SEC coaches on tampering: ‘A cutthroat business’
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Alex Scarborough, ESPN Staff Writer
DESTIN, Fla. — While college football coaches bemoan the prevalence of tampering when it comes to the transfer portal, Florida‘s Billy Napier acknowledged the driving force behind rule-bending in recruiting, telling reporters on Tuesday, “This is a cutthroat business.”
Ever since the advent of the transfer portal five years ago, coaches have warned about the possibility of recruiting players on other teams’ rosters.
NCAA rules stipulate that players cannot be contacted by coaches until they’ve officially submitted their names into the portal. But coaches at SEC spring meetings and across the country said that it’s happening frequently.
“There’s no doubt tampering is real,” Napier said. “… And I think that until there’s something done about it, I think that you’ll continue to see it.”
What can be done to stop it, however, is up for debate.
Very few coaches have shown a willingness to call one another out for perceived wrongdoing. Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi has been vocal, questioning the transfer last year of Jordan Addison from the Panthers to USC. To which Napier asked, “What’s come of that?”
Thus far, the NCAA has not publicly punished any FBS coaches for tampering.
“So ultimately, I think, to each his own, we all got an approach that we’ve chosen to take,” Napier said. “We’re going to control what we control at the University of Florida. That’s our player experience, that’s our evaluation process, our recruitment process to try to position our team in the best position.”
Georgia coach Kirby Smart pointed out that tampering was happening well before the portal came into existence.
“It’s probably more prevalent because it’s much easier to transition from one school to the other,” Smart said, referencing the NCAA decision in 2021 to allow players to change schools once without having to sit out. “But look, if kids are exploring to leave, it’s really hard to police.”
Smart referenced something other coaches have brought up regarding tampering: the prevalence of third parties in the transfer process.
Often, it’s a trainer or a high school coach that initiates conversations with coaching staffs on behalf of players ahead of their entry into the portal, gauging interest. And the NCAA can’t punish those individuals.
“It’s hard to police that,” Smart said. “So, it’s disturbing, it’s upsetting, but I really don’t know [what can be done]. People want to blame the coaches for tampering. But a lot of the time it is the player who is negotiating or is looking for greener pastures and when they do that, sometimes they create the tampering. It goes both ways.”
Smart said that the portal and the prospect of tampering has impacted how he manages his roster.
The time needed to put toward retention, he said, is difficult to manage as many decisions about whether or not to transfer happen late in the season when conference championship and playoff spots are on the line.
“We spend a lot of time on connection and having conversations [with players about], ‘Where are you? Are happy with where you are? If you’re not, what can we do to improve that and improve you as a player? Do you think you’re being developed?'” Smart said. “… I always throw Quay Walker out. He was a kid that never started until his third year and he went in the first round [of the NFL draft]. Most kids are ready to leave if they’re not starting by their third year. And he was a great example.
“But again, it is a lot more energy now in terms of spending with your own roster and just trying to maintain it. It’s not just the portal. It’s the combination of the portal, NIL, everything going on that makes it at times excruciating.”
Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said he expects the issue of tampering to come up during meetings with coaches and administrators this week.
He said he has a preference on a possible solution but asked, “Is it doable in today’s time?”
“I would love to see it go back to players not being able to transfer and be immediately eligible unless the coach leaves or fired or they graduate,” Freeze explained. “And I think that eliminates tampering. People are not going to come take players if they have to sit out, unless it’s one of those two reasons.
“But I don’t think that will ever happen again. So outside of that, I don’t know how you really stop some of the discussions that will take place.”
NEW YORK — Vegas Golden Knights forward Nicolas Roy was fined but not suspended Friday for cross-checking the Edmonton Oilers‘ Trent Frederic in the face in overtime of Game 2 of the teams’ second-round playoff series.
The NHL Department of Player Safety announced the fine of $7,813, the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement, after a disciplinary hearing with him.
Roy attempted to play the puck while it was airborne but made contact with Frederic’s head instead, resulting in a laceration for the Oilers forward.
Frederic briefly exited the game before making a quick return to the ice. Edmonton, however, failed to capitalize on the ensuing five-minute power play but won not long after on a goal by Leon Draisaitl from Connor McDavid.
Vegas trails the best-of-seven series 2-0 with Game 3 on Saturday night at Edmonton.
Information from The Associated Press and Field Level Media was used in this report.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Boston Red Sox owner John Henry met with disgruntled star Rafael Devers on Friday afternoon, making a rare trip to meet the team on the road after Devers expressed disillusionment with the organization’s suggestion he switch positions for the second time in two months.
Joined by Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and president Sam Kennedy, Henry flew to Kansas City on Friday to address the firestorm after Devers objected to moving from designated hitter to first base after Triston Casas‘ season-ending knee injury.
Devers, who signed a 10-year, $313.5 million contract with Boston in January 2023, told reporters Thursday that he would not move to first base and criticized Breslow, saying: “I don’t understand some of the decisions that the GM makes.” During spring training, Devers said he did not want to move off third base — the position he had played in his first eight major league seasons — after the free agent signing of reigning American League Gold Glove winner Alex Bregman. Eventually, Devers agreed to become Boston’s DH, where he has played in each of the team’s 40 games this season.
Devers met with Henry and manager Alex Cora before Friday’s game and had what Breslow deemed “an honest conversation about what we value as an organization and what we believe is important to the Boston Red Sox.” The Red Sox have been using Romy Gonzalez and Abraham Toro — both utility men — to plug the hole at first base amid a 20-19 start.
“He expressed his feelings. John did the same thing,” Cora said. “I think the most important thing here is we’re trying to accomplish something big here. And obviously there’s changes on the roster, situations that happened, and you have to adjust.”
Breslow had introduced the possibility of moving to first base to the 28-year-old Devers, a three-time All-Star who, after a poor start, entered Friday’s game against the Kansas City Royals hitting .255/.379/.455 with 6 home runs, 25 RBIs and an AL-leading 29 walks.
Devers did not take kindly to the idea, saying Thursday: “They told me that I was going to be playing this position, DH, and now they’re going back on that. So, I just don’t think they stayed true to their word.”
The pointedness of Devers’ comments prompted Henry, who declined to comment, to fly halfway across the country and attempt to put to bed issues that have festered since spring training.
The signing of Bregman, who has been the Red Sox’s best player, accelerated moving Devers off third base, which evaluators long thought was an inevitability, even with his improvements at the position. First base had been viewed as his likeliest landing spot, but the presence of Casas pushed Devers to DH, a move he rebuffed at first before eventually complying.
Devers’ disappointment during the spring, sources said, stemmed from feeling blindsided by the lack of communication regarding the initial position switch.
“It’s my job to always put the priorities of the organization first,” Breslow said, “but I should also be evaluating every interaction I have with players, and I’ll continue to do that.”
Whether Devers eventually accepts moving to first — which could free up a lineup spot for Roman Anthony, the top prospect in baseball, or incumbent DH Masataka Yoshida after he recovers from offseason shoulder surgery — is a “secondary” issue at the moment, Breslow said.
“That decision was never going to be made on a couch in an office in Kansas City,” he said, “and that conversation is ongoing. The most important thing here is we believe that we’ve got a really good team that’s capable of winning a bunch of games and playing meaningful games down the stretch. That’s what we need to remain focused on.”
Added Cora: “The plan is to keep having conversations.”
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