CLEMSON — With how quickly college football has gone off the rails and turned into the wild, wild west, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney is softening his stance on some issues.

In the past, Swinney has said he was absolutely against the “professionalization” of college athletics, going as far as saying he’d go do something else when that day came. However, with rampant tampering running wild across the country, Swinney has changed his stance.

During a lengthy press conference on Friday, where Swinney laid out details of Ole Miss tampering with transfer signee Luke Ferrelli and eventually luring him away, the head coach now believes collective bargaining might just be the answer to many of the issues plaguing the sport.

“You would have to have some kind of collective bargaining,” Swinney said. “I have always been against this idea of employees, but quite frankly, that might be the only way to protect the collegiate model.”

Last week, Clemson was the victim of one of the most publicized tampering cases to date, with Ferrelli finally re-entering the transfer portal and committing to Ole Miss on Thursday.

Swinney also said that the sport might need congressional help to get there.

Either way, it’s a dramatic turn from where Swinney stood just over a decade ago. Having walked on to the football team at Alabama, and having to earn a scholarship on his way to his degree, Swinney is aprime example of what the educational model can do for young people.

Somehow, some way, he’s still fighting for that model, even if that means softening his stance on the professional aspect.

At the end of the day, Swinney just wants some clear-cut rules, just like the NFL, NBA or MLB.

“To have two sides, have some type of agreement, so that you can have some rules that can actually be enforced,” Swinney added. “Because everybody has agreed upon them.”