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Michigan State AD Mark Hollis the peacemaker on satellite camps

Mark Snyder
Detroit Free Press
MSU athletic director Mark Hollis talks about his life at his home in East Lansing on Aug. 20. Hollis is in his eighth year at the helm of MSU athletics.

ROSEMONT, Ill. – As the satellite camp debate unfolded in April, a battle line appeared drawn between the college football nation.

The southern conferences (SEC, ACC) were against the plan, and the northern conference (Big Ten) was for it.

It became a pitched battle, with coaches and administrators on both sides lining up behind their brethren.

Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis, though, is playing peacemaker.

“I have a lot of great friends in the SEC,” Hollis said Tuesday in a break between Big Ten athletic director meetings at the Big Ten Conference office. “As individual institutions, I don’t think you see any of that. The conversations and ideas are running very aggressively on how to do things better.”

Hollis said Virginia Tech AD Whit Babcock is coming to see him, and they will share ideas to enhance their departments.

He noted he’s close with Alabama AD Bill Battle.

“He’s another guy that I count on as far as a resource on certain issues,” Hollis said. “I don’t view it as two buckets that are opposed to each other. I think they’re from a different geography than ours and maybe the geography creates some of that perceived separation. But we probably do things a little bit differently because of that than anything else.”

There was a public sentiment for years that the SEC was dominating in college football because it was hiring more aggressive coaches and pushing the boundaries in recruiting.

Michigan State joining Sound Mind Sound Body camps around the country

But Hollis never thought a Big Ten shift had to happen, instead believing those were decisions best made by the individual schools.

“Every school in the Big Ten has gone through hiring coaches that fit and didn’t fit, and in most cases those that fit on your campus are going to have the most success on the field and off,” he said.

Now the sides have to find common ground on recruiting calendar and rules.

Nebraska athletic director Shawn Eichorst doesn’t like the separation. But he understands how that could play out, having worked in the ACC as athletic director at Miami (Fla.) and in the SEC as an assistant AD at South Carolina.

“I know all those folks. If I’m sitting in their chair I might be thinking about the same sort of things,” Eichorst said. “Today’s a different day, it’s a new structure. The (Football) Oversight Committee has some authority and autonomy to bring fundamental fairness. The level playing field thing is not a reality, but I think there is fundamental fairness. ... I don’t think geography, the mission of the institution or resources should bound you by rule based on what you’re doing across the country.

“It’s a healthy debate. Hopefully we can hunker down a bit now that we’ve got the camp thing settled down.”

Contact Mark Snyder: msnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark__snyder.

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