Football Fans Apologizing To Dabo Swinney After Bombshell Rant

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Football Fans Apologizing To Dabo Swinney After Bombshell Rant

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has received plenty of criticism from fans over the course of his career. On Friday night, however, people changed their tune on the two-time national champion.

During a press conference on Friday afternoon, Swinney called out Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding for tampering with one of his players. He ripped the Rebels for trying to lure linebacker Luke Ferrelli into the transfer portal. The veteran coach spent eight minutes sharing details about this "blatant" case of tampering.

Ferrelli, who played at Cal in 2025, has already enrolled at Clemson. His agent let Clemson's general manager know that Ole Miss was "going hard" for his services. That's how Swinney got word about this madness.

"This is a whole other level of tampering," Swinney said. "It's total hypocrisy. This is a really sad state of affairs. We have a broken system, and if there are no consequences for tampering, then we have no rules and we have no governance."

Swinney has made it known over the past few seasons that college football needs strict guidelines if student-athletes are going to get paid. Some fans accused him of being stubborn and envious of the players. That's no longer the case though.

Nov 8, 2025; Clemson, South Carolina, USA; Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney communicates with players in the game against the Florida State Seminoles during the second quarter at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ken Ruinard – GREENVILLE NEWS-USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

Football fans side with Dabo.

"Gotta say Dabo giving unprecedented details here. Good for him. I’m sure there are so many stories like this Wow just wow," ESPN's Booger McFarland commented.

"Dabo has been right the whole time. Paying student athletes was a bad idea and it’s killing college sports. Combined with unlimited transfers, it’s an absolute disaster," one person said. "College students should be developing character and growing in virtue. Now, loyalty is out the window; greed calls the shots. Perform well as a freshman and you’ll get a big payday somewhere else the next year. Keep leveling up, hopping from school to school. Earn millions, spend millions."

"But what Dabo Swinney said, and more importantly, what he’s doing, is absolutely called for," another person wrote. "Accountability matters. Standards matter. And leadership sometimes requires saying the hard thing out loud, not to embarrass, but to correct, protect the culture, and move people forward."

"I've never been a Dabo fan. But this level of scorched earth about the horrific nature of college sports in 2026 ROCKS," a social media user said.

Will changes be made to college football in the near future? We're not sure, but countless government politicians have taken notice of all the tampering.

“An absolute crisis,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz wrote on social media. “Congress NEEDS to act. For months, I’ve been working night & day to try to bring Republicans and Democrats together to save college sports. If we fail to do so, it will be an utter tragedy. And it’s happening right before our eyes.”

Hopefully, college football leaders can come together and put an end to all this madness.

This story was originally published by The Spun on Jan 24, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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