While tampering and 'pay for play' are under fire, NIL is here to stay

If a poll had been conducted during last week's ACC spring meetings, there likely would have been unanimous agreement among coaches and administrators on the following four statements:

A -- College athletes getting compensated for Name, Image and Likeness is a very positive development and not going away.

B -- Many schools and boosters are using NIL as a disguise for "pay for play" in recruiting and retention of players.

C -- Schools and boosters also are using NIL as a tool for tampering with players on other schools' rosters.

D -- Stopping B and C from happening is going to be just about impossible.

"I think tampering, right now, is one of the major issues in college football," Wake Forest head football coach Dave Clawson said. "There's really, right now, there doesn't appear to be any enforcement. So nobody's quite sure what the rules are. And it's like a road without a speed limit. Or if the speed limit's never enforced, people are gonna drive fast.

"So right now, we don't know what the rules are. And if there are rules and they're broken, there doesn't appear to be any consequences for breaking them."

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Clawson knows from experience. As does Florida State football coach Mike Norvell. They were among the many coaches at the league meetings who confirmed players on their rosters have been tampered with since the end of last season.

While tampering is not a new phenomenon -- FSU athletics director Michael Alford joked that Harvard and Yale were doing it to each other in the 1800s -- it does appear to be picking up steam in the NIL era.

At least publicly.

"It's not a new issue, but it's really come to light now with the NIL," Alford said.

The most prominent alleged case, of course, is that of former Pitt wide receiver Jordan Addison. The Biletnikoff Award winner entered the transfer portal earlier this month, but only after reports circulated he was being offered seven-figure NIL deals to attend Southern Cal and other schools.

Sparked in part by outrage over that saga, the NCAA issued a statement last week that it will not turn a blind eye to players being offered inducements in recruiting or as part of the transfer process. The association's enforcement staff is not planning to go back and investigate every rumor or report since NIL legislation was adopted last summer, but "egregious" cases will be pursued.

The challenge is figuring out how to do that.

Several ACC coaches said most cases of tampering are taking place through informal conversations between players. Clawson, whose Demon Deacons went 11-3 last season and boasted one of the nation's top offenses, offered a recent example.

He said one of his players was contacted by a friend at another school, who outlined an offer that almost assuredly was put forth by a staffer or coach.

"If he had interest in going there, that there was a scholarship available and a certain amount of Name, Image and Likeness money that would become available," Clawson said. "There was no direct contact from the staff, but it was from another player. ... A coach isn't allowed to direct a player to do that, but how do you ever prove that?"

Another high-profile case last month centered around former Kansas State basketball star Nijel Pack, who confirmed he was transferring to Miami at almost the exact same moment prominent Hurricanes supporter John Ruiz announced one of his companies had signed Pack to an NIL deal worth more than $800,000 over two years.

It was the first time a college transfer's decision appeared so closely aligned -- at least publicly -- with an NIL deal, and it caused aftershocks still being discussed at the ACC meetings more than two weeks later.

Even ardent NIL advocates like Notre Dame men's basketball coach Mike Brey were taken aback. Especially after current UM star Isaiah Wong responded to the Pack signing by threatening to enter the portal if he didn't receive a more lucrative NIL deal as well.

"I said, 'Man, we're in trouble. This thing is really off the rails,'" Brey said. "And then the negotiation of Wong, I'm like, 'You've got to be kidding me now. I don't know how we reel those back.' But I do think there's been a lot of productive ones (NIL deals). ... There's been a lot of good ones. If we could get it out of recruiting, it'd be great. But I don't know how we do that."

Brey and several other coaches expressed skepticism about the NCAA's ability to crack down on schools using NIL deals as inducements. But they also understand the best-case scenario is figuring out a way to work through those issues and adapt, because Name, Image and Likeness is here to stay.

As ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips explained to the coaches and emphasized later to the media, anyone who hopes that college athletics might return to a pre-NIL environment is going to be greatly disappointed.

"That's just not going to happen," Phillips said. "We are in a different place in college athletics, and we have to embrace it and move forward with these kind of new rules of engagement."

In the long term, Phillips and others said, Congress likely will need to intervene and create regulations so that, at the very least, colleges around the country can all operate by the same rules. As it stands now, states such as Florida have stricter NIL guidelines than states that chose not to enact any before last summer.

"You have multiple states doing different things," Phillips said. "So it's an unlevel playing field just in our own conference."

That's especially true for coaches and administrators at FSU and Miami, who because of state law are not allowed to work directly with student-athletes on NIL opportunities. While several other states with similar laws have amended them in recent months, Florida's Legislature chose not to pursue a bill that would have relaxed that restriction.

Miami athletics director Dan Radakovich said he's hopeful state lawmakers will revisit it in the near future.

"When you think about it, we help them (players) with their classes -- we help them get their classes," Radakovich said. "We help from a training perspective, sports medicine perspective. Oh and then when this (NIL) comes in, 'We can't talk to you.'"

Another rule change several coaches would like to see is within the ACC's own governance. They're hoping the league will follow the Southeastern Conference's lead and create a Feb. 1 deadline for players who want to transfer within the conference.

"I think there was support for doing something like that," Clawson said. "If a player was to leave after the season, that's fair game. But you don't want a player going through all of your spring practices with you, and then you're playing against him four months later."

Other guidelines will undoubtedly develop over time, as college officials try to regain some measure of control over the college athletics landscape.

But of all the discussions that took place at the ACC meetings, Brey said he was most pleased by the fact that coaches and administrators seemed more focused on working through NIL issues than complaining about all of the associated problems.

"I think the reality has set in," Brey said. "I think the whining and complaining and, 'Oh my God, the sky is falling' ... I think everyone has been through that phase and understands. Like, 'Hey, manage it. This is the world we're in. Make the best of it.'"

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