Dabo Swinney reveals whether he spoke with Pete Golding after tampering allegations

On Jan. 6, former California linebacker Luke Ferrelli committed to Clemson via the NCAA Transfer Portal. Only 16 days later, Ferrelli flipped his commitment to Ole Miss.

In turn, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney accused Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding of tampering. On Thursday, Swinney revealed whether he’s had any communication with Golding since making his public allegations.

“No, I don’t know him,” Swinney said. The 56-year-old HC also noted that the NCAA hadn’t provided an update on its investigation into the situation.

Swinney provided the NCAA with no shortage of evidence. While revealing his side of the events that transpired, Swinney provided a detailed timeline of Ferrelli’s interactions with Clemson, along with Ole Miss’ staff. Specifically, Swinney alleged that Golding texted Ferrelli, “I know you’re signed, but what is your buyout?”

Additionally, Dabo Swinney said Ole Miss sent Ferrelli a photo of an apparent $1 million, one-year contract offer. Swinney alleged that Ole Miss raised its offer to $2 million over two years and Ferrelli ultimately committed to Ole Miss. Clemson reported Ole Miss for its alleged tampering to the NCAA.

“I am not going to let someone flat out tamper with my program,” Swinney said. “If you tamper with my players, I’m going to turn you in. There’s a lot more I can say, but I’m going to let the NCAA do its job.”

Luke Ferrelli spent the past two seasons at California, but redshirted his true freshman season. He had a breakout campaign was named the 2025 ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Subsequently, he was the No. 30 linebacker in On3’s 2026 Transfer Portal Player Rankings. While Dabo Swinney said the NCAA hasn’t provided an update on its investigation into Ferrelli’s transfer decision, VP of enforcement Jonathan Duncan recently announced the NCAA plans to aggressively pursue tampering allegations moving forward.

“NCAA staff from enforcement, hearing operations, and governance and membership services will work with Geoff Mearns, president of Ball State and chair of the Division I Board of Directors Infractions Process Committee, and an infractions modernization task force to propose policy changes to expedite the resolution of rules violations and make other improvements,” Duncan’s announcement read, per Yahoo Sports‘ Ross Dellenger. “It is our sincerest hope that these potential policy and rules changes will better serve the new era of Division I while balancing fairness and efficiency to meet membership expectations.

“In the meantime, the national office will work to speed up the infractions process within the existing rules. This will include streamlining various stages of an investigation, such as collecting information from schools or student-athletes more quickly, conducting interviews on a shorter schedule and/or limiting extension requests often made by parties in infractions cases.”