Louisville suspends assistant after Wake Forest probe
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Dec 18, 2016
Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said Friday that the leaked plays Louisville's coaching staff received before their game last month had compromised the Demon Deacons' ability to run some special plays it had installed just for the Cardinals and left Wake Forest players feeling they didn't get the best opportunity to win.
UL announced this week that Galloway accepted and shared the information he obtained from Wake Forest radio announcer Tommy Elrod, who was sacked earlier this week after Wake Forest revealed the findings of its investigation into the breach.
Babcock said in a statement Thursday that he has no indication that the information was shared with staff members or used during the game.
The AD said he regrets what happened and that "the right and ethical thing would have been for us not to accept the information".
Jurich needs to quit playing the role of Baghdad Bob and offer an apology to Wake Forest and the rest of the Atlantic Coast Conference because Louisville's actions, once again, have embarrassed the league. I have also been in regular contact with the Commissioner of the ACC. Coach Petrino has been firm that on the two occasions in which he previously commented on the matter, he did not know about the information provided at that time.
Friday, Jurich said after reviewing "what took place following the receipt of information", it was best to suspend Galloway for the Citrus Bowl against LSU on January 2.
"Since then, we have carefully and thoroughly reviewed what took place following the receipt of information from Wake Forest on their investigation".
The school announced its findings Tuesday night, absolving the current football staff and players and pinning the blame exclusively on Elrod - a former player in the 1990s and assistant coach under Jim Grobe who went into broadcasting when he was not retained during the transition to Clawson following the 2013 season.
This is an unusual situation. When Grobe was sacked after the 2013 season, Elrod joined Wake Forest IMG Radio Network.
Louisville and Virginia Tech have acknowledged receiving information from Elrod. It is more polite and less jerky, but there is actually less accountability for the actions that took place.
Elrod had served as an assistant under Jim Grobe for 11 seasons, but Clawson declined to keep him on staff once he was hired.
Wake Forest led the game for three quarters, before Louisville broke the game open late for a 44-12 victory.
Those plays were shared with Louisville defensive staff, though none was run during the November 12 game at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, according to Jurich's statement.
► Did Louisville break any rules with Wake Forest leaks? Army also has been contacted as part of Wake Forest's internal investigation, and the military academy said Saturday that it will conduct its own investigation into the allegations. He said that players were upset because they felt they had wasted their effort practicing opponent-specific sets that were discarded once Wake Forest realized the plan had been compromised.