Dabo Swinney is not one to sugarcoat his thoughts on anything. However, the Clemson head coach just stirred the pot by accusing Ole Miss of doing something totally illegal soon after the departure of Lane Kiffin and it might mark the beginning of a scandal.
Coach Dabo Swinney spoke with David Hale of ESPN.com and accused new Ole Miss coach, Pete Golding, of tampering with Luke Ferrelli, linebacker. Swinney claimed Golding, who is Lane Kiffin’s replacement, had repeated contacts with Ferrelli after the player signed an NIL contract and enrolled in classes at Clemson.
“This is a whole other level of tampering,” Swinney said. “It’s total hypocrisy… This is a really sad state of affairs. We have a broken system, and if there are no consequences for tampering, then we have no rules and we have no governance.” Safe to say Swinney didn’t hold back when speaking about Golding trying to sway Ferrelli’s future.
Swinney also delivered another message to Golding
“I’m not trying to get anybody fired, but when is enough enough?” Swinney explained. “If we have rules, and tampering is a rule, then there should be a consequence for that. And shame on the adults if we’re not going to hold each other accountable.” After all, if a player has signed to play for a school and another program comes and induces the player to breach it, this could come at the cost of civil liability for tortious interference.
Head coach Pete Golding of the Ole Miss Rebels
Ole Miss said they did it because the same has been done to them. The fact is that tampering is becoming a big issue now that NIL is in place, and that is a problem the NCAA must solve sooner rather than later.
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Clemson has more NIL money than Ole Miss
It’s been reported that Clemson has around $15 million in NIL money this season. Ole Miss has around $10 million. While both are considered aggressive in the NIL space, Ole Miss trying to poach a player from Clemson is opportunistic. In the end, Clemson has more money, but that doesn’t mean they could just improve the offer on the table.
After all, Clemson might have its money allocated elsewhere or have other plans in store. Also, unpunished tampering could be use in that way. Make programs overpay to retain talent to minimize their chances of making more moves. Swinney was pretty aggressive in his accusation, but he does have a point. If these conducts aren’t punished, it’s a bad look for all parties involved.
