Clemson football‘s tampering claim against Ole Miss has not been resolved yet, but ACC commissioner Jim Phillips believes there must be action taken when improper behavior from a school happens.
“There has to be consequences, and until there’s consequences, then we’ll get similar behavior,” Phillips said July 15 at ACC kickoff in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney called out Ole Miss and coach Pete Golding on Jan. 23 for what the Tigers coach said was tampering with transfer linebacker Luke Ferrelli.
Clemson lost Ferrelli, a Cal linebacker who is the ACC’s defensive rookie of the year, to Ole Miss. He transferred to Clemson on Jan. 7, then reentered the portal on Jan. 16 to transfer to Ole Miss on Jan. 22.
Phillips encouraged more coaches and schools to call out tampering, like Swinney did, to help curb the practice.
“The best way to hold people accountable is for others to bring forward those types of situations, cases and specific information about what has happened with a particular student-athlete or a particular instance,” Phillips said.
Swinney said Golding was contacting Ferrelli despite him transferring to Clemson, being enrolled in classes and participating in team workouts.
Swinney stated that Golding texted Ferrelli while he was in class saying, “I know you’re signed. What’s the buyout?” with a photo of a $1 million contract.
After Ferrelli informed Swinney of his decision to transfer to Ole Miss, Swinney said he called Clemson athletic director Graham Neff and Phillips, who called SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, and turned the evidence into the NCAA for tampering.
Clemson is awaiting the organization’s ruling. Phillips has implored the NCAA and the College Sports Commission to “do their job” to help control tampering.
“Tampering is serious, and whether it’s in the league or nationally, those accusations, those are serious things that people are looking at and certainly have to be dealt with,” Phillips said.
What Ole Miss, Pete Golding said about Dabo Swinney’s tampering claim
Golding wasn’t concerned about the NCAA’s investigation into his program.
“I think a lot of things make headlines,” Golding said May 27 at the SEC spring meetings. “There’s a lot more people involved that everybody might not know. I’m not gonna sit up here and say whatever we did or we didn’t do, was it right or was it wrong?
“But, you know, when you go through what we went through (with tampering), and what you’re seeing day-in and day-out, some things you feel like shouldn’t matter that, you know, they’re making a big deal about.”
USA TODAY Sports reported that Golding told the NCAA he will “expose rampant tampering in the sport” if he is sanctioned. Golding declined to comment when USA TODAY Sports asked if he threatened the NCAA.
“It’s a problem in every sport,” Golding said. “They’re talking about tampering, you don’t think coaches get tampered with? You don’t think athletic directors meet with head coaches? I mean, we’re talking about this new (Lane) Kiffin (tampering) rule.”
What is tampering?
Tampering in college athletics is when teams contact players who are on other teams. That is against the rules.
In many cases, teams will do that to try to get players into the transfer portal. However, accusations are rarely publicized.
Teams are not allowed to tamper with athletes, according to NCAA bylaw 13.1.1.4. Here’s what the full rule says:
“An athletics staff member or other representative of the institution’s athletics interests shall not communicate or make contact with the student-athlete of another NCAA Division I institution, or any individual associated with the student-athlete (e.g., family member, scholastic or nonscholastic coach, advisor), directly or indirectly, without first obtaining authorization through the notification of transfer process.
“Before making contact, directly or indirectly, with a student-athlete of an NCAA Division II or Division III institution, or an NAIA four-year collegiate institution, an athletics staff member or other representative of the institution’s athletics interests shall comply with the rule of the applicable division or the NAIA rule for making contact with a student-athlete.”
Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at DCarter@usatodayco.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: What ACC commissioner said about tampering, including Dabo Swinney’s claim vs Ole Miss
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