By Will Vandervort.

With Auburn reporting it could pay its student athletes anywhere from $6,000 to $7,000 as part of the Cost of Attendance (COA) policy that passed at the NCAA meetings this past January, and other schools possibly paying anywhere from $1,500 to $5,000, it was just a matter of time before someone stepped up and questioned all of this.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was that guy.

During the Atlantic Coast Conference’s football teleconference call with the media on Wednesday, Swinney said the way the COA will be executed is a “nightmare.”

Swinney did say he thought the intent is good and he likes the way the NCAA is finally trying to modernize a student-athlete’s scholarship, but he says the current structure of the COA is not the best way to do it because there is no even playing field.

The Power Five Conferences agreed the COA will be set by each individual school based on the cost of living formulas they use in assisting regular students with financial aid when it comes to cost of living expenses.

“They tried the stipend thing and it did not go through so this is a way they are getting that done, but there are some unintended consequences,” Swinney said. “There is no question it is not a level playing field and it is going to be the number one topic at all the coaches’ meetings because it is not good.

“Again, the intent is good, but for one school to be able to pay three or four thousand more than another school, then at the end of the day guys are going to make decisions for the wrong reasons. It should not be that way.”

Clemson has reported it expects to give its head-count sports—football, men’s and women’s basketball,  women’s tennis and volleyball—student-athletes roughly $3,800, which could be about $3,000 less than what Auburn and other schools it recruits against will reportedly give their student-athletes.

“I do not like where we are right now. We are where we are,” Swinney said. “There has to be a better solution somewhere down the road. I think eventually we will get there.

“I think it is what it is right now and it is going to be a factor in the recruiting process. There is no question.”

Swinney isn’t the only prominent head coach concerned about the COA and its impact on recruiting.

“We need to get it unified and we need to get it across the board before we implement everything,” Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher said. “I do think there needs to be something for these young men at this stage and this part of their careers, but we have to get it refined and defined, that’s for sure. It is going to be a very interesting process.”

The COA is supposed to go into effect this coming fall for the 2015-’16 school year. The ACC coaches will have their annual spring meetings in the next few weeks and the COA is on the agenda.

“The cost of attendance stipend is a good step in the right direction, but again, we have to figure out a better way to execute it,” Swinney said. “I think there is going to be some negative unintended consequences as a result from it. You have to start somewhere and I know that is going to be a huge part of our discussions when we get together in a few weeks as coaches.

“You have some issues there, from a recruiting standpoint, that have to be addressed. The intent is good, but we have to figure out a better way to achieve what everybody wants.”