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NCAA President Mark Emmert Disagrees With Jim Harbaugh's Spring Break Plans

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The NCAA will not likely be able to stop Jim Harbaugh from taking the Michigan football team into SEC territory during Spring Break, but it made its disagreement known.

NCAA President Mark Emmert was at a meeting with the University of South Carolina's Board of Trustees when Harbaugh's spring break plans came up, The State reported. Harbaugh plans to bring the Michigan Wolverines to the IMG Academy in Florida during the school's spring break.

The Detroit Free Press noted it was former USC football player Chuck Allen who brought up Harbaugh's trip and expressed disagreement over it, and Emmert reportedly concurred. The NCAA discussed the time balance student-athletes face at this year's convention, but did not pass any policies.

"There is a big debate going on among administrators right now about how to provide more time off for student-athletes so the use of spring break for practices caused a lot of people to be concerned about it, and that's an appropriate concern," Emmert said at the meeting, according to The State. "We are trying to find ways to dial back the demands on student-athletes, not ramp them up."

Not only is Harbaugh using an off week for football practices, but he is putting his team on display at one of the nation's most renowned high school football programs. The SEC's dislike of Harbaugh's upcoming trip and his track record with satellite camps in its member schools' backyards is well-documented.

The SEC asked the NCAA to intervene on the grounds that Harbaugh was taking away a week typically reserved for college football players to rest between the end of one season and the start of spring camp for the next.

"There is nothing he is doing that is against the rules," Emmert said. "If the membership wants to change the rules, they need to do so."

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