Clemson HC Dabo Swinney Sets the Record Straight on Ole Miss, Pete Golding Callout

It's not about who it was, but it was a callout to the NCAA for Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney. He spoke more about the issue this month.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney hasn't been afraid to use his voice to speak out against the NCAA issues. | Ken Ruinard / USA Today Network South Carolina / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

College football is argued to be a broken system with the continued presence of NIL and revenue share. If you ask Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, he would probably agree with you. 

The most notable moment that he’s seen from this involved Cal linebacker Luke Ferrelli, who entered the transfer portal and committed to the Tigers in early January. Later that month, he called out the Ole Miss Rebels and head coach Pete Golding for tampering with his former player, who eventually left Clemson to join the other program. 

However, it’s not because he has bad blood with Golding; it’s to expose the NCAA for the poor guidelines that have not kept up with the times, according to On3’s Chris Low. 

“I don’t think any of us thought we’d be in a world where there’s no order,” Swinney said. “It’s a much bigger conversation now. Even in the NFL, there are rules.

You can’t sign with the Browns and go practice for two weeks, and the Dolphins call you up and say, ‘Hey man, what are they paying you? Hey, we’ll pay you a million more. Come on down here to the Dolphins.’ And then you go in there and say, ‘Hey boys, I’m out.’ That’s really what we’ve got now in college football.”

Swinney was vocal about it at the end of January, and he saw things go into his favor. It was revealed a few weeks ago that the NCAA looked into the Ferrelli case and opened an investigation. 

Since he’s not a part of the organization’s legislature, he knows there’s nothing he can do about it. However, he will remain vocal until rules get stricter, which would benefit everybody. 

“The only thing worse than having no rules is having rules you can’t enforce or don’t enforce,” he said to On3. 

Even Golding sees the vision, but didn’t take the full blame when he was asked about it at the end of May. He agrees that the rules are not built for this world of college athletics. So, if it happens to him, he will return the favor. 

“Enforcement about a lot of these things is a real problem,” he said. “I’m not going to sit up here and say whatever we did or we didn’t do, was it right or was it wrong?

With responses like this, the NCAA needs to make sure that clarity remains the case throughout these college football regulations. Fortunately, the Protect College Sports Act moved to a full Senate vote on Thursday, being the first time that the full U.S. Senate will be able to vote on a solution for collegiate athletics. 

If it passes, it will help out all college coaches know what is and isn’t allowed. That would mean that Swinney gets his wish. 

“I’m not trying to get anybody in trouble,” he said. “. . .I think there just needs to be clarity of what we can and cannot do.”