Dabo Swinney Has a Message For All College Football Coaches

Luke Ferrelli’s shocking storyline has put the Clemson Tigers on the front page in recent weeks. The snake-like move shone the brightest light on the bad and the ugly side of college football, and Dabo Swinney had something to say about it.

“It's total chaos. We have to fix this chaos that's going on in college football,” Swinney said.

Ferrelli, after transferring from Cal and officially committing to Clemson, threw a wrench aimed directly at the Tigers. Despite attending classes, team meetings, practices and renting an apartment in Clemson, Ferrelli flipped his commitment to Ole Miss.

“You can't even sign a guy and go to class and work out and have meetings and even know that that's your roster,” Swinney said.

Tampering, in college football, is when somebody or some institution makes impermissible contact with a student-athlete with intent of extending an offer, and Clemson is dealing with one of the ugliest ever cases of it.

“This is just a really sad state of affairs, and it's to me, we have a broken system,” Swinney said. “And if there are no consequences for tampering, then we have no rules and we have no governs.  It's really just that simple.”

Tampering isn’t a new thing, and Swinney certainly isn’t the only coach who has dealt with it.

“I've had a bunch of coaches over the last week that have reached out to me,” Swinney said. “And they're going, ‘Well, let me tell you what's happened to me. Let me tell you what I know.  Let me tell you my story.’”

Ferrelli’s case just put tampering in the spotlight. But what good is the spotlight if it cannot ignite change?

In agreement, Dabo is making a push. A push for change, but change doesn’t happen through the voice of one rogue coach. There is power in numbers, and Dabo is calling for every ground soldier he can get.

“I want to challenge all of those coaches that have reached out to me. I want to challenge all of them.  You need to step up and call it out.” Swinney said. “Otherwise, don't complain. You either step up and you be an example to young coaches in this profession and be people of integrity or just shut your mouth and don't complain again.”

While Ferrelli’s decision doesn’t impress the Clemson head coach in the slightest, this is a moment Swinney believes could force college football to examine itself.

“Maybe this is a tipping point, maybe this is something that can bring people together where maybe some other coaches would speak up,” Swinney said. “I know there's a lot of coaches who feel exactly like I feel, but they're afraid to speak.”