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What Dabo Swinney said about NCAA tampering investigation, Ole Miss' Pete Golding
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- What Dabo Swinney said about NCAA tampering investigation, Ole Miss' Pete Golding
CLEMSON — Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney said he had no update on the NCAA's investigation of his tampering allegations against Ole Miss and is unsure when a resolution will come.
"If nothing else, at least we've sparked a lot of conversation," Swinney said Feb. 25 during a news conference before the beginning of spring practice. "It's not about a player or anything like that. It's really just about what we can do and we can't do and just trying to create some clarity on what that is."
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Swinney also said he hasn't communicated with Ole Miss coach Pete Golding.
"I don't know him," Swinney said.
Swinney called out Ole Miss and 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 re-entered the portal on Jan. 16 to transfer to Ole Miss on Jan. 22.
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.
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Swinney submitted the claim to the NCAA and is awaiting the organization's ruling. Ole Miss has not responded to a request for comment about Swinney's allegations regarding Golding and Ferrelli.
Swinney said he never wants to keep a player somewhere they don't want to be. Still, he is seeking clarity on tampering because Clemson only wanted to get one transfer linebacker.
The Tigers pursued and landed Ferrelli, which caused Swinney to cancel other visits with other potential portal linebackers.
"That's just the frustrating thing about that situation, so that's why we need clarity," Swinney said.
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MORE: Grading Dabo Swinney's Clemson football offseason moves from tampering to Chad Morris
New NCAA memo could impact Ole Miss
On3 and The Athletic reported Jan. 26 that NCAA vice president of enforcement Jon Duncan released a statement regarding the tampering allegations against Ole Miss.
"The NCAA will investigate any credible allegations of tampering and expect full cooperation from all involved as is required by NCAA rules," Duncan said. "We will not comment further on any ongoing investigation."
NCAA schools received a memo on Feb. 23 that could have impact on schools that break tampering rules, according to a report from Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger.
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Duncan sent a memo that said the NCAA will be working with Geoff Means, the chair of the Division I Board of Directors Infractions Process Committee, to expedite the resolution of violations.
According to the memo, that process will include "streamlining various stages of an investigation, collecting information from schools or student-athletes more quickly, conducting interviews on a shorter schedule and/or limiting extension requests often made by parties in infractions cases."
Dellenger reported that Duncan charged the staff to "pursue significant penalties" for tampering violations.
"Communications of any kind are not permitted with a student-athlete at another school — or any other representatives of their interests, including agents — before that student-athlete entered the NCAA transfer portal," the memo said.
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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.
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"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: Dabo Swinney updates NCAA tampering investigation against Ole Miss
