WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Wake Forest has fired a former assistant coach-turned-broadcaster who the school says attempted to leak football game plans to opponents for three years.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Wake Forest has fired a former assistant coach-turned-broadcaster who the school says attempted to leak football game plans to opponents for three years.
The school on Tuesday night announced the findings of a nearly monthlong internal investigation that started after documents related to the team’s game plan for the Louisville game were discovered at the Cardinals’ stadium.
In a statement, the school placed the entirety of the blame on Tommy Elrod — a former Wake Forest player and assistant under former coach Jim Grobe. Elrod was not retained by Dave Clawson when he succeeded Grobe in 2014, and he became an analyst for the IMG College radio broadcasts of the Demon Deacons’ games.
“It’s incomprehensible that a former Wake Forest student-athlete, graduate-assistant, full-time football coach, and current radio analyst for the school, would betray his alma mater,” Clawson said in a statement. “We allowed him to have full access to our players, team functions, film room, and practices. He violated our trust which negatively impacted our entire program.”
Elrod did not return a phone call seeking comment, and by Tuesday night, he had deleted his Twitter account. His attorney James Quander — a defensive end at Wake Forest from 1991-94 — declined comment when reached by phone.
The school said it reviewed emails, text messages and phone records and determined Elrod either provided or attempted to provide “confidential and proprietary game preparations on multiple occasions” starting in 2014.
Wake Forest finished 3-9 in each of the past two seasons before improving to 6-6 this season and earning a berth in the Military Bowl against Temple.
The school says Elrod was terminated immediately from his position at IMG and has been banned from Wake Forest’s athletic department and facilities.
“I’m deeply disappointed that he would act against Wake Forest, our football team and our fans in such a harmful manner by compromising confidential game preparation information,” athletic director Ron Wellman said. “It is a relief that the team can move forward without his actions further undermining the positive strides Dave Clawson, his staff and the team have made.”
The investigation also found that no other members of the school’s athletic department, football staff and players were involved.
The probe began last month after a member of the school’s travel party found the documents at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium before the Demon Deacons were to play at Louisville, and Wake Forest made administrators at both Louisville and the Atlantic Coast Conference aware of their concerns.
Clawson did not say specifically what was in those documents, did not accuse Louisville of taking the information and said “I’m not going there” when he was asked on a teleconference whether it affected the outcome of the game. Wake Forest led that game 12-0 but went on to lose 44-12, and Louisville coach Bobby Petrino said he had no knowledge of the situation.
Lamar Jackson voted AP college football Player of the Year
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For someone who is not completely comfortable in the spotlight, Lamar Jackson has come to embrace it all: the speeches, the truckload of trophies, even all those tweets about his outfits.
But after a week of award shows, interviews and photo opportunities, the Louisville quarterback just wants to get back to the place that made him the most decorated college football player of the year.
“It feels like I haven’t played football in a year, I’ve been away so long,” Jackson said. “I can’t wait to get back out there, put on those pads and grind.”
Jackson returns to Louisville as The Associated Press college football Player of the Year, the latest addition to the sophomore’s haul of postseason awards.
The youngest Heisman Trophy winner received 42 of 61 first-place votes from AP’s panel of media voters. Jackson received 153 points overall, followed by Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson (73) and Alabama defensive lineman Jonathan Allen (32). Watson received 10 first-place votes and Allen three.
Jackson’s runaway selection seemed fitting in a season in which he outraced defenders on his way to an impressive collection of highlights and hardware.
The 19-year-old opened the season by accounting for a school-record eight touchdowns against Charlotte. Then he had a flashy goal-line hurdle over a Syracuse defender the next week while rolling to an ACC-record 610 yards.
He showcased his improvement in the pocket and quick, nimble footwork during a five-TD outburst against Florida State in a statement win for the program.
“His ability to picture plays is something that he really worked on and got better at,” Louisville coach Bobby Petrino said. “One of the things that is really neat was how he became a leader during the season.
“I can remember a couple of times in practice where he would look at me and go, ‘He was short on that route.’ And I would say ‘Yes, yes he was.’ And I would go ahead to the receiver to correct him and Lamar goes, ‘That’s OK, Coach. I got him.’”