Brett Yormark: NCAA discussing unexpected plan to help with tampering in transfer portal

As conversations continue about tampering and the transfer portal, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said NCAA president Charlie Baker has discussed a potential plan. It would allow schools and players to have contact before the portal window opens.

Yormark said Baker recently presented an update on possible tampering reform, which has elements similar to the professional level. In the NFL, before free agency officially begins, there’s a “legal tampering period” when teams can communicate with free agents before making deals official.

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Conversations are ongoing, but Yormark indicated the Big 12 would support the idea, or something along the lines. He also had an update on the NCAA’s age-based 5-for-5 eligibility rule, which the Division I Cabinet will discuss next month.

“(NCAA president Charlie Baker) gave us an update on how they’re thinking about reforming some of the tampering rules and I think directionally we like where he’s going,” Yormark said, via The Deseret News. “He kind of laid that out for us. It’s got a bit of a pro model to it where there’s a contact period before the portal opens and all that needs to be worked through, but directionally we liked what we heard.

“And on the eligibility, everyone’s aware of the age-based eligibility idea that’s on the table and I think that’s going to pick up some momentum over the next month when the cabinet meets later in June.“

Tampering has been a major topic this spring as the power conferences held their spring meetings. It was particularly notable in the SEC as Ole Miss and head coach Pete Golding are facing allegations from Clemson involving the recruitment of Luke Ferrelli. ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said at his conference’s meetings he hopes to see “repercussions” for tampering in light of the situation.

Speaking with reporters this past week in Destin, Golding stressed the need for enforcement with regard to tampering rules. He said that’s not the case at the moment.

“I think a lot of things make headlines,” Golding said. “There’s a lot more people involved that everybody might not know. Everyone wants clarity. Enforcement about a lot of these things is a real problem. I’m not going to sit up here and say whatever we did or we didn’t do, was it right or was it wrong? But, you know, when you go through what we went through (with tampering), and what you’re seeing day-in and day-out, some things you feel like shouldn’t matter that they’re making a big deal about.

“It’s about the enforcement about it, that’s what everybody wants. What are the rules going to be in place, and are they going to be enforced? Up to this point, that hasn’t happened.”