Kirby Smart calls rise in tampering 'disturbing,' assesses blame

Kirby Smart was the latest SEC coach to point out issues with tampering in the transfer portal amid a new world of NIL with players.

Florida head coach Billy Napier flat out said “tampering is real.” Smart basically chalked it up to it being hard to police nowadays and it was hard before, but there are at least penalties for doing so.

However, Smart didn’t solely put it on the coaches, when it comes to who’s causing the tampering.

“There are penalties for tampering,” Smart said. “Well, I mean, most of the time, if they have a clear case there’s something done about it. The problem is not many people can. It’s hard to police that. It was hard to police it before. So it’s disturbing, it’s upsetting. I don’t know if people want to blame the coaches for the tampering. A lot of time it is still 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. But I think it’s hard to police. But we have not been a major portal team. I can be sitting here telling you something that those 12, 13 other guys, 14 other guys come in here and say is a major issue. I’m not trying to go out and get anybody else. I want to get a kid from high school and develop him. Now ultimately, if we have a deficiency somewhere or we have a spot available that will look towards the portal, it’s not something we’ve done a lot.”

Billy Napier: ‘Tampering is real’

There are rules in place to prevent coaches from dealing with roster management in the late spring. With that window closed, it should be easier to think about your roster going into the summer.

However, those rules devolved, according to one April report. The rule was initially used to curtail spring transfers, but that really hasn’t mattered this spring.

As Napier says, there’s tampering all over the place but the SEC might be the go to destination. However, there are examples of prime SEC players leaving the conference to go to other premier destinations.

But regardless, Napier believes it’s going on. “None of us like the uncertainty with (free) player movement,” one SEC coach told SDS. “But all of us sure would be interested in recruiting a player here or there from another (SEC) roster, if they’re available. So what’s more important? Protecting what you’ve got, or getting what you need?”