The #WakeyLeaks scandal is getting serious.
On Tuesday, Wake Forest fired radio announcer Tommy Elrod after a weekslong investigation revealed that he shared game plan information to Demon Deacon opponents. The investigation began after game plan documents were found at Louisville's football stadium before the Nov. 12 game between the teams, and a Cardinals spokesman said they wouldn't comment on what appeared to be a "Wake Forest issue".
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But on Wednesday, Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich admitted that the Cardinals used information provided by Elrod:
Louisville AD Tom Jurich with more details on how #WakeyLeaks unfolded on their end. pic.twitter.com/CHWasWhVDb
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) December 14, 2016
So, it turns out that this is more than a Wake Forest issue. It's a Louisville issue, and it should become an ACC issue. Jurich just admitted that Louisville cheated despite his attempts to downplay offensive coordinator Lonnie Galloway's passing along of the information because "none of the special plays were run during the course of the game" and that he was "disappointed that this issue has brought undue attention to our football staff."
The ACC can't ignore that. At the very least, Galloway should get punished. There should also be a further investigation with all of the Demon Deacons' opponents since 2014 — when coach Dave Clawson was brought on and Elrod wasn't retained on the coaching staff — to see how many other teams took information from Elrod. Louisville isn't the only team that got information from Elrod, but it'll be the one that gets all the attention.
And that raises another question: What the hell is going on at Louisville?
Earlier this year, Louisville basketball was under NCAA investigation after a former escort alleged that director of basketball operations Andre McGee paid her in exchange for sex with recruits and players. Four Level 1 violations were handed down, including one to head coach Rick Pitino for "failure to monitor," though the punishment has yet to be determined.
Now, the football program appears to have cheated in its game prep for Wake Forest, and there will almost certainly be punishment for that. The ACC got involved in the investigation Wednesday and should issue some sort of punishment after the conference concluded its research.
So in the span of a year, there have been two major investigations into the school's biggest teams. Isn't it past time to look at Jurich and question what kind of athletic department he's running? If Jurich all but admitted the football coaching staff cheated, how come he hasn't fired Galloway and/or others yet?
Louisville's involvement in the Wake Forest game information leak won't help optics, especially because Bobby Petrino has been caught in lies before. It doesn't help that Pitino's also been caught up in a scandal before, too. But it's the responsibility of the athletic director to make sure scandals like these don't happen again.
Jurich hasn't done that, and he should bear some of the blame.
