Swinney Comments on Tampering in College Football

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney touched on a number of different things during his weekly Zoom conference call with the media Sunday evening, including the topic of tampering in college football.

Swinney mentioned how it’s “one of the unfortunate things” that, due to NCAA rules on tampering, he can’t keep in contact and communicate with former players who have transferred elsewhere.

As a follow-up question, Swinney was asked where the line is drawn with tampering as far as the communication he is able to have or not have, and for instance, if he can talk with a former player on the field after a game but can’t text him.

Swinney said Clemson’s compliance department has advised him to stay away from that.

“We’ve been told from our compliance people that, even with guys that are at other places, it’s just something you shouldn’t do,” Swinney said. “Kids can come and go and all that stuff, and you don’t want to ever get accused of tampering. So, it’s unfortunate that’s the way the rule is.”

Swinney added that in the current landscape with the transfer portal, “there’s certainly a lot of tampering (from other people) after games, though, that’s for sure.”

“I’ve had several people over the last couple of years that have brought that up to me, where somebody’s come over to them,” Swinney said. “I’ve had parents tell me that (players have been approached after games). That’s just kind of the way it is, the way of the world right now. There’s not a lot of barriers.”

So, can Swinney even say “hey” to another team’s player after a game?

“Oh yeah, absolutely,” he said. “But I ain’t going over there saying ‘Hey man, if you hate it there, come play for us.’ I don’t do any of that stuff… On the road, I try to congratulate players, but I don’t get involved with any of that stuff. I think that’s probably pretty obvious.”

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