Dabo Swinney: Tampering Going On In College Football is 'Sad'

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney believes the new landscape in college football surrounding the transfer portal and NIL has created an environment that allows for too much tampering.

Change is inevitable and the sport of college football has seen its fair share in recent years.

With the advent of the transfer portal, the new rules surrounding the free one-time transfer, along with the implementation of NIL, college football players are more empowered than they have ever been.

However, there have also been what Dabo Swinney has described as unintended consequences and in a recent interview with 247 Sports Carl Reed, the Clemson head coach said one of the biggest issues of late has been the tampering.

"The tampering that we have in college football, it is sad," Swinney said. "And you know, that's where we are, that's the world we're living in."

Swinney has never shied away from sharing his opinions on the current landscape surrounding the sport, but at the same time, some of those opinions have been either misinterpreted or misrepresented. 

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Contrary to popular opinion, the two-time national title-winning head coach is actually not against the portal, Swinney would just prefer to see more guidelines and oversight in place to ward off some of the negative effects seen with the numerous rule changes.

"First of all, I think the portal is good," Swinney said. "I think from the aspect of kids being able to go somewhere else, you know, I think that's good. I just think there should be some parameters. Because there's just a lot that the combination of the portal, the NIL, tampering, you know, we've created this environment in college football, that's not healthy. And any adult that's really involved in it knows that."

The head coach thinks that the sport is currently dealing with an environment bordering on toxic.

"It's not healthy for the young people, first of all. It's not healthy for just the whole situation that's going on, because there is a lot of tampering. And that's because there's no consequences. Right now, we've created an environment where there's no barriers. There is no reason for pause. And when there's no consequences, there's no conscious."

Swinney maintains that he is absolutely in favor of players being able to transfer in an effort to better their situations. However, he also believes many players are making rash decisions and entering the portal too hastily. Even worse, he believes many of those players are making those decisions for all the wrong reasons.

"You've got a lot of young people that are making decisions for the wrong reasons," Swinney said. "And young people by nature are not fully developed people from a maturity standpoint, emotional standpoint, big picture, whatever it is. And so, I think it's good that kids have the freedom to go, I just think there should be some parameters and to create some pause and to more importantly, stop the tampering that's going on because there's a lot of adults out there that are manipulating kids."

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