South Carolina head football coach Shane Beamer met with the media on Wednesday and spent some time talking about tampering in relation to the Clemson-Ole Miss tampering case.

As you know, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney called out Ole Miss for what Swinney called “blatant” tampering with linebacker Luke Ferrelli. Swinney also had a message to all the head coaches across the country, challenging fellow coaches to turn in tamperers.

Beamer agreed that publicly calling out tampering, like Swinney did, is one step toward helping to curb tampering.

“What Dabo did? Yes, absolutely, being able to call it out, and I’m sure he, like other schools, turns stuff in when there’s issues and if there’s issues with something,” Beamer said. “I’ve had a coach call me if there was something that he didn’t think was quite right in regards to communication with a player. I’ve called coaches if I felt something wasn’t quite right in regards to a player. I think a lot of those conversations happen head coach to head coach. And then, if there’s things that need to be turned into the NCAA or the SEC, we have, but certainly to be able to call someone out publicly like that was the next step, and we’ll see what happens.”

During his press conference on Jan. 23, Swinney criticized Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding for allegedly luring Ferrelli into the transfer portal. Swinney claims that Golding texted Ferrelli directly while he was sitting in class after having already enrolled at Clemson. Ferrelli had already signed his financial aid agreement and was taking part in football activities before ultimately re-entering the portal and committing to the Rebels on Jan. 22.

Clemson submitted a complaint to the NCAA alleging “blatant” tampering. The NCAA responded very quickly to Clemson’s allegations, with NCAA Vice President of enforcement Jon Duncan saying in a statement that the NCAA “will investigate any credible allegations of tampering and expect full cooperation from all involved as is required by NCAA rules.”

In Beamer’s opinion, the penalty should be “severe” for a head coach who tampers with a player who’s already signed with another school and even taking classes at a school.

“What the penalty should be, that’s for other people to figure out, but I believe it should be severe,” Beamer said. “If we have rules and we’re not going to enforce them, then what the hell do we have rules for? That’s kind of how I see it. And trust me, there’s every school — I’m not sitting here… in a glass house or whatever. I’m sure there’s a gray area that we’ve been in at some point, and ticked off some school with trying to do things the right way. There’s a lot happening right now. Every kid in the portal, every kid in America, young man, has an agent, and those agents are reaching out to schools. That’s happening. That’s happening during the season — and it’s not just this year, it’s been happening for multiple years, where agents of players at other schools are reaching out to colleges about the players they represent. I’m sure there’s players on our team that have agents, that their agents were reaching out to schools back during the season. That’s just the world we live in.

“So, I’m not sitting here saying we’re holier than thou and we’ve never done anything wrong. I don’t think we have. But there’s certainly a gray area that’s hard to figure out what’s black and what’s white in so many ways. But I can honestly say as a head football coach, I’ve never contacted a guy that’s not in the portal — much less put it in a text message, much less asked him, ‘What’s your buyout?’ And again, I know what’s reported. I don’t know what’s true, what’s not true.”

Clemson is waiting for the NCAA’s ruling on the tampering case against Ole Miss, and Beamer added that he, and “every coach in America,” is waiting to see what will happen.

“I’m not sitting here claiming I have all the facts. I don’t, but I know what’s been reported,” Beamer said. “But I would say that myself and every coach in America is sitting around waiting to see what’s going to happen in regards to that situation. Because if it’s proven that that did happen, and then nothing happens – then you think it’s the Wild Wild West now? Just wait what it’s going to turn into.”