The Transfer Portal has changed college sports forever. That box is open, and it is never being closed.
All coaches can hope for now are clear rules, strict guidelines, and, most importantly, peers who actually follow them. Right now, that last part seems to be the problem.
Will Stein may be a first-year head coach, but on Tuesday, he sounded like a 20-year veteran. Weighing in on the rampant tampering across the sport, Stein took direct aim at the controversy surrounding new Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding.
'It's not that hard' to avoid cheating
Stein acknowledges that the landscape is murky. Agents are involved, rules change daily, and the NCAA is often toothless. That is a massive problem that has to be rectified. I know the NCAA is hoping for Congress to act, but that seems unlikely any time soon. Stein drew a hard line in the sand when it comes to coaches directly contacting players on other rosters.
“There’s a lot of gray, mostly gray, just to be quite frank," Stein admitted on OutKick's platform. "And I think you have to do your best job as a coach, operating within the confines of the rules... Obviously, it can be tempting to skirt those rules when it feels like the NCAA is doing nothing to enforce them."
Stein noted that the problem isn't just coaches; agents are "shopping" players before they even enter the portal. Who would have thought agents who are looking to make money would be calling head coaches before they are supposed to? If only that could have been thought of already. Regardless, that doesn't give coaches a free pass to break the rules themselves.
"You can’t text or call guys. You can’t do that, so don’t do it," Stein said firmly. "It’s really simple. It’s not that hard. I don’t understand why it can be so difficult for coaches."
Me either, but apparently for some it is very hard, something about being in Oxford I guess.
The Pete Golding context
Stein’s comments didn't happen in a vacuum. They come on the heels of Dabo Swinney putting Golding on blast for his recruitment of Luke Ferrelli. Ferrelli, a linebacker who transferred from Cal to Clemson (and then committed to Ole Miss), was allegedly contacted by Golding while he was still sitting in a class at Clemson.
Swinney detailed the allegations extensively, which you can read here. But Ferrelli wasn't the only player to be contacted by Golding; he allegedly had illegal contact with Fresno State wide receiver Josiah Freeman.
When Stein says, "That's what Dabo said," he is aligning himself with the veterans who are tired of the "Wild West" tactics.
You just have to do the right thing, it really isn't that hard.
For a rookie head coach to step up and call out not only a new head coach within the SEC like Golding, but the whole country, shows that Stein isn't intimidated by the big stage. He intends to run a clean program, and he expects his opponents to do the same.