OT: #WakeyLeaks

Submitted by jimmyshi03 on

If you recall, Wake Forest alleged after their game with Louisville that the Cardinals had somehow obtained elements of their gameplan in an illicit manner. So the school investigated. And they discovered who the leaker was...

Their own radio color man.

Tommy Elrod played at Wake, for Jim Caldwell, then became a GA and later QB coach for Jim Grobe. He was not retained when Dave Clawson took over and became a radio color guy. And, it seems, he wasn't happy about it. He did this, it seems, for years.

Somehow, I can't imagine Dan Deirdorf or Terry Mills doing this.

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jimmyshi03

December 13th, 2016 at 5:42 PM ^

announcers usually sit in for a session with coaches, and sometimes the coaches will share thoughts on players or plays. Usually we hear about it in the broadcast but it's said in passing. Plus, if it's an explayer and coach at the school, you might be willing to share more detailed information, especially if it's with the home announcers. I'd imagine JH gives more information to Deirdorf and Brandstatter than he will Levy and Griese at the OB, for example. 

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stephenrjking

December 13th, 2016 at 6:06 PM ^

Media guys often get to visit practice, too. Recall that Brent Musberger has occasionally mentioned stuff he has seen in practice (and at one point got in trouble for tipping something before it happened). If Musberger sees it, local radio guys familiar with the program see that and more. 

All it takes is a tipoff on a key change-up play or two, like "watch for a flea flicker when the X lines up at FB and motions to the weak side" or something like that. Easy to see being practiced, easy to pass along to an opponent.

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FauxMo

December 13th, 2016 at 5:45 PM ^

Betraying Wake Forest football is like betraying an ugly old dog in the "condemned" section of the local animal shelter --- That's just unnecessary cruelty, man... 

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LSAClassOf2000

December 13th, 2016 at 5:53 PM ^

According to a Wake Forest press release, he will “no longer broadcast Wake Forest football games and has been banned from Wake Forest athletics and its facilities.”

Yeah, what he did was obviously wrong, but being told that you will no longer be doing Wake Forest football games on the radio should be seen by anyone - regardless of what has transpired - as a minor victory. I can only imagine trying to make the Demon Deacons sound exciting. 

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Maizenblueball

December 13th, 2016 at 6:01 PM ^

Wow, what a total douche move.  Unbelievable.  He wasn't just some random janitor who found a playbook lying on the locker room floor and decided to betray his employer, this guy played for Wake Forest, then coached for them, then radio analyst.  Wow, this is a new form of LOW.

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stephenrjking

December 13th, 2016 at 6:02 PM ^

This is wild, as crazy of a conspiracy as you could imagine actually confirmed in reality.

What a huge, huge betrayal of Wake Forest by one of their own. I get that it's Wake, so NBD to those of us in Top Five land, but this is a Power 5 football program that plays against real schools, fielded a competitive team this year (6 wins and they were right there with Louisville into the fourth quarter), and was getting the ultimate knife in the back from a guy who played, coached, and worked in media for the team.

That's insane. The ultimate subversion of home team bias. And a dirty thing to do, in my opinion. He has been, appropriately, banned from the program. And he won't ever get a job in sports again with this hanging over his head.

I can't remember ever hearing about something like this in sports before. Throwing games for gambling? Yeah. But not this.

 

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MaizeAndBlueWahoo

December 13th, 2016 at 11:20 PM ^

Yeah.....this is a biggie.  And it's almost incomprehensible what Elrod has done to himself.  Football alums have huge privileges.  Enormous.  It's like an exclusive club.  He threw it all away, just for some petty revenge.  Now he just about literally can never set foot on their campus again and nobody is going to want to speak to him.  Persona non grata in the deepest sense of the phrase.

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kevin holt

December 13th, 2016 at 6:06 PM ^

What I'm interested in... is if he's been doing this "for years" then there is proof that many schools have cheated against Wake Forest. Including Louisville this year. Stop your laughter for a moment and consider (1) what that means without regard to what team it is---if it were a decent team with a shot at playoffs, this would be HUGE---or who the leaker was; and (2) whether Wake would be any better if not for the mole.

I have to imagine it's against the rules for other teams to take the information but I don't actually know. It's at least unsportsmanlike which is a rule.

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stephenrjking

December 13th, 2016 at 6:12 PM ^

This is an interesting ethical and legal question.

Let's give the opponents the benefit of the doubt for a moment and hypothesize that they received the information in the most innocent way possible. Say, an unsolicited, anonymous email that opened directly to diagrams and information about the game. Perhaps it is even worded in a way that suggests that the information was not obtained unethically. I think this is a plausible theory. 

What is the responsibility of the team that receives the info? If someone on the Louisville staff hears, without being given an opportunity to object, that the second and third first-down plays Wake runs will be play-action passes, what do they do with this information? 

 

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The Bos of Me

December 13th, 2016 at 6:35 PM ^

I don't really find it to be that interesting ethically. There should be no doubt on the receivers end about right and wrong. I do public procurements all the time and have been provided with info on competitors bids in the past. Never, ever would I consider using that information. Now, the legal aspect IMO is much more interesting in this case.

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Fishbulb

December 13th, 2016 at 6:31 PM ^

Terry Mills whispering out of the corner of his mouth: "Make them take contested shots and get Zak Irvin to take a lot of long 2's."

Opposing coach: "Hot damn! We were going to run double-teams into the post and make them hit open 3's!"



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superstringer

December 13th, 2016 at 8:20 PM ^

there is no actual confirmed evidence that CRAIG JAMES KILLED FIVE HOOKERS.  let me repeat, no court has actually convicted CRAIG JAMES FOR KILLING FIVE HOOKERS.  no one has ever provided concrete, conclusive, undeniable evidence that CRAIG JAMES KILLED FIVE HOOKERS.  the laws of physics do not completely rule out the possibility that CRAIG JAMES KILLED FIVE HOOKERS.  on the other hand the laws of physics do not require it to be true that CRAIG JAMED KILLED FIVE HOOKERS.  so we cant say for certain that CRAIG JAMES KILLED FIVE HOOKERS.

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