The NCAA is fine with Jim Harbaugh turning the month of June into a month-long business trip traveling from satellite camp to satellite camp, but it does want him to stop signing autographs.
On Saturday at a satellite camp in Tampa, Harbaugh was approached by a representative from the NCAA compliance office and asked to refrain from sharing his “John Hancock” with those attending the camp. Harbaugh being Harbaugh, the Michigan head coach mocked the NCAA’s involvement on such an issue.
Harbaugh was signing autographs and compliance officer stopped him. "NCAA just made a rule 10 minutes ago saying i couldn't" – @CoachJim4UM
— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) June 4, 2016
If Harbaugh is signing autographs for fans, that should not be an issue at all. But if a compliance office felt the need to step in and stop Harbaugh from signing, it would seem Harbaugh was providing autographs to players or family of recruits. There is not necessarily a rule designed to specifically prevent such a thing, but Harbaugh’s autograph could easily be sold to any signature collector for a profit. Given the NCAA’s recent history with college football personalities (and really, it’s time to start referring to them as personalities rather than student-athletes, isn’t it?) and possible violations to whatever degree, you had to figure it would want to prevent a possible mess before it comes to a boil.
Still, this feels like something pretty trivial in nature for the NCAA to worry too much about.
