NCAA Confirms Involvement in Former Clemson Transfer Luke Ferrelli's Tampering Case

Publicly calling out the NCAA is no joking matter, but when times are desperate, it just may be necessary — and effective.

After Luke Ferrelli turned Clemson into the victim of a dramatic tampering scandal, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney sounded off on the situation and called for change, and the NCAA responded.

On Monday night, the NCAA confirmed that they were involved in the situation, per The Athletic.

“The NCAA will investigate any credible allegations of tampering and expect full cooperation from all involved as is required by NCAA rules,” NCAA vice president of enforcement Jon Duncan said in the statement. “We will not comment further on any ongoing investigation.”

Duncan’s acknowledgement, albeit vague, is a step in the right direction.

“If there are no consequences for tampering, then we have no rules and we have no governs.  It's really just that simple,” Swinney said.

From the jump, Swinney and Clemson athletic director Graham Neff made their intentions clear. In a press conference last Friday, Swinney laid out receipts that included time stamps down to the minute, text messages and the calls leading up to Ferrelli’s switch to Ole Miss.

“When he [Ferrelli] was in his 8:00 a.m class, and he said the text message said, ‘I know you're signed. What's the buyout?’” Swinney said. “Luke said that Coach Golding also texted him a picture of a $1 million dollar contract.”

Pete Golding, the newly hired head coach of Ole Miss, will certainly be at the center of the NCAA’s ongoing investigation.

“The NCAA quite frankly was surprised that a school was willing to come forward as directly and transparently as we have,” Neff said. “Normally, there’s a lot of complaints in the media, hearsay amongst the industry, etcetera. Very little actually gets reported (from the schools). That’s coming from the NCAA directly. And so we’re very eager and resolute to do so.”

Ferrelli still has a bio on the Clemson football website, where a link titled “Click here for Luke Ferrelli’s timeline at Clemson” directs readers to Swinney’s press conference calling out the alleged tampering.

After his emphatic press-conference rant last Friday, some felt that Swinney was out of line for speaking up. ESPN’s Paul Finebaum said the long-term impact of Swinney’s accusations would be “really nothing,” and suggested it would only bolster Ole Miss, the ultimate villain of the situation.

With the NCAA now involved, this isn’t a chance for Swinney to say “I told you so,” or at least not yet. But with Duncan’s response, Swinney’s actions have accomplished their goal, and the 17-year head coach once again has demonstrated intolerance for anything he believes isn’t right.

“This is about protecting our program. This is about college football. That's what this is about. I stay in my lane most of the time,” Swinney said.

Although he had no obligation to do so, Swinney spoke up and called a spade a spade. Having done more than his part, the situation now rests firmly in the hands of the NCAA.

“There's a lot more I can say, but I'm going to let the NCAA handle this, and I'm going to let them do their job,” Swinney said.