Transfers have once again been a subject of major offseason strife in college football. The issue hit a peak in late January when Clemson coach Dabo Swinney too
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NCAA Proposes Significant Penalties for Coaches, Programs Taking Transfers Outside Portal
Transfer recruiting outside of the single January portal window became a significant issue this offseason.
Transfers have once again been a subject of major offseason strife in college football. The issue hit a peak in late January when Clemson coach Dabo Swinney took public aim at new Ole Miss coach Pete Golding, calling him out for tampering with linebacker Luke Ferrelli—who had recently transferred in from Cal—alleging that Golding was texting him during early morning classes asking about the buyout in his deal with Clemson. Ferrelli, who joined Clemson on Jan. 7 during the open transfer portal, transferred again to Ole Miss on Jan. 22, just under a week after the closure of the portal on Jan. 16.
“We turned everything into the NCAA,” Swinney said. “There’s tampering and then there’s blatant tampering.”
And now it appears that the NCAA is moving forward on dealing with said tampering. The NCAA Division I FBS oversight committee released a recommendation for emergency legislation to punish coaches and schools for taking transfers outside of the portal period, and the proposals are quite punitive. From the NCAA:
- The head coach would be prohibited from all football (recruiting and on-field coaching) and administrative duties (team meetings) for six contests.
- The school would be fined 20% of its football budget.
- The school would be required to reduce the number of roster spots by five for the next season, regardless of the head coach's employment status at the school.
The proposals go to a vote during a Division I cabinet meeting in April, and would go into effect immediately if passed.
“We felt this was appropriate to place an emphasis on this rule with where we are in Division I football,” said Buffalo athletic director Mark Alnutt, chair of the committee. “We have a window for student-athletes to notify their school when they would like to enter the Transfer Portal. If there is movement without going through the process as it is legislated, the committee felt there needed to be significant penalties.”
The NCAA Football Oversight Committee coalesced around several concepts related to the calendar and transfers, including a proposal to impose stiff penalties on schools that accept transfers outside of the portal window.
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The most significant of the concepts — penalties levied on a school and head coach for accepting a transfer outside of the portal window — stands to limit any movement this spring and could spark legal challenges from players and/or schools this spring and summer who wish to switch schools or who recruit a player to their school. The NCAA moved from two portals — December and April — to a single January portal this year.
The penalties may serve as deterrents for schools that wish to enhance their rosters with players from other schools after spring practice by partaking in what is described as “blind transferring” — when a player unenrolls at one school and enrolls at another outside of the portal window. The 15-day portal window in January is meant to be the only route in which players can communicate with coaches from another school without university staff members violating the NCAA’s tampering bylaws.