Mike Leach's paranoia about Arizona State is going to cost him.
The Pac-12 announced Thursday night it has fined the Washington State coach $10,000 for his insinuation earlier this week that the Sun Devils have an elaborate system for stealing opponents' signals.
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Leach said at a news conference Monday that he believes Arizona State uses microphones and cameras and employs "a whole command center" in an effort to get an edge.
"That is a very unsavory practice they have," Leach said, via the Spokesman-Review. “We’ll have to do what we can to defend ourselves against it. They’ll try to victimize you with some sign-stealing, there’s no question.”
There's nothing in the rulebook that prohibits stealing signs, but teams are forbidden from making audio or video recordings of signals. Leach's implication that Arizona State coach Todd Graham and his staff might be using such equipment in their efforts likely triggered the discipline from the conference.
"Conference rules prohibit member institutions from disparaging each other and discrediting other institutions," Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said in the release announcing the fine.
Other schools have expressed concern about Arizona State's sign-stealing efforts, most notably expressed by Oregon using a sheet in an attempt to shield their signs from the ASU sideline during last year's game. We'll see what Leach comes up with as a countermeasure when the Cougars visit the Sun Devils on Saturday.
