Wakeyleaks: Wake Forest Radio Announcer Leaked Game Plans to Opponents for Three Years

[Acebb]

This is fascinating, he played and coached at the school.

Is there a gambling motive? Was he just angry at Dave Clawson for not retaining him on the staff? Which teams consumed and used this information?



[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]After several weeks of investigating how documents pertaining to Wake Forest University’s game plan might have ended up in the University of Louisville’s possession before their Nov. 12 football game, Wake Forest officials say they have identified the suspected culprit.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Tommy Elrod, a football radio announcer for Wake Forest IMG Radio Network and a former player for the Deacons, “provided or attempted to provide confidential and proprietary game preparations on multiple occasions, starting in 2014,” according to a statement released by school officials Tuesday afternoon.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]The university’s conclusion is based on emails, text messages and phone records, the statement said.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Elrod was immediately fired from his position at IMG and is now banned from Wake Forest athletics and facilities.[/FONT]
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popcorn-eatinggif

 

[Willie99]

what's wrong with people? what was he thinking? how is he going to support his family now?

I much did he collect? can't be very much

 

[Acebb]

He's lawyered up:

Attorney James Quander, himself a former Wake Forest football player, told the<culink class="culinks" culang="en" href="http://curiyo.com/en/topic/Winston-Salem Journal" title="" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: help; z-index: 9000; border-bottom-style: dashed !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; padding: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(182, 20, 0) !important; background: inherit !important;">Winston-Salem Journal</culink> neither he nor Elrod would have any comment on the allegations at this time. Given the nature of the allegations, and a trail of evidence Wake Forest says includes e-mail, text messages and telephone records, it’s reasonable to surmise prosecutors may be seeking answers soon.

 

[Acebb]

The Tulane game (a DD ATS loss for Wake) seems to have raided a lot of eye brows. Multiple people observed that it seemed Tulane knew the plays Wake was going to run on offense.

 

[gijoe]

You know he made a few bets too

 

[ML Dog]

The Tulane game (a DD ATS loss for Wake) seems to have raided a lot of eye brows. Multiple people observed that it seemed Tulane knew the plays Wake was going to run on offense.

Wasn't that Wake's First Game of the season? That 7-3 Game?

Man, if so what a Dreadful Deal for Wake Fans. To know some thing bad is up from Game #1 of the season

Its said that any team can beat any team, on a given day but its TULANE for chrissakes.

Wow. I figured Wake fans just caught on, WAKE DEFENSE they should have ROLLED friggin Tulane. Imagine how bad this is for the guys on the team these years, this betrayal. Terrible.

 

[Greenbacks]

Wake Forest has concluded that team radio announcer Tommy Elrod -- a former player and assistant coach -- provided or attempted to provide confidential game preparations to opponents several times starting in 2014, the school said in a statement on Tuesday.
The school began a programwide investigation last month after an equipment manager discovered documents inside Papa John's Cardinal Stadium -- one day before Wake Forest's Nov. 12 game in Louisville -- that showed specific Demon Deacons plays.
Elrod has been fired from the IMG Radio Network and banned from Wake Forest athletics and its facilities.
Elrod played for Wake Forest from 1993 to 1997 and was later hired as a graduate assistant under Jim Grobe. Elrod held multiple positions for 11 seasons but was not retained by current head coach Dave Clawson.
Elrod joined IMG in 2014 as a football analyst after Clawson took over.
"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 Tuesday in a statement.

Athletic director Ron Wellman said he has known Elrod since his days as a player on Wake's football team.
"I'm deeply disappointed that he would act against Wake Forest, our football team and our fans in such a harmful manner," Wellman said in a statement, "by compromising confidential game-preparation information."
Messages from ESPN.com to Elrod were not immediately returned.
After the Wake Forest play sheet was brought to Clawson's attention, the coach turned the documents over to Wellman and the investigation began. Wake Forest alerted Louisville and the ACC that it was investigating a potential internal breach of confidentiality.
In announcing the results of the investigation on Tuesday, the school cited emails, text messages and phone records in concluding that Elrod had tried to give out the confidential information.
Wake Forest said it has taken steps to enhance security of game-preparation activities moving forward.

"I am extremely disappointed that our confidential and proprietary game preparation was compromised," Clawson said.
"We allowed [Elrod] to have full access to our players, team functions, film room and practices. He violated our trust, which negatively impacted our entire program. I am glad we have taken steps to ensure it will not happen in the future."
Reached Tuesday by ESPN, Grobe had no comment. A Louisville spokesperson wouldn't comment other than to say: "Coach [Bobby] Petrino doesn't have a comment in what appears to be a Wake Forest issue."
Former Wake Forest quarterback Riley Skinner said the Tommy Elrod he knows is a "stand-up character guy" and one of the biggest reasons he went to Wake Forest. Skinner said he has talked to Elrod about once a month since leaving Wake Forest and that he put a Christmas card in the mail for Elrod two days ago.

"I'm honestly shocked and blown away from what I've been reading," Skinner said. "I'm praying that something has been blown out of proportion or there's some miscommunication, and I want to support him until I hear something from him. ... Alphonso Smith just called me, and all of my teammates -- everybody is just stunned and shocked, because the Tommy Elrod we know, he loved Wake Forest, he loved coaching. It's his alma mater. I just can't see him doing this. Strange doesn't even begin to describe the situation.
"I'm still praying there is some gap in this story. I'm hoping for the best for him and his family, because he's got three amazing kids and a great wife. ... I've reached out to him, but he's probably turning every bit of communication off."

 

[Greenbacks]

 

[Mobdeeper7239]

Local announcers don't make much. This team has been atrocious for last 2 years. No team even needs the inside info vs wake. But yea crazy story. Had to be gambling. Only incentive for doing that really

 

[Acebb]

This might be about to really blow up

[h=1]Louisville admits it received information from Elrod[/h]
[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Weeks after Louisville coach Bobby Petrino denied that his staff had any advance information of Wake Forest’s game plans for their Nov. 12 showdown, the school did an about-face Wednesday, one day after the Deacons released the results of an internal investigation.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Tom Jurich, Louisville’s director of athletics, confirmed Wednesday that a member of the Cardinals football staff talked with analyst Tommy Elrod of Wake Forest the week before the teams played on Nov. 12.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Elrod, Wake Forest’s internal investigation concluded, had given confidential and proprietary information concerning the Deacons’ game plan to Louisville and other opponents. Elrod is a former player and assistant coach at Wake Forest, and was an analyst for the Wake Forest IMG Radio Broadcast.[/FONT]
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[Acebb]

Wasn't that Wake's First Game of the season? That 7-3 Game?

Man, if so what a Dreadful Deal for Wake Fans. To know some thing bad is up from Game #1 of the season

Its said that any team can beat any team, on a given day but its TULANE for chrissakes.

Wow. I figured Wake fans just caught on, WAKE DEFENSE they should have ROLLED friggin Tulane. Imagine how bad this is for the guys on the team these years, this betrayal. Terrible.

Yeah, Wake was favored by 14.5

Al Groh was doing the radio broadcast for Sirius and said at half-time that it looked like Tulane knew the plays Wake was trying run.

 

[Enfuego]

How long before we find out Petrino had his hands all over this one? Guy is a great coach but an absolute cancer in life.

 

[buddyboy]

most, not all of these radio guys are heavy bettors and get in deep with a local. sounds like he found a way to give his bookie something as valuable as money.

 

[mrwho]

so my question while reading this is..how does this make louisville and petrino look? are they considered cheaters since they had this info and knew it was illegal and used it?

 

[buddyboy]

not only did they have the info and used it, they were asked outright if they had the info, and they said no.

they were supposed to report it as soon as it happened BEFORE the game... instead they got it, used it, and then lied about it. now they are sorry they got caught.

 

[CarolinaKid]

seem like louisville does not play by the rules when it come to sports, just look at the basketball team and hookers

 

[Hotpizza]

Why would Louisville need inside info regarding Wake Forest game plan? They were 34 point favorites. If anything it would seem Wake had Louisville's game plan from that dreadful first half they had.

 

[buddyboy]

it's not that they needed it, or wanted it, they were given it and didn't report it.

I'm sure every team that played wake got the game plan up front whether they wanted it or not. some teams reported it some teams did not... sounds like one team that didn't report it was given rope to hang themselves.

 

[Acebb]

so my question while reading this is..how does this make louisville and petrino look? are they considered cheaters since they had this info and knew it was illegal and used it?

I think the fact that the co-offensive coordinator received and apparently used the information should be bigger news. The L'ville AD seems to think that because Wake didn't run the plays (allegedly) this is all a tempest in a teapot. What a bizarre response.

 

[Acebb]

Here we go, now we're getting quotes from the QB's dad

The father of Wake Forest quarterback John Wolford said he can’t help but wonder if his son suffered injuries as a direct result of opposing teams allegedly getting inside information from former Wake Forest assistant coach-turned-broadcaster Tommy Elrod.
...
He was sacked seven times and suffered a shoulder injury Nov. 12 in a 44-12 defeat against Louisville, which this week acknowledged receiving information from Elrod before its game against Wake Forest.

“The thing that enters your mind is whether there were situations where defenses knew what routes (Wake Forest receivers) were going to run and that put him at risk because it took longer for the play to develop and for receivers to get open,” Robert Wolford said.
Tom Jurich, Louisville’s athletic director, said the coaching staff received information about a few of Wake Forest’s plays. But he said none of the plays were run during the game and he indicated the school gained no competitive advantage from the information.
Robert Wolford took issue with Jurich’s statement.