CLEMSON — Dabo Swinney calling out Ole Miss and Rebels coach Pete Golding for what the Clemson coach said was tampering with transfer Luke Ferrelli drew mixed reaction from the college football world.'
Clemson football lost Ferrelli, a Cal linebacker who transferred to Clemson on Jan. 7 then re-entered the portal on Jan. 16 to transfer to Ole Miss on Jan. 22.
Swinney said Jan. 23 Golding was contacting Ferrelli despite him transferring to Clemson, being enrolled in classes and participating in team workouts. He said he submitted the information to the NCAA.
What Paul Finebaum said about Dabo Swinney Ole Miss comments
ESPN sports writer and broadcaster Paul Finebaum was not a fan of Swinney's comments, calling them "whiny" and "out of touch" and expressing the Clemson coach's comments won't change anything.
"What it really does is it emboldens Ole Miss people. Feeling, 'OK, our guy is working hard. Our guy is trying to do whatever it takes, whether it’s, in theory, legal or not,' and that’s kind of where we are in college athletics, as you guys know," Finebaum said on the "McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning" on Jan. 26.
"And then there’s Dabo Swinney, who just does the wrong thing at the wrong time, looking more distant, more out of touch, more antiquated, more antediluvian (outdated) than he has ever been.
"And for a guy that just finished an absolutely miserable season, it doesn’t help him because he is years removed from a legitimate national championship contender. Last year, being in the playoffs was more of an outlier than it was reality. Everybody knows Clemson started the season in the top five and ended up nowhere, and I just think it hurts him more than it has in the past.
“And that’s a bad look for a guy that really still has support of a fanbase because he has been one of the more remarkable coaches in changing a program’s direction than anyone in modern history. But he just looks farther and farther away from ever getting Clemson to that moment again.”
Clemson is coming off a 7-6 record in 2025, its second-worst year in Swinney's full 17 seasons, after being favorites to win the ACC championship and being a popular pick to make the College Football Playoff and the national championship.
USA TODAY sports senior national college football writer Matt Hayes didn't like Swinney's comments either, writing in a column that this is why Clemson has fallen out of the national spotlight.
"Swinney laid out the allegations like it was next-level stuff, only it’s not," Hayes wrote on Jan. 26. "If you want to know why Clemson hasn’t looked like Clemson since getting thumped by Ohio State in the 2020 College Football Playoff semifinals, the answer is simple.
"Clemson isn't competing at the same, whatever-it-takes level when it comes to player procurement."
Since NIL and the transfer portal started, Clemson has made the CFP once after making it for six straight seasons from 2015-20.
Where Dabo Swinney is getting support for Ole Miss comments
Still, Swinney's coaches and former players championed his comments. Clemson wide receivers coach Tyler Grisham reposted multiple posts on X in support of Swinney and his goal to expose tampering in the sport.
ESPN's Pete Thamel said Swinney's comments have been "widely applauded" by coaches on an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show on Jan. 26.
ESPN's Booger McFarland posted on X: "Gotta say Dabo giving unprecedented details here. Good for him. I’m sure there are so many stories like this Wow just wow."
Former safety Jalyn Phillips, who played at Clemson from 2019-23, posted on X: "Now y’all see why Coach Swinney ain’t want no parts of this."
Former defensive end Xavier Thomas, who played at Clemson from 2018-23, posted on X: "Y'all played w the wrong one. Coach is not going for it."
Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Dabo Swinney reaction over Ole Miss tampering, including Paul Finebaum
