Virginia Tech shows right way to respond to Wake controversy
Let’s start with the obvious: No self-respecting college football program wants to be entangled in the Wake Forest scandal involving proprietary information allegedly leaked by the team’s former radio announcer, Tommy Elrod.
Of course, you’d rather your coaches had never been approached and never been tempted to take advantage of leaked information in the first place. Most of the Demon Deacons’ opponents over the past three years fall under this category.
But some schools are acknowledging their involvement in the scandal dubbed “Wakeyleaks.” And as it turns out, there’s a very wrong way to deal with it, like Louisville, and a very right way to deal with it — we’ll call that the Virginia Tech approach.
Wednesday, Louisville athletics director Tom Jurich released a statement that, essentially, admitted to the act of cheating but said it shouldn’t matter because the leaked plays weren’t actually called when the Cardinals played Wake Forest. And that he was annoyed that this scandal was affecting Louisville’s coaches during their bowl preparation.
Jurich’s statement included zero apologies — not to Wake Forest coaches or players or perhaps even to Louisville fans who might be embarrassed by the cheating — and no shame.
Compare that to this statement from Virginia Tech athletics director Whit Babcock, whose response struck a tone of embarrassment and should be a model of transparency and accountability for future programs found to have received illicit info from Elrod:
“We have recently been made aware that a former Wake Forest staff member provided one of our former assistant coaches with some game plan information prior to our game in 2014. We have no indication at this time that any of this information was shared with any other staff members, nor utilized during the game itself. However, should new information become available, we will be forthcoming and transparent.
“We hold ourselves to a higher standard at Virginia Tech. We are disappointed and embarrassed that this type of information was distributed to and apparently received by one of our former assistant coaches. The distribution of this type of information among peers or rivals is wrong and not in the vein of sportsmanship and integrity that we demand and expect, and for this, I would like to take this opportunity to personally apologize to the coaches, student-athletes, administration, alumni, students and fans of Wake Forest University.
“I am also aware of former head coach Frank Beamer’s and current defensive coordinator Bud Foster’s public remarks yesterday as to having no knowledge of the situation and I believe and support both of them wholeheartedly. It should also be noted that there is no known connection of any kind to our current coaching staff who were hired in late 2015.
“We will, of course, comply fully with the ACC and all relevant parties as this unfortunate situation unfolds.”
That’s about as solid a statement as an athletics director can make, and one that takes into consideration the feelings of all those involved at Wake Forest — including a quarterback whose father thinks was put at risk by the leaks.
That’s an athletics director and athletics program worth respecting, even in an unsavory position.