Why Big Ten Coaches Won't Take Jim Harbaugh Up on His Open Challenge

Ever since he won the WWE United States Championship at WrestleMania last month, John Cena has been issuing open challenges as a means to defend his new title on a weekly basis. One by one, competitors have lined up to take Cena up on his offer, ultimately walking away unsuccessfully, allowing the champion to stand strong in the center of the ring each Monday night.

Unlike Cena, Jim Harbaugh doesn't have a title to defend—unless we're giving him one for creating headlines—but the new Michigan coach appears to be taking a page out of the WWE superstar's playbook nonetheless.

College football may not qualify as sports entertainment like pro wrestling does, but boy, it's hard to remember an offseason as entertaining as the months that followed Harbaugh taking over in Ann Arbor. From apparently subtweeting Ohio State's Urban Meyer to appearing on HBO's Real Sports and ESPN's Draft Academy, Harbaugh hasn't stepped out of the college football universe's spotlight in 2015.

And while many of his antics have seemingly been just for show—take for instance, his incomparable Twitter account—his latest headline-worthy act could have real ramifications across the college football landscape.

That is, if anybody actually takes him up on it.

After catching heat from SEC coaches following the Michigan staff's announcement of a nine-stop, seven-state satellite camp tour in June, Harbaugh seemingly continued to needle his counterparts in the South. On Friday, Harbaugh issued an open invitation via Twitter to every coach in the country to take part in Michigan's on-campus camp, which will be held from June 14-17.

The SEC forbids its coaches from taking part in camps further than 50 miles away from their respective campuses—hence their issue with satellite camps in the first place—which means that the likes of Nick Saban and Gus Malzahn won't be able to take Harbaugh up on his offer.

That wasn't lost on the former San Francisco 49ers head coach, who toward the end of his Twitter letter wrote, "Where college coaches are restricted from working a camp outside of a 50-mile radius of their campus, we cordially invite your head football coach to be our keynote speaker."

And while that may be an intriguing idea, it's more likely that Saban and Malzahn would answer one of Cena's open challenges than show up as the keynote speaker at a Michigan-branded camp.

But what about the coaches who are actually allowed to participate as coaches at the Wolverines camp, including Harbaugh's new rivals in the Big Ten? Could they possibly show up in Ann Arbor in two months ready to make their presence felt on the Michigan campus?

It's possible, but not probable.

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Although Harbaugh is essentially giving his fellow Big Ten coaches extra access to some of the nation's top prospects—including many they'd be battling the Wolverines for—the risk ultimately outweighs the potential reward that would come along with taking part in Michigan's camp.

No matter which coaches are in attendance, the camp still belongs to the Wolverines, meaning anything that would happen there would benefit Harbaugh, one way or another.

Perhaps that's why Harbaugh was so comfortable making what appears to be an empty gesture with his invitation, knowing that any coach who shows up would likely be from a school he's not even competing with for prospects in the first place.

It remains possible that several coaches from non-Power Five schools could ultimately show up to generate some interest in their programs, but don't count on Meyer, Michigan State's Mark Dantonio or Penn State's James Franklin making the trek to Ann Arbor anytime soon.

That's not to say Harbaugh isn't changing the way recruiting is happening in the Big Ten, as evidenced by the recent revelation that Ohio State will take part in a satellite camp on Florida Atlantic's campus this June. Weeks ago, Meyer admitted he's not a fan of the practice, before stating his staff was looking into holding one.

“Am I a fan of that? Not really," Meyer said when asked about satellite camps. "If it helps us, we'll do it."

Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Meyer was adamant that the Buckeyes weren't following a pattern of "monkey see, monkey do" with Penn State holding satellite camps last year and Michigan now taking them to a new level with Harbaugh's arrival. But it's tough to imagine the Wolverines' heavy presence across the country didn't force Meyer's hand in the matter, causing him to keep pace with the practice or risk falling behind.

"We do keep score against our rivals in everything we do," Meyer said on national signing day in February.

And it's a safe bet that Harbaugh does as well.

Which is what makes the possibility of Meyer—or Dantonio, Franklin or any Big Ten coach—answering Harbaugh's open challenge so exciting. But for now, Harbaugh's offseason championship appears safe, unlikely to even be challenged until the real card begins this fall.

Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Big Ten Lead Writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes were obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of CFBStats.com. Recruiting rankings courtesy of 247Sports.