Rich Rod sounds off on satellite camp ban

Arizona football coach Rich Rodriguez is not a fan of the new NCAA ban on football satellite camps.

Rodriguez commented on the new ban at a press conference on Monday—held at Arizona Stadium—to introduce Arizona football’s new marketing campaign.

“I don’t see how it’s that detrimental to the game of college football, so we use them,” Rodriguez said of the satellite camps. “If they say, ‘you can’t use them,’ it’s not as if it’s the end of the world for us.”

The popularity of satellite camps—those hosted by college football coaches outside the radius of their university—has risen drastically in the past couple years, particularly in the Big Ten Conference.

Proponents of satellite camps argue that they allow athletes an opportunity to work out in front of coaches who usually wouldn’t be able to see them compete up close.

However, coaches in the SEC and the ACC have argued that satellite camps give some schools an unfair recruiting advantage; both the SEC and ACC have rules in place limiting how far a college can host camps off its campus.

“If it’s been overwhelmingly more good than bad, they shouldn’t change the rules,” Rodriguez said. “A few squeaky wheels got the thing changed that quickly? I think it’s silly and disingenuous. I understand if we table it and look at it for a year, but to table it because a few SEC or ACC schools don’t want to have it is not fair to a lot of coaches, a lot of programs and more importantly, to the student athletes.”

Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne also commented on the rules, suggesting the NCAA will soon re-evaluate the topic.

Softball’s Joelle Krist earns conference honors

Joelle Krist was named the Pac-12 Conference Freshman of the Week on Monday after batting .500 with a home run and three RBIs at Stanford over the weekend.

Krist becomes the second Wildcat to win the award this spring, as Taylor McQuillin earned the honor earlier in the season.

A native of Petaluma, California, Krist has started 17 games for Arizona this season and is batting .224 with four home runs.

Arizona softball hosts UCLA this weekend, when the Bruins come into town for a three-game series beginning Saturday.

Arizona Coyotes purchase minor league club; plan to relocate to Tucson

The Arizona Coyotes officially announced the purchase of an American Hockey League club on Tuesday with plans to move the team to Tucson.

The Coyotes signed an agreement to purchase the Springfield Falcons, pending league approval.

If the agreement is finalized, the minor league hockey franchise will relocate to Tucson in time for the 2016-2017 season. The team is expected to play at the Tucson Convention Center.

The UA’s club hockey team currently competes at the TCC, so the two teams will have to figure out a way to share ice time in Tucson’s only ice rink.

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