Jimbo Fisher calls out college football for 'tampering' in transfer portal

With the changing transfer portal rules and a developing NIL landscape, college football finds itself in a new era which has kicked off what many call “free agency.” As criticism comes down from Nick Saban, Lane Kiffin, Dabo Swinney and now Jimbo Fisher, college football leaders face big questions.

During an interview on the Rich Eisen Show, Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher threw out big accusations about other programs and questioned the current state of college football. When asked to expand on the biggest threat, he did not hold back.

“I think that if people do get into trying to buy players, the kind of people that are messing with other guy’s players in the portal,” said Fisher. “It’s amazing that some of these guys in the portal, the day they get out – which they can’t have contact with an outside school – but the day they get out of the portal, they’ve already signed with another school. How does that happen? So I think there’s tampering with players, I think all those things go on and I think people are enticed with NILs in the transfer portal.

“That’s the problem in college sports that you don’t want to happen. You do not want that to happen. I’m a true advocate of that, 1,000 percent.”

When asked by Eisen to clarify briefly the top issue facing college football at this time, Fisher provided a short and blunt answer.

“The ability to try to buy players out of the portal and entice players to come to your school for money,” said Fisher.

Coaches on college football

During a recent interview with the Associated Press, Alabama head coach Nick Saban criticized college football and called for leaders to make swift changes.

“I don’t think what we’re doing right now is a sustainable model,” Saban said. “The concept of name, image and likeness was for players to be able to use their name, image and likeness to create opportunities for themselves. That’s what it was. So last year on our team, our guys probably made as much or more than anybody in the country.

“But that creates a situation where you can basically buy players. You can do it in recruiting. I mean, if that’s what we want college football to be, I don’t know. And you can also get players to get in the transfer portal to see if they can get more someplace else than they can get at your place.”

The sentiment of Nick Saban has been echoed by Ole Miss head coach and former Alabama assistant Lane Kiffin, as well as Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney.