Claims of tampering abound in college basketball. Getting it under control won’t be easy
FAU coach Dusty May, center, stands with players on the NCAA college basketball team as he addresses the crowd during a Paradise Madness ceremony, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, in Boca Raton, Fla.
FILE - Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer reacts during the first half of the team's second-round college basketball game against Mississippi in the women's NCAA Tournament, Sunday, March 19, 2023, in Stanford, Calif. Over 1,200 women’s basketball players entered the portal last year for various reasons and just over 1,000 found new schools to play at according to the NCAA. VanDerveer would love to see better enforcement of the tampering rules that exist. She says players on her team have been approached to transfer, including preseason All-America center Cameron Brink .
FILE - Boston College head coach Earl Grant watches the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Notre Dame, Jan. 3, 2023, in Boston. Quinten Post was the biggest contributor for Grant last season, when the Eagles flirted with .500 after winning 13 games the year before (and four in the pandemic-shortened season before he arrived).
Duke head coach Jon Scheyer claps for his team during the first half of an NCAA college basketball exhibition game against UNC Pembroke in Durham, N.C., Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023.
FILE - Wake Forest head coach Steve Forbes cheers on his team during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Virginia in Winston-Salem, N.C., Jan. 21, 2023. The Wake Forest Demon Deacons are trying to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017.
The celebration was still fresh. Florida Atlantic’s players had gleefully cut down nets to mark their first-ever trip to the Final Four. Yet coach Dusty May was talking about the challenge of protecting a history-making roster in the transfer portal era.
“Absolutely, you’re always concerned because they’re getting recruited now,” he said. “They’ve been recruited through this tournament.”
Tampering isn’t new in college sports. Yet coaches say the efforts to lure players from one roster to another are exacerbated by a 2021 rule change allowing undergraduate athletes to transfer once without sitting out a year in a move that basically kicked off a form of collegiate free agency, particularly with that extra eligibility year still floating around from the pandemic and teams chasing more experienced talent than unproven freshmen.
At its core, tampering violates rules for contacting recruits. College athletes are off-limits until entering their name into the portal.
Yet Boston College coach Earl Grant is among coaches with stories saying otherwise, such as player parents reporting back to him about contacts from people tied to other schools. Those accounts typically involve more subtlety than coaches directly calling targets.
Sometimes there are middlemen brokering the best financial deal through school collectives since players since 2021 are now permitted to profit on endorsements featuring their name, image and likeness (NIL). Or it’s as simple as a player chatting with a pal at another school and relaying a message of opportunity in a word-of-mouth chain.
“It’s a significant concern for coaches, for the membership,” said Jon Duncan, the NCAA’s vice president of enforcement. “Therefore it’s a significant concern for us.”
There’s also skepticism about what can really be done to stop it.
“The NCAA says it can, but I don’t know,” Grant said. “I just don’t know. They let a few cats jump out of a box and now they can’t go find them all. It’s hard to herd them.”
Coaches who share stories – such as Wake Forest football’s Dave Clawson saying in July that multiple players returned despite tampering featuring lucrative offers – don’t name names. Or offer specifics.
Perhaps it’s because the coaching world is so interconnected, from coaches who have worked together previously – or, odds are, will eventually – to intermediaries tied to grassroots recruiting. Regardless of why, it turns those stories into mere anecdotes.
A blueblood men’s program like No. 2 Duke isn’t immune, either.
Second-year coach Jon Scheyer said schools contacted his returning players who weren’t in the portal in some fashion, dangling starting roles and NIL opportunities.
So what prevents coaches like Scheyer from naming offenders or contacting the NCAA?
“Because you’re going to spend all your time talking about (it),” Scheyer said. “To me, it’s not worth it. Look, our guys are back. We’re going to continue to form relationships and build trust. And because the NCAA clearly, they don’t want to do anything about it, other schools are going to continue to do it. So naming, it’s not worth it.”
Asked about Duncan’s comments on the NCAA seeking leads, Scheyer offered a frank response.
“If a kid puts their name in the portal, then commits three hours later, and you tell me that you need somebody to call you and tell you that they’ve had a conversation beforehand, then God help you,” Scheyer said.
He’s not alone in that skepticism.
“Look, these things have been happening, man,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said. “This is the nature of our business. I’m not saying that’s right. It’s not right.But it’s not anything new. … Hopefully, you’re good. If you’re good, then they want your guys.”