Big Ten sends letter to NCAA requesting pause on tampering investigations, calls current rules outdated
The Big Ten wants clearer guidelines on tampering after the NCAA sent out a memo promising strict punishment for rule breakers
The Big Ten has asked the NCAA to end "investigations and infractions proceedings" associated with tampering until there's a better understanding of what constitutes breaking the rules in recruiting, according to a letter from the conference obtained by ESPN.
In the wake of the NCAA's recent memo to schools announcing that the Division I Board of Directors has informed its staff to "pursue significant penalties" against tampering offenders, the Big Ten argues that current rules are outdated and from an era when paying players and rampant transfers were not part of the college football landscape.
The Big Ten said in its letter that tampering rules "cannot be credibly or equitably enforced" and believes new rules should be written before penalties are assessed.
"These rules were not designed for a world in which student-athletes are compensated market participants making annual decisions with significant economic consequences," the letter reads. "The collision between the old rules and new reality is producing outcomes that harm the population that the rules were designed to protect."
Last month's heavy-handed announcement from the NCAA came after Clemson coach Dabo Swinney accused Ole Miss and Pete Golding of tampering with transfer portal signee Luke Ferrelli. Ferrelli re-entered the transfer portal and committed to Ole Miss after initially landing at Clemson.
"We have a broken system, and if there are no consequences for tampering, then we have no rules and we have no governance," Swinney said.
Within a screenshot of the memo posted on social media, Jon Duncan -- the NCAA's vice president of enforcement -- identified tampering as falling under the label of "communications of any kind are not permitted with a student-athlete at another school -- or any other representatives of their interests, including agents -- before that student-athlete entered the NCAA transfer portal."
Swinney said he previously warned the Rebels that he would blow the whistle on what he considered under-the-table recruiting if Golding and Ole Miss failed to back off the former California linebacker, who signed with Clemson on Jan. 7 and moved from the West Coast to South Carolina four days later.
Swinney alleged that Golding texted Ferrelli a photo of a "$1 million contract" and asked about his buyout at Clemson.
This offseason, several programs have sued former players for breach of contract relating to buyouts, along with various coaching staffs being accused of tampering with former players after leaving jobs for a new school.
The Big Ten produced numbers from the 2026 portal cycle -- the first with a January window -- indicating many athletes entered college football's free agency market with do-not-contact tags, meaning there had to be some sort of contact before the permissible period of recruiting.
The conference essentially argued to the NCAA that there's simply too much current gray area in portal recruiting and player compensation to authentically be able to come down on a college football program for a tampering violation.
"The system of college sports is under tremendous stress, both internally and externally. Systems adapt or they break," the Big Ten's letter states.
