Clemson Tigers football coach Dabo Swinney brought the receipts when he called out the Ole Miss Rebels and their head coach, Pete Golding, over tampering with transfer signee Luke Ferrelli, who eventually flipped to Oxford. At a Jan. 23 press conference, Swinney was animated, fired up, and seemed very willing to share the specific evidence he had collected to make his case.
Two months later, it seems as though the university is being a bit more coy about that information than Swinney made it out to be.
The Athletic‘s Matt Baker and Post and Courier beat writer Jon Blau both took to X to share that their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests related to Swinney’s public accusations of NCAA recruiting violations committed by Ole Miss were denied by Clemson. The reason given was Ferrelli’s privacy rights, pointing to the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974, which protects student records.
“I sent a public records request to Clemson for, essentially, the receipts to [Swinney’s allegations], plus any communication between Clemson and Ole Miss, the NCAA or CSC related to these allegations,” Baker posted Thursday on X. “Clemson denied my request citing FERPA and state law about ‘information of a personal nature.’
“I’m not picking on anyone here or blaming anyone/anything. But I was listening to The Audible on my run this morning and heard [Bruce Feldman] talking about a coach wanting transparency. That coach wasn’t the first to do so. Now ask this: *Why* isn’t there transparency?
“Maybe you think there are legit reasons. Maybe not. But it’s worth a broader discussion, no? Who’s being helped by the opaque nature of *gestures at everything*? Who’s being hurt? What are the pros/cons, especially if public money is (directly or indirectly) involved?”
Blau added that he received the same response to his inquiry.
“University employees (namely the football coach) made many statements about the student-athlete in question and the communications requested,” added Blau. “Did the university itself violate FERPA then? It’s an interesting question.”
Swinney said during his press conference that the school had handed over all of its evidence to the NCAA for consideration.
“There’s tampering. And then, there’s blatant tampering,” Swinney said Feb. 23. “Tampering 101 is when you’re talking to kids who aren’t in the portal, Tampering 201 is when you’ve already negotiated the deal with the kids not in the portal.
“Tampering 301 is when you’ve got a kid who’s going in the portal to sign somewhere, move there, going to classes and you’re texting them while they’re in class. That’s like a whole ‘nother level of tampering.”
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.