Hugh Freeze has suggestion for eliminating tampering

Auburn Tigers football coach Hugh Freeze is introduced at the Woltosz Football Performance Center in Auburn, Ala., on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022. Photo Credit: Jake Crandall / USA TODAY NETWORK

Many coaches feel tampering has become a huge issue across college football in the transfer portal era, and Hugh Freeze has an idea that he believes would help put a stop to it. The Auburn coach thinks the NCAA should go back to the way things used to be done.

Freeze told reporters on Tuesday that he thinks the NCAA should require transfer players to sit out a year unless the player has already graduated or his team had a head coaching change. Though, Freeze admits that the rule is likely never coming back.

Auburn’s Hugh Freeze says to eliminate tampering, don’t allow athletes to transfer & play immediately. Except if the coach left or was fired or player graduates. “I don’t think that will ever happen again,” Freeze said

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) May 30, 2023

When you combine immediate eligibility with the new NIL rules, the transfer portal has essentially become free agency for college athletes. Freeze’s idea is to discourage players from entering the portal by requiring them to sit out a season if they transfer, which is what undergraduate transfers used to have to do.

Freeze is right that the NCAA is highly unlikely to revert to its old system. Perhaps a more complicated idea like the one Mike Gundy proposed would help fix some of the transfer portal issues.