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Pete Golding’s message to the NCAA: You don’t want this fight
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- Pete Golding’s message to the NCAA: You don’t want this fight
MIRAMAR BEACH, FL – Ole Miss coach Pete Golding, at the center of a high-profile NCAA investigation into alleged tampering, has informed the NCAA he will expose rampant tampering in the sport if sanctioned, a person close to the situation told USA TODAY Sports.
Golding declined comment to USA TODAY Sports when asked Wednesday if he threatened the NCAA — but spoke at length on tampering problems in college football.
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"I think a lot of things make headlines," Golding said. "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."
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Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said in January that Ole Miss actively recruited linebacker Luke Ferrelli, who entered the transfer portal at the end of the 2025 season and transferred from California to Clemson. Swinney said Golding texted Ferrelli while he was enrolled in class at Clemson, and asked about his buyout.
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Swinney also claims Golding texted Ferrelli a photo of a million dollar contract. Ferrelli soon left Clemson and signed with Ole Miss, and is the Rebels' projected starting middle linebacker.
At issue are the same problems SEC administrators and coaches have been debating all week at the league's spring meetings: a lack of rules, ambiguity within the rules, and outdated rules for the new NIL era of college sports.
Just as critical to the process is where tampering is initiated.
It's not always coaches, and often begins with players and/or their representatives shopping for better financial deals. Again, with no specific rules for players and/or their representatives, the process is rife with problematic outcomes.
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Swinney said in January that Ferrelli's agent Ryan Williams contacted Clemson and told Tigers general manager Jordan Sorrells that Ole Miss was "going hard" for Ferrelli.
"Is tampering a real thing? I think probably, but I don't know the extent of it originating in a nefarious way that we all assume it is," said Texas A&M athletic director Trev Alberts. "In an unregulated system, it's also the other way around."
Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter declined comment on the NCAA investigation, and said there is no timeline for completion of the process.
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Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB .
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pete Golding threatens NCAA to expose rampant tampering if he's punished
