Joel Klatt Backs Swinney Amid Clemson Transfer Portal Controversy

Though a couple of weeks have passed since the infamous Luke Ferrelli transfer timeline came to light, the story is still fresh in the minds of college football fans and media everywhere.

Just a few days ago, Fox Sports’ lead college football analyst, Joel Klatt, addressed the complex problem that the sport is facing, as well as Clemson Tigers' head coach Dabo Swinney’s pointed comments on his own podcast, The Joel Klatt Show.

“[That’s] blatantly illegal,” Klatt said, referring to the Rebels’ pursuit of Ferrelli. “Blatantly illegal. Here's the thing. Everyone's like, ‘There are no rules.’ No. There is a huge difference between ‘there are no rules’ and ‘the rules are not enforced. That is vastly different.”

The former Colorado quarterback continued detailing how, though what Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding did was illegal and has consequences, he’s far from the only coach acting in such a manner.

“The problem is, folks, that people and entities within college football are college football’s worst enemy. What's going on in our sport is a perpetual cycle of individuals and entities making decisions in their short-term perceived self-interest that ultimately create a worse and worse outcome for the overall group. It’s every single day. Conferences, schools, coaches, players, everybody. The College Football Playoff did this. They make decisions in their own short-term perceived best interest. There's no thought to the long term.

"Pete Golding doesn't care about three years from now. He's like, I need Ferrelli now, because I’ve got to win next year. We are our own worst enemy in college football.”

The timeline of events that Swinney laid out, paired with Klatt’s pointed comments, makes it clear that college football is in a very unhealthy state currently. The College Sports Commission (CSC) was created recently to govern collegiate athletics, including college football.

Unfortunately for many, that governance – whether from the CSC or NCAA – has simply not taken place.

“Let me boil it down for you,” Klatt said. “In order for the CSC to do their job, the schools have to sign on the dotted line that says, I would like to be governed. I would like rules over this entity that I participate in. That's what everyone is waiting for. The problem is, a lot of these schools won't do it. We've got states [where] their state attorney generals are advising the schools within those states to not sign the CSC for a number of different reasons. So now schools are not even signing the CSC. So they have no teeth, and there’s no enforcement.”

Klatt continued to echo Swinney’s sentiment about why the lack of transparency and accountability is damaging to college athletics, but also detailed why those things are difficult to achieve in this modern landscape.

“Dabo is absolutely right,” he said. “We need more guys like Dabo to step forward and say ‘govern us’. Pete Golding needs to raise his hand and say govern us. Mario Cristobal needs to step forward and say ‘govern us’. Do you know why those two won't want to do that? Because they're succeeding in this model without governance. They're succeeding in the model without penalty, because they're willing to do it. They're willing to step in there and get dirty…There’s no honor amongst thieves and there’s no honor in college football in the way rosters are built anymore. It's just the truth.”

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