Tampering Confidential: In college football, it’s inevitable and impossible to stop

Ten days before college football’s spring transfer deadline, a Group of 5 head coach was fighting off covert efforts to swipe some of his best players.

This coach had buddies on SEC coaching staffs warning him. They were walking into their recruiting departments and noticing his players on highlight videos. “They let me know, ‘Coach, watch out. They’re about to take your kids,’” he said. He has won a few tug-of-wars with Power 5 schools trying to pay top dollar to poach his players. When one program recently tried to make an offer for one of his top offensive players, the senior brought it to the head coach. He called that school’s offensive coordinator, called him out and put a stop to it.

“Everybody keeps saying: Why won’t these coaches tell on each other?” the coach said. “I will if it gets to that point. So far, every time it’s happened, I’ve called the guy on the phone and they know I will go public. I’ve got enough evidence that would be bloody for them.”

Five years into the transfer portal era, Group of 5 coaches have come to accept that tampering is a fact of life and isn’t going anywhere. You win in these jobs by finding, signing and developing overlooked talent. But as soon as those players start thriving, transferring up becomes tempting.

Many times, players are simply betting on themselves and aiming for the NFL. But as more Power 5 staffs embrace advanced scouting of other teams’ rosters, the logical next step is persuading players to leave and locking them up before they hit the market. Coaches at the G5 level feel powerless to actually stop it. They don’t have the money to prevent it and don’t count on the NCAA to police it.

“When you’re not getting devastated by the portal, it’s not anything you’re doing right or wrong,” one veteran Group of 5 head coach said. “It’s just a blessing is all it is. Because it’s just a matter of time before you get picked apart. It’s not set up for success for the Group of 5 in any way, shape or form.”

The Athletic spoke with more than a dozen coaches and personnel staffers at Group of 5 and lower-tier Power 5 schools about tampering they’ve experienced and what they’re up against in this transactional age of roster management. They declined to speak on the record. Coaches rarely do: They know causing drama or villainizing players doesn’t reflect well on their programs, they rarely have actionable proof and they know almost everybody’s doing it. And so tampering persists as a regular yet unregulated part of the player movement market.

“In the old days, you recruited your class, right? Now, you re-recruit your class every year,” the first head coach said. “That’s the most amazing story: If I get through this cycle and I don’t lose any of these kids, it’s gonna be a miracle.”

The coach did not get a miracle. One week after he spoke with The Athletic, he lost one of his best players to the portal. Everything seemed to be fine and then, one day, it wasn’t. The coach chose not to make things “bloody.” He didn’t have enough proof. He didn’t see the point of fighting.

“Don’t want to comment on it,” he said in a text message.

These coaches want to believe the ideals of college football program building — relationships, trust, culture — still matter today. But those who have been burned by transfer tampering in recent years tend to arrive at an unnerving conclusion.

“It certainly crosses your mind that we’re becoming a Triple-A farm system type of thing,” one Group of 5 general manager said. “That’s where we’re possibly heading.”

More than 1,100 scholarship players from Group of 5 schools have entered the NCAA transfer portal since August, and almost 600 of them have made commitments. So far, 200 are transferring to Power 5 schools. Sixty-four of those 200 earned all-conference honors last season.

Cincinnati, UCF and Western Kentucky have each lost 14 scholarship players who moved on to Power 5 schools since the end of the 2021 season. Wyoming has lost 11 in that span. Louisiana was hit hard last year after coach Billy Napier left for Florida. Kent State, North Texas, Texas State and USF went through coaching changes this offseason and lost some of their best players in the process.

For one Group of 5 personnel staffer whose program just lost its best player to a Power 5 school, this dynamic brings to mind the plight of the low-budget Oakland A’s in “Moneyball.” He texted a buddy, a Power 5 head coach, days after the portal reopened this spring and sent him the clip of Brad Pitt’s Billy Beane lecturing his scouting department about the economics of the MLB talent ecosystem.

The G5 staffer and his head coach took some solace in the fact the player told them face-to-face why he was leaving. They weren’t totally blindsided, as coaches often are by portal defections.

“He was great about it,” the staffer said. “That kind of soothed our hurt after we were kicked in the nuts.”

Is each and every transfer tampered with before departing? No, it’s unrealistic to make that assumption. Many of these players and their parents know they’re in for a more exciting transfer recruitment than they experienced as two- or three-star recruits in high school. The environment they’re trying to navigate today, whether they enter the portal or not, is a wild one. If you can play, a Power 5 school is going to find you and reach out.

How does it work? Power 5 programs have staffers working ahead on identifying and grading other teams’ players long before the portal windows open in December and April. PFF Ultimate and XOS have made this evaluation process faster than ever. A staffer can search for any player and immediately get advanced data along with a library of cut-ups of their film.

“Now it’s only five minutes away in the digital age,” the Group of Five personnel staffer said. “It’s not just, ‘Oh, that guy was a four-star recruit in high school.’ PFF is now this central mechanism along with XOS, and that has added kerosene to the fire.”

That resource helps coaches make quick decisions on whether to offer a player who just entered the portal, but these Power 5 recruiters are working ahead. In this era of college football, anybody could become available. Staffs build out their boards of who’s offer-worthy regardless of the player’s status. At one Power 5 program, for example, the No. 1 player on the offensive line board in December was a former low three-star recruit who’s still relatively unknown nationally. He didn’t enter the portal — or at least he hasn’t yet.

Once they’ve identified the player they want, they find a way to communicate that interest. This is incredibly easy. They’ll reach out to a high school or 7-on-7 coach, a trainer or mentor, a handler or agent — any third party will do. One Power 5 staffer said one of his best players was contacted by an SEC school this spring via a burner phone. Another said schools went through a player’s former junior college coach. Some are less careful than others.

At one lower-tier Power 5 school, a head coach got one of his star players to turn down a mid-six-figure deal to stay. Then another player approached him with a DM he’d received from a coach. Though the player wasn’t looking to leave, the brazen nature of the messaging irritated the coach.

“It’s bulls—,” he said. “That’s just being dumb. The whole thing is a complete joke. And it’s also happening with the agent calling the collective. Or it’s going through the high school assistant. It’s all of the above.

“Most of the really good players aren’t going into the portal without knowing where they’re going. They already have a home.”

In April, a veteran Group of 5 head coach had one of his top offensive players walk into his office. The spring transfer window was opening in five days, and he wanted to talk about entering. The coach was curious how prepared the player was for the process.

“How much do you know about it? Where are you gonna get your information?” he asked.

The player admitted he’d already talked to two Power 5 schools. He named both of them, too, and ended up committing to the first one he mentioned.

The coach genuinely believes this player, a one-year starter, has All-America potential if he keeps maturing. Can he trust that moving to a bigger school will get him there? Or is that contender just looking for added depth and competition? That’s one of the many factors these transfers need to weigh while coaches and agents try to persuade them to make a change.

There’s certainly some risk in making the move up and potentially getting exposed against better competition. In the 2021-2022 transfer portal cycle, 123 scholarship Group of 5 players transferred to Power 5 programs. Some still have eligibility remaining, but just three were drafted this April, one year after their up-transfer: Florida offensive lineman O’Cyrus Torrence, Washington State linebacker Daiyan Henley and Maryland kicker Chad Ryland.

Knowing those tough odds makes getting NIL money up front all the more important. That’s often the bait to convince a player to enter the portal. But it’s tough to know how real those enticements actually are.

“The (financial) promises are worth as much as the conversation,” one GM at a Group of 5 school said. “You get in the portal, you get there and then they’ve got to come through on all of that stuff. If they don’t, what are you gonna do?”

One Group of 5 coordinator knows that one of his starters was contacted by a Power 5 coach telling the player he could be a starter and make six figures. The player wasn’t in the portal but did ultimately leave.

“They were coming out here and recruiting high schools, and then they’re meeting up with my player in the same town,” the coordinator alleged. “They were encouraging my guy to get in the portal, offering him $150,000 to $200,000.”

The coach sent a text to that Power 5 coach. He didn’t reply. He also didn’t land the player.

“I wanted them to know that I know,” he said. “I would’ve felt better if it was the kid’s trainer that had told him to go in, because at least it’s not one of my peers. We’re in the same business of mentoring players.

“They got him in there and did all that work and still didn’t get him. He went to another school in their conference. It’s stupid.”

These coaches also know they’re up against handlers and reps who see the portal as a path to a payday. Several collectives have had to renegotiate deals with top returning players this offseason to ensure they don’t transfer. One Group of 5 head coach who lost a coveted offensive player to the portal believes an agent hoping to represent him talked him into leaving. Agents who might’ve tried to steer players toward entering the draft are finding the portal can be a lucrative play.

“They’re limited to 3 percent (commission) through the NFLPA, but there’s no limit on what they can earn from an NIL deal,” another Group of 5 head coach said. “They can get 15, 20 percent of the cut now. It’s a capitalist society and I don’t necessarily blame them on what kind of advice they’re giving these kids.”

This coach has lost multiple starters to Power 5 schools this offseason. When asked how often he suspects one of his players was encouraged by others to enter the portal, he chuckled.

“We actually only have ourselves to blame,” he said, “because now we have this system that has agents and the collectives be part of this process. I don’t blame the student-athlete. I hate when people say kids have changed. They really haven’t. It’s us as adults. We’ve changed. We’ve changed the rules on them. It’s such a cop-out to say the kids have changed. Maybe I’m naïve. Maybe the third parties have always been very involved in this. But now they’re much more out there and it’s easier for them to be involved.”

GO DEEPER

Secrets of the college football transfer portal: 'There's definitely tampering going on'

When word started to spread that Pitt’s Biletnikoff Award-winning wide receiver Jordan Addison was considering transferring to USC last spring, Pat Narduzzi didn’t hesitate to speak up.

The Pitt head coach made headlines when it got out that he called Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley twice to express his disdain for how he thought it all had unfolded. Riley subsequently denied tampering with Addison. The future first-round pick ended up at USC and helped Caleb Williams win the Heisman Trophy.

Asked if he had any regrets about his response, Narduzzi told The Athletic, “Hell no.”

“Whether it does any good to speak up, I don’t know,” he said. “But the more people speak up, the better. I think not speaking up is wrong. If we don’t speak up, what voice do we have? I talked to some of those NCAA guys and they’re like, ‘No one wants to talk.’ They haven’t done anything with the Jordan Addison thing so, really, what does it matter? Everybody wants to be hush-hush, but why? The only reason to be hush-hush is if you’re breaking the rules yourself and you don’t want someone else to turn you in, and maybe that’s the problem: They’re cheating too. Let’s not turn each other in. That’s what I think it is. I got no problem talking, because we’re doing it the right way here.”

Narduzzi said he received “zero” backlash for his handling of Addison’s exit last spring. “In fact, I had every coach tell me how great that was that I spoke up — like I’m talking 100 coaches saying, ‘That was awesome. About time someone spoke up. I loved that,’” he said. “As coaches, we’ve gotta hold each other accountable.”

Perhaps not coincidentally, Narduzzi doesn’t think anyone tried to tamper with Pitt players this offseason.

“Maybe that was a tribute to me speaking up,” he argued, “and people knowing this dude will say something. My dad always taught me to just tell it like it is.”

Why don’t these coaches turn each other in? If they’re as frustrated and the problem is as pervasive as they say, shouldn’t they do something about it?

This spring, one GM at a Group of 5 school sat in on a meeting between an NCAA representative and his school’s head coaches. As the rep took questions about tampering and talked through the process of submitting an allegation, the staffer was reminded of the true crime shows he watches with his wife. You need real evidence, he says, and it can’t be circumstantial.

“Most people are smart enough, I’m sure, to be able to do it without a trail,” he added. “Unless there’s some type of immunity that’s granted to the players where they’re able to speak on it and it doesn’t jeopardize their eligibility or ability to transfer, otherwise, I don’t know. Even if you know it’s going on, that was where the struggle was with the coaches as they were discussing this with the NCAA rep: What do I need to get? What you’re saying I need to get, how do you expect me to get that?”

But even if they had screenshots or other conclusive evidence, would they deliver it to the NCAA?

Last August, NCAA officials sent a letter to members seeking help as they investigate cases of NIL inducement and tampering. Their enforcement staff needs these reluctant coaches and players to start providing “documentary evidence and details on the record” in order to expedite investigations. Coaches and athletic directors who’ve confronted other schools about tampering incidents have told The Athletic they’re reluctant to move forward with an NCAA inquiry or even go public with allegations because they don’t want to harm the player and they know pursuing it would be perceived as “sour grapes” or, worse, vindictive.

“Nobody’s really turning anybody in because nobody believes anything is gonna be done,” one coordinator at a Group of 5 school argued. “Who is the NCAA gonna bang on this? They ain’t gonna bang a blue-blood program on this, I promise you that. And, until something really substantial is done, it’s just gonna keep happening.

“The other part of this is, if you are gonna be the guy or the program that’s gonna go on record, you’d better make sure your house is clean before you start kicking up dust.”

Other Group of 5 head coaches said they would never go that far. One coach who has lost several starters to the portal said he has enough respect for his peers and the pressure they’re under to hold on to their jobs that he wouldn’t turn someone in and put their career in jeopardy. “I’ve been coaching for a long time,” he said. “I know what goes on out there. I’m not ever, ever going to do it.” Others recognize that once the player hits the portal, they’ve already lost.

“You have to decide: Am I going to spend my efforts on trying to turn in this other coach or do I move on to someone else?” the Group of 5 GM said. “I’ve got to go find a replacement.”

The Group of 5 coordinator lost one of his best offensive players in December. He had no hints or reason to believe the player was moving on, and he didn’t feel good about how it went down. He called two coaches on the staff that signed him, people he considers friends in the business. He didn’t expect an apology or an admission of tampering, but he still wanted to speak his mind.

“We talked this out,” he said. “It’s bulls— what happened. Ain’t gonna change anything, but I’m gonna say my piece.”

But this coach has been in the game long enough — and has had enough jobs along the way — to know it’s not fair to fault the player.

“I’m not gonna talk out of both sides of my mouth when it comes to the players,” he said. “I left a really good job at one program for another really good job at another program. Well, the second place paid me more money than the first. It was better for me and better for my family.

“In the world we live in right now, either you win or you kick rocks, man.”

(Photo: Jay Biggerstaff / Getty Images)