Two months after Clemson’s Dabo Swinney publicly accused Pete Goulding of tampering in a 20-minute rant, the Ole Miss coach described the acquisition of linebacker Luke Farrelly from his perspective.
“There are two sides to every story,” Goulding said Tuesday.
Ferrelli, a freshman linebacker at Cal, landed with Clemson through the transfer portal in early January. He initiates class and team meetings. Then, 20 days later, he transferred to Ole Miss.
“He came on an official visit right before the Fiesta Bowl, and I told him, ‘Hey, I want you to be our green-dot Mike (middle linebacker), but right now, we’ve got a green-dot Mike. And that spot won’t be available until, you know, we have one available,'” Golding recalled.
That job belonged to TJ Daughtry, a junior linebacker with a small green dot on the back of his helmet, signifying he’s the designated guy with a direct communicator on his helmet where he can listen to coaches on the sidelines or in the booth. It was then Daughtry’s job to contact the defense forces.
That job became available a few weeks later, when linebackers coach Lane Kiffin followed him to LSU.
“I said, ‘But there’s not a place available right now. So, if that place is available, it’s yours,'” Golding continued. “This is a kid that wanted to be here, that we wanted to be here, at the end of it, came open, and he’s here and we’re happy to have him.”
Sweeney, who compared the situation to “having an affair on your honeymoon,” said he sent the evidence to the NCAA.
“If you tamper with my players, I’ll get you back. It’s that simple,” Sweeney said. “I’m not out to fire anybody, but there has to be accountability and consequences and a complete disregard for the rules for this kind of behavior.”
John Duncan, the NCAA’s vice president of enforcement, said in a statement at the time that the association “will investigate any credible allegation of tampering and expects full cooperation from all as required by NCAA rules.”
Two months later, no verdicts have been issued to suggest tampering was found.
“I’m not going to sit here and use the podium as a grandstand,” Golding said. “That’s why we have a compliance office.”
