Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney believes that the current landscape of college athletics lacks stability, in part due to the rise of the transfer portal and athletes cashing in on name, image and likeness deals.
During the Tigers’ signing day in December, Swinney said the transfer portal was “total chaos” and referred to it as “tampering galore” that would bring about a devaluing of education and decline in graduation rates.
“Kids are being manipulated,” Swinney said in December. “Grass is greener and all that stuff as opposed to putting the work in and graduating. There’s no consequences. So now you’ve got agents and NIL, tampering, and you have no consequences … Education is like the last thing now.
“We’re going to have a lot of young people that aren’t going to graduate … There’s a lot of kids whose identity is wrapped up in football and all this does is further that.”
Nearly four months later, Swinney echoed similar sentiments, saying that there will be a blowup within Power Five programs, particularly in football. He believes that schools in Power Five programs need to separate themselves instead of all Division I schools being on the same level.
“I think there’s going to be a complete blowup … and there needs to be,” Swinney told ESPN. “I think eventually there will be some type of break and another division. Right now, you got everybody in one group, and it’s not feasible. Alabama has different problems than Middle Tennessee, but we’re trying to make them all the same and it’s just not. I think you’ll have 40 or 50 teams and a commissioner and here are the rules.”
And, aside from these schools separating into another division, NIL and the transfer portal need more guidance and direction, according to Swinney.
“There’s so much bureaucracy and you can’t get anything done in a real-time manner,” Swinney said. “The communication is not good and the rules are outdated … There have been a lot of positives when it comes to the scholarships. But you’ve got all these people voting on things, and it’s just not apples to apples.”
Swinney said he does not plan on using the portal on regular basis but more so when it is needed to potentially fill an open roster spot. The three-time Bear Bryant Coach of the Year said his transfer portal is inside his locker room at Clemson.
“If I’m constantly going out every year and adding guys from the transfer portal, I’m telling all those guys in that locker room that I don’t believe in them, that I don’t think they can play,” Swinney said. “We’re also not doing our job as coaches and recruiters if we’re bringing in a bunch of transfers.”
While he is not opposed to players making profit from their name, image and likeness, Swinney said that the education needs to come before any notion of a pay-for-play environment.
“I am against anything that devalues education,” Swinney said. “… People will come after me because I’ve always said that I’m against the professionalism of college athletics, and I am. Kids don't know what they don't know. That’s a slippery slope if you professionalize college athletics, and now you’ve got salaries and taxes and you can fire kids on the spot and they’ve got to pay for their tuition and they pay for their housing and everything else.”
Swinney, who is entering his ninth season at Clemson, will seek to position the Tigers back at the top of the college football world after starting a 10–3 finish in 2021. Clemson missed the College Football Playoff after six straight appearances before last season.
