do.

Was he allowed to talk to people? Could he even talk to the media? The man couldn't even take photos with people after an NCAA compliance official stepped in to stop him. There is no harm in this. However, there is an ugly threesome happening between Harbaugh, the NCAA and key coaches in the SEC.

They want to limit the exposure and recruiting advantages Harbaugh gets with every story and every photograph he takes.

"I believe we can do interviews," Harbaugh told reporters in Baltimore. "That's what we've been told. You were there, you saw what's going on with the changing daily rules. It's very interesting. The NCAA compliance people are here. They've been at every single one. The NCAA has sent one or two of their people to each of our camps and we've had one of our compliance people at each one of these camps. That notion that there's not oversight of these camps – you've seen it with your own eyes. There absolutely is."

Harbaugh jokes that the NCAA is making up rules as they go along. That is actually the truth. It is no joking matter.

The NCAA should send compliance officers to Baylor and get every single detail of a much bigger issue. And that's of football players raping co-eds on campus. What Harbaugh is doing is harmless unless you are trying to protect your recruiting base in SEC country and beyond.

Harbaugh is an annoyance. He should be watched in some regards. But the no photo and no autograph policy is ridiculous and should be abolished immediately. The people came to see Harbaugh and interact with him if they could.

"Football gets the majority of the scrutiny and the rules that are intended to hurt the student-athlete and it makes no sense," Harbaugh said. "That's why I'm pointing this out because some of these other sports aren't getting it."

The NCAA doesn't get it either.

(Foster can be reached at Terry.Foster@cbsradio.com, Twitter: TerryFoster971.)