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LSU continues to block Texas, others from camps in Louisiana (Updated)

Sam Cooper
College football writer
Ed Orgeron was hired as LSU’s permanent coach in November. (Getty)
Ed Orgeron was hired as LSU’s permanent coach in November. (Getty)

UPDATE Thursday Noon ET

Belhaven coach Hal Mumme said on a radio show Thursday morning that he has “turned in” Orgeron to the NCAA for his actions. It’s not clear just what rule LSU has violated regarding satellite camps.

Recent NCAA restrictions regarding satellite camps have included limiting the location of camps and the number of camps teams and coaches can participate in. There hasn’t been any regulations regarding the way teams influence other teams.

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LSU continues to go to great lengths to “protect” its home state.

“Protect” is in quotation marks because the school’s apparent actions, as reported by Sports Illustrated, are doing no favors for prospects in Louisiana.

Last month, SI reported that LSU was using its influence to have other Louisiana schools “disinvite” various FBS programs — including Michigan, Texas and Texas A&M — from satellite camps around the state. Two of the schools hosting camps, Tulane and Southeastern Louisiana, swapped those guests with a new headliner: LSU.

The grappling from LSU continued this week when the Tigers successfully kept Texas from participating in a camp hosted by Division III Belhaven University (Jackson, Miss.). Belhaven coach Hal Mumme (yes, former Kentucky coach Hal Mumme) detailed what went down to Sports Illustrated:

The satellite camp power struggle between Texas and LSU has swung back in the Tigers’ favor as of late Tuesday evening. After several developments, LSU appears to have successfully boxed Texas out of Louisiana. Texas was scheduled to participate in a satellite camp hosted by Division III Belhaven University, first in Baton Rouge and then later in Hammond, La., on Thursday. By late Tuesday evening, Belhaven head coach Hal Mumme said political pressure from LSU ultimately led to the camp being canceled.

According to SI, Mumme said the camp was originally planned for BREC Memorial Stadium in Baton Rouge on Thursday, but “Louisiana political forces” put a stop to that. There was then an agreement to move the camp to a high school in Hammond, Louisiana, about an hour east of Baton Rouge, but that also fell through after “school administrators in Hammond succumbed to pressure from LSU.”

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Mumme was a little more direct about LSU’s involvement when speaking with Horns Digest, saying the camp was ruined by “the pettiness of others”:

“It was for sure LSU,” Mumme said. “And I think it’s a shame for an SEC school to pick on a D-III school that relies on these kinds of camps to recruit kids and give them opportunities. What they did was they pressured every facility in the state not to let us use it. And they were successful – at depriving some kids in Louisiana an opportunity.

“What LSU did was pressure school administrators and presidents of universities all over the state that they’d never get a ‘gate game’ with LSU if they let us have our camp there,” Mumme said.

Mumme also spoke to Fox News 40:

[More college football from Yahoo Sports: Dr. Saturday’s still-too-early Top 25]

The camp is the third involving Texas to get canceled in Louisiana.

Last month, Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron (who Mumme called “Paranoid Ed”) framed it as LSU’s way of “keeping Louisiana together.” He also told SI that “protecting the state of Louisiana is always going to be my job as the coach of LSU.” Sure, Orgeron wants to keep the state’s top prospects in the state, but those Louisiana schools can’t offer scholarships to everybody. Keeping other schools away limits exposure for recruits. Wouldn’t you want as many coaches’ eyeballs on these players as possible?

A kid may not be talented enough to play in the SEC, but he may catch the eye of another staff (Houston and Cornell coaches were also slated to attend Thursday’s camp, Mumme told SI). At the very least, the kids would receive the opportunity to receive instruction from an increased number of high-level coaches. No one can deny the value of that.

[More college football from Yahoo Sports: SEC spring practice summaries]

And when it comes to Texas, the Tom Herman factor can’t be denied. LSU tried to hire Herman last year when he was at Houston, but he opted to take the job with the Longhorns instead. LSU then lifted Orgeron’s interim tag, making him the Tigers’ head coach.

Herman choosing Texas over LSU “rankled” LSU officials, per Sports Illustrated. But this is about “protecting” Louisiana, right?

For more LSU news, visit TigerBait.com.

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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!