Dave Clawson talks tampering: 'Let's eliminate the rules'

The current state of college sports when it comes to name, image and likeness (NIL) and the transfer portal has caused more than one or two coaches to bemoan the current system and its rules, including Wake Forest‘s Dave Clawson.

While there are rules regarding tampering, they seem almost impossible to enforce, particularly with NIL now in the mix.

Clawson was blunt about the current situation, speaking with On3’s Andy Staples on Tuesday morning.

“With what’s going on, for people to even pretend they don’t know what’s existing, there’s no point,” Dave Clawson said. “If they want to come here and talk to me I’m happy to talk to them, but nothing is happening with that across the country and that’s why I just say let’s eliminate the rules.

“Let’s just clean the book, let’s not pretend these rules exist because the only thing worse than not having a rule is having a rule that’s unenforceable or you’re not willing to enforce. And that’s what’s going on now.”

Dave Clawson stated that he had eight players this offseason tell him they’d received offers from another school, ranging from $100,000 to $500,000. Most declined, though star quarterback Sam Hartman did bolt for Notre Dame.

The problem, though, is that’s not always the case. Many times a player will bolt with an offer on the table.

And that makes it really hard to build and sustain a roster year over year. It creates some massive headaches for coaches, even if they’re able to benefit on the other end by luring other players into their programs with NIL offers or the like.

Clawson’s well aware the whining about the situation won’t do a whole lot of good. That’s why he’s a proponent of simply throwing out the rules until a better system can be put in place where monitoring and policing actually happen and can lead to enforcement.

“I’m not complaining about it, it is what it is,” Dave Clawson said. “I expect those things to happen. I know they’re happening. Again, you just have to build your program in a way that you’re giving players a reason to stay other than the bottom-line finances.”

For Wake Forest, one such pitch appears to be the program’s academic profile.

Dave Clawson pointed to the value of that during his appearance on Staples’ program, noting the Demon Deacons have done an excellent job retaining veterans. The program’s culture and academic prowess have a lot to do with that, even if NIL also plays a part.

Regardless, the Wake Forest coach would like some enforceable rules put in place or for the current rules to simply be dispensed of.